Highest_priority_cards_8_-_all_duplicates

Question 1

Q: Climate

Answer 1

The long term prevailing weather patterns of a region as temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, air pressure in an area are averaged over a series of years. Climate is influenced by latitude, altitude, terrain, and nearby bodies of water.

Question 2

Q: How does climate change affect ecosystems? (in general)

Answer 2

Fundamental threat to the habitats and species who live in them.
Organisms survive within specific ranges of temperature, precipitation, humidity, and sunlight. When conditions change, organisms must adapt or migrate, or they will perish. Note that plants can’t migrate as quickly as animals.
Many species will not adapt quickly enough; invasive, more “weedy” species may dominate.
Increased average temperatures may lead to an increased water stress
Altered timing of seasonal changes affects food availability for migratory species (food sources hatch/bloom too early or not at all); coordination of pollinators and pollinatees.
Sea-level rise and changes in inland precipitation affect costal marshes and estuaries along the pacific flyway
Potential for mass extinctions.

Question 3

Q: What animal is the poster child for climate change?

Answer 3

Polar bear.
Rely heavily on Arctic sea ice when hunting for food.
During long summer months, they are starving as the ice melts earlier each spring and arrives later in the fall.

Question 4

Q: How does climate change affect freshwater habitats?

Answer 4

Warmer water temperatures will cause population declines for trout, salmon, and many other species that require cold water to survive.

Question 5

Q: Example of an invasive species that might spread more rapidly due to climate change?

Answer 5

Burmese python would thrive in the warming temperatures.
Highly adaptable to new environments.
Burmese python could colonize one-third of the USA, including San Francisco.
Can be 20 feet long and 250 pounds.

Question 6

Q: Who developed the modern classification system for organisms (and when)? Describe the system.

Answer 6

-Carl Linnaeus (Swedish botanist) in the 18th Century put forth a hierarchical classification system giving unique names to every plant and animal both extinct and extant (in System Naturae, 1758).
-Linnaeus proposed a binomial nomenclature which turned out to be an important turning point in how we give formal names to organisms.

Question 7

Q: Benefits of the taxonomy?

Answer 7

-By using a universal two part (binomial) name unique to each organism, confusion could be
eliminated. The scientific names that Linnaeus proposed allowed scientists from across the world to discuss the same animal (or plant) that might be called by different common names in each region they existed.
-Provided a way for studying the relationships between these organisms (both extinct and extant).

Question 8

Q: Binomial nomenclature:

Answer 8

A formal system of naming species by giving each a name composed of two parts; one
indicating the genus and one indicating the species. Each binomial name is unique to a specific species.

Question 9

Q: How did Linnaeus organize biological organisms into groups?

Answer 9

Morphology. Defined groups based on shared characteristics of animal form and structure.
The Linnaean classification system is not based on evolution; it was created long before scientists understood that organisms evolved.

Question 10

Q: How have organism classification methods expanded today?

Answer 10

Also include ancestral or evolutionary relationships (phylogenetic analysis), overall similarity of morphology and observable traits (phenetic analysis), and DNA analysis.

Question 11

Q: What are the levels of the (current) taxonomy of organisms?

Answer 11

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Question 12

Q: Name some kingdoms

Answer 12

Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Archaebacteria, Eubacteria

Question 13

Q: What are the two different terms for the taxonomic level below Kingdom?

Answer 13

Phylum and Division (traditionally in botany the term Division is used in plant and fungi classification and is equivalent to the rank of phylum)

Question 14

Q: Define species

Answer 14

An individual belonging to a group of organisms having common characteristics and are capable of mating with one another to produce fertile offspring.

Question 15

Q: Can subspecies interbreed?

Answer 15

Sometimes, but some may produce sterile offspring

Question 16

Q: Describe a species’ scientific name

Answer 16

Combines its genus and species. The genus is always capitalized and underlined or in italics. The species is never capitalized, but is underlined or in italics.

Question 17

Q: What are humans’ scientific name

Answer 17

Homo sapiens. (H. sapiens)

Question 18

Q: List the taxonomic groups for Chimpanzees. What is the species name?

Answer 18

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Pan
Species: troglodytes
Species name: Pan trogolodytes

Question 19

Q: Which family of organisms incudes the great apes?

Answer 19

Hominidae

Question 20

Q: What is a common ending for the names of family taxa?

Answer 20

“-idea”

Question 21

Q: Which kingdom contains all animals?

Answer 21

Animalia

Question 22

Q: Where to vertebrates fit into the taxonomic tiers?

Answer 22

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata

Question 23

Q: Describe a newer biological classification system that considers evolution

Answer 23

More recently, biologists are switching to a system that reflects organisms’ evolutionary history or phylogeny.
Phylogenetic classification system names clades (groups of organisms, living and extinct, that are all descended from a common ancestor).
Branching pattern of phylogenies provides information about the relationships among organisms.

Question 24

Q: Clade

Answer 24

A taxonomic group of organisms classified together on the basis of homologous features traced to a common ancestor. A clade includes a common ancestor and all the descendants (living and extinct) of that ancestor.

