2: Classification & Phylogeny

Cards (28)

  • Eukarya
    Domain of all organisms whose cells have nuclei, including protists, plants, fungi, and animals
  • Archaea
    Domain of unicellular prokaryotes that have cell walls that do not contain peptidoglycan
  • Bacteria
    Single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus; prokaryotes
  • Metabolism
    All of the chemical reactions that occur within an organism
  • Replication
    Copying process by which a cell duplicates its DNA
  • Three Domains of Life
    Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya, based on ribosomal RNA gene sequences
  • Fin whale
    An endangered species with the Latin name Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Biological species concept
    Defines a group of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated but phenotypically similar
  • Hierarchical Classification
    Linnaeus's system that groups species into increasingly broad categories, from domain to species
  • Carl Linnaeus
    Founder of binomial nomenclature and the father of modern taxonomy
  • John Ray
    Defined species as organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring
  • Aristotle
    Classified organisms based on qualities like shape, ability to do harm, and habitat
  • Taxonomy
    Branch of biology that names and groups organisms based on characteristics and evolutionary history
  • Binomial nomenclature
    System of naming species with a genus and species name, underlined or italicized, developed by Linnaeus
  • Diversity of Life
    Resulted in 1.6 million identified types of plants and animals, with 3-10 million unidentified organisms
  • Geographical evidence of evolution
    Includes the distribution of plant and animal life on major land masses, showing independent evolution
  • Biological evidence of evolution
    Includes anatomical, embryological, immunological, and biochemical affinities suggesting relatedness by descent
  • Geological evidence of evolution
    Includes the fossil record showing slow change over time
  • Natural selection
    Process by which nature selects 'fit' individuals of a species and rejects the 'unfit', leading to evolution
  • Theory of Evolution
    Provides an explanation of how the variety of organisms present today came into existence
  • Endosymbiotic theory
    Explains the origins of chloroplasts and mitochondria in eukaryotes through a mutually beneficial relationship
  • Photosynthetic pigments
    Contained in thylakoids, infoldings of the membrane in cyanobacteria, no chloroplasts
  • Stromatolites
    Oldest fossils, fossilized mats of prokaryotes resembling modern microbial colonies/biofilms
  • Cyanobacteria
    Photosynthetic bacteria that appeared about 3.5 billion years ago and produced oxygen
  • Anaerobic prokaryotes
    First life forms, e.g. methane producing archaea-bacteria, appeared about 3.5 billion years ago
  • Replication and metabolism
    Key properties of life that may have appeared together
  • Protocells
    Fluid-filled vesicles with a membrane-like structure, formed by lipids and organic molecules in water
  • Affinities
    Features suggesting that organisms are related by descent.