Biodiversity Flashcards
Learn about biodiversity
Define: Blastopore
Blastopore, the opening by which the cavity of the gastrula, an embryonic stage in animal development, communicates with the exterior.
Define: Hierarchial Classification system
A hierarchical system is used for classifying organisms to the species level. The broadest classifications are by domain and kingdom; the most specific classification is by genus and species. The hierarchical groupings in between include phylum, class, family, and order.
Define: Systematics
The study of biological diversity, past and present.
i.e. fossilized organisms and evidence of organisms. Living organisms: plants, animals, fungi, protists, bacteria and archaea.
Define: Taxonomy
Is the identification, naming, and classification of species.
Define: Binomial System.
The binomial naming system is the system used to name species.
Each species is given a name that consists of two parts. The first part is the Genus to which the species belongs and the second part is the species name.
Define: Phylogenetic trees
A tree diagram that shows the evolutionary histories and relationships of groups of organisms based on the phylogenies of different biological species
Define: Stratigraphy
The dedicated study of rock strata, particularly focusing on the relationship between the structure and chemical composition of the rock in relation to its age and its role in the environment as a component of an ecosystem.
Define: Prokaryotes
Any of the group of organisms primarily characterized by the lack of true nucleus and other membrane-bound cell compartments: such as mitochondria and chloroplasts, and by the possession of a single loop of stable chromosomal DNA in the nucleiod region and cytoplasmic structures.
Define: Eukaryotes
Any of the single-celled or multicellular organisms whose cell contains a distinct, membrane-bound nucleus.
How did the Eukaryote Evolve?
- Mambrane infolding
produces nucleus & endomembrane system (reticulum). - endosymbiosis
produces dependent organelles after free-living prokaryotes are engulfed.
Define the two branchs of Prokaryote Bacteria.
- Archaea
Any of the unicellular microorganisms that is genetically distinct from bacteria and eukaryotes, and often inhabiting extreme environmental conditions. - Bacteria
Microscopic, single-celled organisms belonging to Kingdom Monera that possess a prokaryotic type of cell structure. They reproduce by fission or by forming spores. They can practically live everywhere.
What are the stages of a Evolution of Multicellular?
- Unicellualr Protist
- Colony
- Early multicellular organism with specular, interdependent cells
- Later organism with gametes and somatic (non-reproductive) cells
- Gamete
Define: Plant Phylogeny
A phylogeny is a description of the evolutionary history of a group of related species. It depicts a sequence of branching events and may also identify the characteristic features that mark various lineages.
A plant phylogeny, therefore, is a phylogeny of plants
What is the Evolution of Terrestrial Plants? ***
- Bryophyta (mosses):
Simplest land plants. Simple waxy cuticle, leaves, stem & rhizoid system. No vascular tissue so low growing. Still dependent on water for reproduction i.e., sperm transfer.
2. Vascular Tissue Origin of vascular tissue. Lycophyta (club mosses). - simple at first (unbranched); - all living species are small.
Pterophyta (ferns);
- branching vascular tissue;
- allowed ferns (sporophyte) to grow tall;
- but still reliant on water for reproduction;
- more complex frond (leaf).
- Seeds (4. Flowers)
Gymnosperms (conifers, etc):
seeds are open to the air for pollination, but held within
♀ cones to mature.
Angiosperms (flowering plants):
seeds are held within ovaries (carpel) that matures to form a fruit.
What structural adaptations were required when changing from aquatic plant to land plants? ***
A number of physical and biological barriers
to overcome first:
- water is buoyant;
- minerals and CO2 absorbed from water;
- gametes released directly into water;
- all of the alga performs photosynthesis.
leaves:
- main site for photosynthesis.
- stomata for CO2 and O2 exchange, H2O loss through transpiration.
- network of veins (vascular tissue).
lignin:
- a chemical that hardens cell walls.
- enables plants to grow tall i.e., support.
vascular tissue: Increased height means difficulties with transport of water & nutrients.
Solution is two types of tubular - shaped cells:
- xylem = dead cells with tubular cavities to
transport H2O (one way).
-phloem
= live cells that deliver sugars to non-
photosynthetic parts of plant (two ways).
Define: Lignin
An organic substance that acts as a binder for the cellulose fibers in certain plants adding strength and stiffness to the cell walls
Define: Cuticle
The outermost, noncellular, protective covering of certain organisms.
