bio 14

• Systematic survey of the diversity of life with emphasis on functional organization, maintenance and integration, reproduction and development; evolution of major groups of microorganisms, plants and animals; interrelationships of organisms with their environment.
• Life


  It is defined as the property of matter resulting from the coupled cycling of bioelements in aqueous solution and ultimately driven by radiant energy to attain maximum complexity.
• 6 Unifying features of life

  1. Living organisms are made up of bioelements.
  2. Life is dependent on water.
  3. Life occurs in the presence of coupled cycling of nutrients.
  4. Life occurs in the presence of a flow of energy.
  5. Life is orderly.
  6. Life adjusts to a changing environment.
• Basic Bioelements

  1. carbon
  2. hydrogen
  3. nitrogen
  4. oxygen
  5. phosphorus
  6. sulfur.
• Living things have fluids made up of 90% water and 10% solutes (organic and inorganic).
• Biodiversity


  The variety of living organisms considered at all levels of organization including the genetic, species, and higher taxonomic levels, as well as the variety of habitats and ecosystems and the processes occurring in an area
• Levels of biodiversity

  • Genetic diversity
  • Species diversity
  • Ecosystem/biome diversity
• Genetic diversity


  • Diversity within a species, expressed as different phenotypes or features of individuals
  • Provides the ultimate source of biodiversity at all levels
  • Higher genetic diversity indicates greater potential for evolutionary change and adaptation
• Species diversity


  • Diversity of different species within an area
  • Often the focus when discussing biodiversity conservation
  • Can be measured by species richness (number of species) or diversity indices (accounting for abundance)
• Ecosystem/biome diversity


  • Diversity of different habitats and ecosystems within an area
  • Includes variety of communities and processes occurring
• Only about 1.5 million living species have been scientifically described and named, but it is estimated there are 10-50 million species on Earth
• The Western Amazon basin is the most diverse area for flowering plants globally
• It is estimated that about 10% to 20% of all living things have been closely inspected, had their details described, and have been given a scientific name
• There is still 90% of living species which still do not have a name, have not been described, and therefore the human race simply does not know about them
• A large fraction of these living species will disappear and become extinct even before we know of them or before they've been named
• The Western Amazon basin is the most diverse area when it comes to flowering plants, with more flowering plants per hectare than anywhere else in the world
• A ridge in the Western Amazon basin that was collected and studied extensively was later found to have been cleared for cattle farming, and many of the species on that ridge were only known before they were made extinct
• There are millions of species in groups like viruses, bacteria, protists, unicellular organisms, nematodes, mites, and insects that have not been described
• The majority of vertebrates and plants have been described, but a huge number of insects and other microscopic or cryptic organisms are still to be described
• The higher-level taxonomic diversity (kingdoms, phyla, classes) is generally higher in the marine environment compared to the terrestrial environment, as the oceans are the cradle of life on Earth
• An example of a newly discovered organism that did not fit into any known phyla was found living on the feelers of a lobster or shrimp in Norway
• Ecosystem


  The biotic community and abiotic environment functioning as a system, such as a freshwater pond or a grassland
• Biome


  A major regional ecological community with similar characteristics, such as a tropical rainforest biome
• Trinidad has high ecosystem-level biodiversity due to its position at the boundary between different biomes and environments
• Species richness and biodiversity have generally increased over geological time, as shown by the fossil record, with fluctuations and declines at certain mass extinction events
• We are currently in the middle of a mass extinction event, so we are losing the peak of species diversity that the world has ever seen
• Biologists recommend either a global biological inventory to discover and classify all species, or the rapid recognition and preservation of threatened habitats with the highest number of endemic species
• New and innovative methods are being used to sample and describe biodiversity, especially in the least explored areas like tropical rainforests
• There is a great need for taxonomists and specialists to describe the millions of undescribed species, especially in groups like insects, nematodes, and other microscopic organisms
• Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40-90 A.D.) wrote De Materia Medica which is one of the first book medicinal plants of Greece and classification
• Universal System of Nomenclature: binomial naming (genus + string of

  Latin words and phrases: specific epithet)
• Various systems of classification

  • artificial systems
  • natural systems
  • phylogenetic systems
• Carl von Linne (Carolus Linnaeus) writes Systema Naturae about plants, animals, and minerals.
• Species Plantarum: Another writing of Linnaeus which classify plants according to the number and arrangement of sexual parts.