Chapter 1

• Morphological variation refers to body shape, size and other structural features, which are important for plants.
• Simplicity is a key aspect of morphological variation, as it is beneficial for plants.
• There can be too much variation in morphological variation, which can lead to confusion and make it difficult to identify species.
• All populations are made up of non-identical individuals.
• Biological variation focuses on the ability of two organisms to produce fertile offspring, which is widely used.
• Biological variation cannot be applied in all cases, as it excludes species that are physically distanced, asexual reproduction, and fossil species.
• Phylogenetic variation is the evolutionary history of an organism, which can be determined through DNA analysis.
• DNA analysis has become increasingly popular for phylogenetic variation.
• Phylogenetic variation can be applied to extinct species.
• Binomial Nomenclature, developed by Carl Linnaeus, is the system for naming a species using binomial nomenclature, which includes two parts: the genus and the species.
• The scientific name, which is identified as SPECIES NAME, is italicized when typed, with the first letter of the genus name capitalized, and the second name in lower case.
• If the name is hand written, both the genesis and species names are underlined.
• Classification is the grouping of organisms based on a set of criteria that helps to organize and indicate evolutionary relationships.
• Species concepts (morphological, biological, and phylogeny) help to determine which groups of organisms make up a species.
• Binomial nomenclature allows scientists to name these species.
• There are 8 taxonomic categories known as a rank in hierarchical classification.
• The name in each rank is a taxon (or taxa).
• The taxonomic categories in hierarchical classification are: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
• As you move from Kingdom to Species, living things are more closely related.
• According to the Woese system, introduced in 1990, the tree of life (biology) consists of three domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya (nucleus).
• The first two domains, Archaea and Bacteria, are all prokaryotic microorganisms, or single-celled organisms whose cells have no nucleus.
• Morphological evidence can be used to compare species and determine their evolutionary relationships.
• Anatomy, the structure and form of an organism, can be studied to determine how closely related species are.
• Scientists not only study organisms alive today, but also fossils of those who lived in the past.
• Physiology is the study of the functioning of organisms, including the study of their biochemistry.
• Scientists study the type of proteins animals make, as the type of proteins they synthesize is determined by their DNA.
• If the proteins of two animals are similar, it indicates that they must have similar DNA, indicating a closer relationship.
• DNA evidence is the best evidence available when determining relationships amongst organisms.
• Technological advances over the past few decades have made it possible to determine the sequence of DNA of organisms.
• The closer the sequences are between organisms, the closer they are related.
• A phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram used to show the evolutionary relationships among species.
• Scientists use information to find sources of pharmaceutical drugs, hormones, and other medical products.
• An organism made up of only one cell is called unicellular.
• Scientists use information to trace the transmission of disease and develop/test possible treatments.
• An organism made up of more than one cell is called multicellular.
• Scientists use information to increase crop yields and disease resistance.
• Scientists use information for environmental conservation.
• There are two major types of cells, Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic.
• Prokaryotic cells are the most ancient of cells and do not contain membrane bound organelles or a membrane bound nucleus.
• Prokaryotic indicates that the cells existed before the nucleus.