In plants, the cuticle is the waxy covering on the surface of many of plant organs that protects the plant by minimizing water loss and curbing pathogen entry. In humans, the cuticle is the outermost layer of the skin epidermis and is comprised of keratinocytes.
Define: Xylem
A type of vascular tissue in plants primarily involved in transporting water and nutrient (from the roots to the shoot and leaves) and providing structural support
Define: Phloem
A vascular tissue in plants that functions primarily in transporting organic food materials (e.g. sucrose) from the photosynthetic organ (leaf) to all the parts of the plant
What does the xylem and phloem makeup?
The Vascular Systems of Plants
Please tell me you understand photosynthesis.
If not. May god help us all.
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Mitchell says
“Plants (& other organisms): Light reaction occurs in the thylakoids to produce chemical energy and O2 as a by product.
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The Calvin cycle (dark reaction) occurs in the stroma to convert H2O + minerals + CO2 into organic compounds, using the chemical energy.”
Define: Stroma (Plants)
The matrix of the chloroplast which is a thick fluid in between grana where various enzymes, molecules and ions are found, and where the dark reaction (or carbohydrate formation reactions) of photosynthesis occurs.
Define: Thylakoids
A thylakoid is a membrane-bound compartment inside chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. They are the site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Thylakoids consist of a thylakoid membrane surrounding a thylakoid lumen.
Define: Calvin cylce
The Calvin cycle (dark reaction) occurs in the stroma to convert H2O + minerals + CO2 into organic compounds, using the chemical energy.”
Define: Bryophyta
Bryophytes are an informal group consisting of three divisions of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses.
Define: Pterophyta
Pteridophytes are vascular plants and have leaves (known as fronds), roots and sometimes true stems, and tree ferns have full trunks.
Define: Gymnosperms
A vascular plant in which the seeds are not enclosed by a ripened ovary (fruit)
What are the differences between Monocots and Dicots?
Monocots differ from dicots in four distinct structural features: leaves, stems, roots and flowers. The differences start from the very beginning of the plant’s life cycle: the seed. Within the seed lies the plant’s embryo. Whereas monocots have one cotyledon (vein), dicots have two.
What parts make up a fern? **
The structure of a fern. Ferns have 3 major parts – the rhizome, the fronds and the reproductive structures called sporangia (sporophytes).
What parts make up a flower structure? ***
The male part of the flower is called the stamen and is composed of:
Anther – pollen producing organ of the flower (pollen is the male gamete of a flowering plant)
Filament – slender stalk supporting the anther (makes the anther accessible to pollinators)
The female part of the flower is called the pistil (or carpel) and is composed of:
Stigma – the sticky, receptive tip of the pistil that is responsible for catching the pollen
Style – the tube-shaped connection between the stigma and ovule (it elevates the stigma to help catch pollen)
Ovule – the structure that contains the female reproductive cells (after fertilisation, it will develop into a seed)
In addition to these reproductive structures, flowers possess a number of other support structures:
Petals – brightly coloured modified leaves, which function to attract pollinators
Sepal – Outer covering which protects the flower when in bud
Peduncle – Stalk of the flower
Define: (Angiophyta) - Angiosperms
Angiosperms, also called flowering plants, have seeds that are enclosed within an ovary (usually a fruit), while gymnosperms have no flowers or fruits, and have unenclosed or “naked” seeds on the surface of scales or leaves.
Define: Ethnomycology
Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi and can be considered a subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology.
What makes fungi important?
Although we often think of fungi as organisms that cause disease and rot food, fungi are important to human life on many levels. They influence the well-being of human populations on a large scale because they are part of the nutrient cycle in ecosystems.
Define: Chitin
A polysaccharide which makes up the cell walls of fungi and exoskeleton of insects
Polysaccharide are carbohydrates made up of multiple saccharide units. = strong & flexible polysaccharide.
What are the four main groups of fungal diversity ( sexual reproduction stages)?
Fungi are classified by their method of reproduction. Historically they have been divided into four taxonomic divisions: Zygomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Deuteromycota.
Define: Deuteromycetes
Deuteromycetes—are fungi that are unable to produce sexual spores and are therefore placed in their own separate phylum.
The deuteromycetes are commonly called fungi imperfecti.
