Phylogenies

Question 1

What are the 7 properties of life?

Answer 1

Organization and complexity, capacity to process energy (metabolism), response to environment, growth/development, reproduction, regulation (homeostasis), Evolution/adaptation

Question 2

What are the levels of biological organization from broad to specific?

Answer 2

Biosphere, ecosystem, community, population, species, organism, organ/organ system, tissue, cell, organelle, molecule.

Question 3

How can biology be studied?

Answer 3

Levels of organization
Interactions between things
Flow and change of matter/energy
Flow and change of information (genes)
Evolution/change over time

Question 4

Who invented the modern system of taxonomy and the binomial nomenclature system of naming species?

Answer 4

Carl Linneaus

Question 5

How does Linnaean taxonomy work?

Answer 5

It employs a system of nested hierarchies based on differing degrees of similarity

Question 6

What are the taxonomical categories from most broad to most specific?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What are the three domains of life?

Answer 7

Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya

Question 8

Which of the three domains of life are made of prokaryotic cells?

Answer 8

Archaea and bacteria

Question 9

What are the kingdoms of the eukarya domain?

Answer 9

Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, Protists, and algae

Question 10

What are the 3 differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells?

Answer 10

Prokaryotic cells don’t have a nucleus or membrane-bound organelles and eukaryotic cells do; prokaryotic cells are smaller and eukaryotic cells are larger; Prokaryotic cells have circular DNA and Eukaryotic cells have DNA in the form of chromosomes

Question 11

What are the 2 similarities between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?

Answer 11

Both have cytoplasm, and both have plasma membranes

Question 12

Give an example of the benefit of biodiversity

Answer 12

When there was an outbreak of a fungal disease that targeted Caribbean seafans, the areas with more biodiversity suffered less than those with lower biodiversity.

Question 13

What purpose do phylogenetic trees serve other than organizing life?

Answer 13

They are a theory as to the pattern of descent over time

Question 14

What do the tips of phylogenies represent?

Answer 14

Taxa, which can be a species, genus, etc.

Question 15

What is the key criterion for judging the relatedness of two taxa on a phylogeny?

Answer 15

Closer related taxa are those that share a more recent common ancestor.

Question 16

Describe the relationship between two sister taxa and their common ancestor.

Answer 16

The common ancestor of two taxa was neither of the two taxa, but something entirely different

Question 17

Define homologous traits

Answer 17

Traits that are shared due to common ancestry

Question 18

What is a clade/lineage with respect to homologous structures?

Answer 18

A common ancestor and all its descendants that share a homologous structure

Question 19

Give an example of homologous structures

Answer 19

The limbs of all tetrapods are similar in structure (even though they have different functions).

Question 20

What is the term for traits that are similar but not due to common ancestry?

Answer 20

Analogous structures

Question 21

What type of evolution produces analogous structures?

Answer 21

Convergent evolution

Question 22

What is progressive evolution?

Answer 22

The idea that there is some force that drives evolution towards higher levels of complexity

Question 23

Why is progressive evolution false?

Answer 23

Because only a small percentage of evolutionary change results in species that are more complex; most of the products of evolution are no more complex than a majority of the species that already exist. Plus, there are plenty of species that have been surviving successfully with a fairly simple anatomical/biological structure.