Biodiversity Glossary Flashcards
(49 cards)
What is an Acoelomate?
An animal without a body cavity between the digestive tract and the body wall.
Example: flatworms.
What are Algae?
A diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotes found mainly in aquatic environments.
Includes unicellular forms (like diatoms) and multicellular forms (like seaweeds). Not a monophyletic group.
What is an Amniotic Egg?
An egg with specialized membranes that protect and nourish the embryo, enabling reproduction on land.
Found in reptiles, birds, and mammals.
What are Angiosperms?
Flowering plants that produce seeds enclosed in fruits.
The most diverse group of land plants.
What are Arachnids?
A class of joint-legged invertebrates.
Examples include spiders and ticks.
What are Archaea?
One of the three domains of life; single-celled prokaryotes distinct from bacteria, often thriving in extreme environments.
What are Arthropods?
Invertebrates with a segmented body, exoskeleton, and jointed appendages.
Major groups include insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods.
What are Bacteria?
Domain of prokaryotic microorganisms with diverse metabolic pathways, found in nearly every habitat on Earth.
What is Bilateral Symmetry?
A body plan with left and right halves that are mirror images, promoting cephalization and directed movement.
What are Bryophytes?
Non-vascular land plants that rely on water for reproduction and lack true roots and vascular tissue.
Examples include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
What is a Cell Wall?
A rigid layer surrounding cells of plants, fungi, and some protists and bacteria, providing structural support and protection.
What are Cephalopods?
A class of mollusks known for their intelligence, tentacles, and jet propulsion.
Major groups include octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, and nautiluses.
What is Chitin?
A tough, flexible polysaccharide found in fungal cell walls and the exoskeletons of arthropods.
What is a Chloroplast?
Organelle in plant and algal cells where photosynthesis occurs; believed to have originated from cyanobacteria via endosymbiosis.
What is a Chordate?
A member of the phylum Chordata, characterized by a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail.
What is a Coelom?
A fluid-filled body cavity.
Types include Acoelomate (no coelom), Pseudocoelomate (incomplete mesoderm lining), Coelomate (fully lined with mesoderm).
What is a Deuterostome?
Animal development pattern where the anus forms before the mouth.
Includes echinoderms and chordates.
What is a Domain in biological classification?
The highest level of classification; includes Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
What is a Eukaryote?
Organisms whose cells contain a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, including endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane.
What is a Fern?
A vascular seedless plant that reproduces via spores and has true roots, stems, and fronds.
What are the Four Floral Parts of a flower?
Complete flowers have sepals, petals, stamens (male), and carpels (female).
What is a Fruit?
A mature ovary of a flower that contains seeds.
Characteristic of angiosperms.
What are the Four Major Groups of Fungi?
Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota.
What are Gametangia?
Specialized organs or cells in which gametes are formed in algae, fungi, and plants like moss and ferns.