Question 25

Q: Phylogenetics

Answer 25

The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms

Question 26

Q: List several general forms of relationships between plants and animals - ways they influence each other’s adaptations. (just general categories, details and examples on other cards)

Answer 26

Predation adaptations and arms races.
Symbiotic relationships for mutual defense.
Camouflage/mimicry.
Timing of (plant) food ability affects animal migration/hibernation/torpor timing/patterns, and timing of animal mating/birth.
Pollination and seed dispersal.
Animals using plants for shelter.
Animals using plants as tools.

Question 27

Q: List some general categories of adaptations of herbivores for consuming plants (details on separate cards)?

Answer 27

-Specialized teeth
-Specialized digestive systems
-Behavioral adaptations

Question 28

Q: What part of a plant cell contains cellulose? Why is this important to adaptations of herbivores?

Answer 28

-The cell wall.
-Cellulose must be broken down to get the nutrients, which is difficult.
-Majority of the nutrients are in the cell wall.
-Animals do not have an enzyme that breaks down cellulose.
-Herbivores have developed special adaptations to digest plants (details on separate cards)

Question 29

Q: Herbivore teeth/mouth adaptations

Answer 29

-Large, flat, ridged molars for grinding.
-Side-to-side jaw mobility facilitates grinding and crushing of cellulose.
-Continuously growing teeth in, e.g., rodents, lagomorphs.
-Sharp incisors for clipping in, e.g., rodents, lagomorphs.
-Diastema (space between incisors + canines in front and molars in back) to give tongue room to move the food around, and also room for the base of the incisors. E.g., rodents, lagomorphs, ungulates.
-Ruminants lack upper incisors. Dental pad (upper roof plate) instead. Gives extra room
-No canine teeth.

Question 30

Q: Examples of hindgut, foregut fermenters?

Answer 30

Hind:
-Koala, zebra, rabbits, rodents.
-Odd-toed ungulates.
Fore:
-Hippo (3-chambers), kangaroo (2-chambers).
-Ruminators (greater kudu, yellow-backed duiker, and giraffe all have 4 chambers), even-toed ungulates.

Question 31

Q: Give an example of an animal that does not ruminate, but does have foregut fermentation?

Answer 31

Hippo. Has 3-chambered stomach.

Question 32

Q: Physical (non-chemical) defenses of plants?

Answer 32

Spines/thorns (e.g., cacti, acadia).
Tough bark.

Question 33

Q: Chemical defenses of plants?

Answer 33

Poisons and bad flavors.
Contact toxins and stinging (e.g., poison ivy, stinging nettles).
Releasing communication chemicals that warn members of same species to turn on defenses, or attract predators of the threatening organism.

Question 34

Q: Examples of how some animals co-opted plant defenses?

Answer 34

Some insects are protected from predators by their unpleasant taste, and their noxiousness is often derived from chemicals they absorb by feeding on chemically defended plants. E.g., monarch butterflies and caterpillars are foul-tasting and poisonous due to ingesting toxic chemicals in milkweed.

Question 35

Q: Name a way many plants defend themselves aside from physical structures and toxins/poisons?

Answer 35

Symbiosis with organisms that defend them.

Question 36

Q: Name a key way the plants in an animal’s habitat influence its defensive adaptations? Examples.

Answer 36

-Camouflage.
-A savanna animal may be tan or brown, a rainforest animal may be be glossy green, etc.
-Textures and patterns that may resemble, shadows, windblown vegetation, etc.
-Behavioral mimicry (e.g., a stick insect swaying in the wind).
Examples:
-Two subspecies of tiger show how coloration can change according to their habitat. The Sumatran, who lives in the dark rainforest, is darker in color than Siberian who lives in a more open habitat of deciduous & coniferous forests.
-Phasmids, or leaf and stick insects, have body shape and coloring that mimics vegetation.
-Countershading. E.g., koalas are arboreal and have whitish fur below and darker fur along their backs and head. From above, the koala is hard to see amongst the trees and from below, the white fur blends in with the lightness of the sky.

Question 37

Q: Mimicry

Answer 37

A selection of traits that look, sound and smell like something else so that it ends up protecting that organism from being eaten; a similarity of one species to another which protects one or both.

Question 38

Q: Camouflage

Answer 38

A structural adaptation that enables species to blend with their surroundings; allows a species to avoid detection by predators; a visual form of mimicry

Question 39

Q: One way plants and pollinators influence each other’s evolution? Examples?

Answer 39

Shapes of plant and animal structures adapt to enable pollination.
-E.g., hummingbirds in South America: Multiple species are adapted to a specific flower by length and curvature of their beak. This excludes others from getting nectar of this species. The hummingbird engages in flower constancy, which means they are more likely to transfer pollen from one plant to another of its own species.
-E.g., Sphinx moths (nocturnal) have very long tongues, allowing them to reach nectar of certain flowers. Moth-pollinated plants often have spurs or tubes the exact length of a certain moth’s “tongue”.
-Ruffed lemurs have long muzzles and tongues, and feed primarily on fruits and nectar. They are significant pollinators of the Traveller’s tree (Ravenala madagascariensis). They lick the nectar from deep inside the flower, collecting and transferring pollen on their snouts and fur from plant to plant.
-Charles Darwin predicted the existence of a moth in Madagascar based on the size and shape of a flower he saw there. The moth was actually discovered about 40 years later.