Classification, Biodiversity and Conservation

Question 1

What is a species?

Answer 1

• group of organisms with the same morphological, behavioral and physiological characteristics
• can breed together to form fertile offspring and reproductively isolated from other species

Question 2

What is the order of taxonomy?

Answer 2

Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

Question 3

What are the three domains?

Answer 3

B - bacteria
A - archaea
E - eukarya

Question 4

What are some characteristics of bacteria?

Answer 4

• no nucleus
• circular DNA, no histones
• plasmids present
• no membrane bound organelles
• 70S ribosomes
• peptidoglycan cell wall
• cells divide by binary fission
• exist as single cells or small groups of cells

Question 5

What are some characteristics of Archaea?

Answer 5

• no nucleus
• DNA exists as chromosomes and has histone proteins (transcription similar to eukaryotes)
• plasmids present
• no membrane bound organelles
• 70S ribosomes
• cell wall NOT peptidoglycan
• cells divided by binary fission
• similar size to bacteria
• exist as single cells or small group of cells

Question 6

What are some characteristics of Eukarya?

Answer 6

• nucleus
• linear DNA as chromosomes with histones
• 80S and 70S ribosomes
• cell division by mitosis
• cell wall can be present; cellulose
• can reproduce asexually or sexually
• can be unicellular, multicellular and colonial

Question 7

What are the kingdoms of eukarya?

Answer 7

• protoctista
• fungi
• plantae
• animalia

Question 8

What are some features of protoctists?

Answer 8

• eukaryotic
• single-called mostly
• animal like; protozoa
• plant like; algae
• some have flagella

Question 9

What are some features of fungi?

Answer 9

• no chlorophyll
• heterotrophic nutrition
• reproduce by spores
• can be unicellular or multicellular both
• some have hyphae which grow from mycelium
• cell wall made of chitin

Question 10

What are features of plantae?

Answer 10

• multicellular
• cellulose cell walls
• chloroplasts
• large permanent vacuoles
• some have flagella
• few types of specialized cells
• autotrophic nutrition

Question 11

What are some features of animalia?

Answer 11

• multicellular
• many specialized cells
• no cell walls
• small, temporary vacuoles
• no chloroplasts
• heterotrophic nutrition

Question 12

What features do viruses have?

Answer 12

• capsid
• RNA or DNA freely suspended
• tail sheath

Question 13

What is biodiversity?

Answer 13

• number/diversity of habitats and ecosystems
• number of different species
• genetic variation within each species

Question 14

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 14

• community of organisms and the environment in which they live and interact with

Question 15

What is a community?

Answer 15

• all the living organisms of all species found in a particular ecosystem at a particular time

Question 16

What is a habitat?

Answer 16

• place where an organism, population or community lives in

Question 17

What is a niche?

Answer 17

• the role of organism in an ecosystem

Question 18

What is species diversity?

Answer 18

• species richness
• evenness/abundance of species

Question 19

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 19

• all the alleles of all the genes in the genome of a species

Question 20

Why is genetic diversity important in species?

Answer 20

• slight difference in selection pressures in two populations
• need to adapt to changes in environment such as:
• competition
• invasive species
• resisting diseases
• change in abiotic factors

Question 21

What are the reasons for extinction?

Answer 21

• climate change
• competition/predation
• introduction of invasive species
• hunting by humans
• degradation and habitat loss

Question 22

What are the reasons for maintaining biodiversity?

Answer 22

• moral/ethical concerns
• ecological reasons:
  key-stone species, diverse ecosystem more likely to adapt to changes and survive, disruption of food webs
• economic reasons:
  medicines; antibiotics, ecotourism in national parks
• aesthetic reasons:
  botanical gardens
• agriculture reasons:
  crops have low genetic diversity; can easily go extinct, needed for food source
• environmental reasons:
  plants absorb CO2

Question 23

What are methods of conservation?

Answer 23

• national parks; restrictions on hunting and predation, generate income
• marine parks; restrictions in polluting and fishing
• zoos; captive-breeding programs, research education/raise awareness, revenue from tourism, conservation projects
• botanical gardens; research, revenue from tourism
• seed banks
• frozen zoos

Question 24

What are the methods of assisted reproduction?

Answer 24

• artificial insemination
• embryo transfer
• surrogacy (by AI or IVF)
• IVF

Question 25

What is an alien species?

Answer 25

- a species that has moved into a new ecosystem where it was previously unknown

Question 26

What are some problems of invasive species?

Answer 26

- **no natural predator, so can increase at a rapid rate** - **competition between native and non-native species** for niches, food source, light, space - can be **predators** - can introduce **new diseases** - food web disrupted - knock on effect for humans

Question 27

How are viruses classified?

Answer 27

- If they have **DNA or RNA** - If they are **double or single-stranded**

Question 28

Outline the role of IUCN:

Answer 28

- **global/worldwide authority** - gives advice to **conserve habitats** and nature - assesses/categorizes, **species conservation** status - **Red List** (of Threatened Species) - influences **governments** / policy - **educates** / raise awareness

Question 29

Outline the role of CITES:

Answer 29

- **global** agreement - **conservation** of endangered species - **categorizes** species into 3 appendices - **educate**/ raise awareness