Life on Earth Worksheet Essay

8. What is the purpose of taxonomy? How is it used in biology? [see Taxonomy]

There are twelve species within the same genus and have subtle variations in physical appearances, all living in freshwater, but due

According to our text species of living things are related in some fashion similar to a branching tree. However the process is not quite that simple adaption relies on several processes and to prove this or the

Part 2) Explain and evaluate the significance of the evidence given to justify this phylogeny. Using the relationship between jaw bone, size, brain and body weight, etc.

Figure 7. A. Species classification for the 14 different species found in the area of study. B. Percentage based on the relative frequencies of each class in the area of study.

Previous research, which is almost entirely fossil-based, concludes mammoth mitochondrial DNA can be sorted into 5 haplogroups or 3 major clades. This hypothesis is correct however up until this study was published the timing of the clade evolution of the order in which they evolved was not known.

Knowledge of relationships between animals may allow us to deduce the answer: the two main branches of the animal tree are protostomes and deuterostomes, while the trunk of the tree includes sponges and cnidarians. The first appearance of these protostome and deuterostome groups is arguably in the Cambrian period – while arguments have been made for an earlier bilaterian, for instance the 555 million year old Kimberella, they are not persuasive – for reasons discussed later in this essay. We can assert that whatever was shared by two or more groups was likely to have been present in their last common ancestor. In this case, all members have bilateral organization in their life stages. Thus, the theory of the common ancestor of bilaterians – Urbilateria – arose (De Robertis & Sasai,

The study required the use of fossil records and the molecular phylogeny. The author isolated proteins found in the collagen of the ancient remains of these creatures and sequenced it. The author then observed the structure using liquid chromatography (tandem mass spectrometry). As a result, a phylogenetic tree was created with many creatures linked based on the collagen protein similarities. The final result was consistent with the actual ungulates of modern South American creatures; however, the author was also able to find the placement of distinctly related groups of mammals within the phylogeny.

With there being more than 50,000 species of vertebrates alone it is essential for all biology majors to have a working knowledge of the tree of life. The two perspectives for teaching zoology are the Linnean taxonomical and the Phylogenetic clade-based perspective. The Linnean taxonomical perspective is a rank-based hierarchy while the phylogenetic clade-based perspective groups species by focusing a common ancestor and its descendants. In regards to teaching zoology there is more value in using the phylogenetic clade-based perspective rather than the Linnean perspective because it allows students to organize the details of biodiversity with a more rational system.

A 4.8 percent difference was found in the two fish types DNA. This 4.8 percent difference was enough to declare the Indonesian coelacanth a separate species from the African coelacanth. Though the difference seemed like a very small difference it is in fact much a much larger difference than the less than 2 % difference of DNA between humans and chimpanzees. When thought of this was the two species seem to be very different though they appear very similar. This was intriguing because it would be expected that the appearance of the two species should be more different since they are so far away from each other in terms of their DNA. When considering the difference between the appearance and behavior of chimpanzees and humans it is perplexing that the two species of coelacanth are so similar and yet so very different.

When discussing distinct species, what frequently appears is the factor of reproduction, more accurately reproductive isolation. The ability to interbreed with individuals in their species and produced infertile offspring when mating with those from other closely related groups has been the “go-to” qualification (Cawley, 1). However, there are instances where different species are able to produce viable progeny. In fact, “25% of plant species and 10% of all animal species hybridize successfully with at least one other species” (Hendry, 1). Consequently, the question

Most people think that elephants drink the water directly from their nose, but they actually blow the water into their mouth through the nostrils. The trunk also is used for preparing meals, and picking up objects and food. Elephants can also show their mood through their trunk. They are able to fend off other elephants of can use the trunk as a punching or thrusting weapon. Also, the tip of the trunk is different on both species. The African elephant has two “fingers” on the end and Asian elephants have one “finger” on the end of the trunk. However this does not make the Asian elephant any less skillful, but most of the time they approach many things differently.

The largest animal on earth is the African elephant. They grow to be ten to twelve feet tall at the shoulders. They may weigh six tons. That is about the same as what a big truck weighs. African elephants have three traits. They have large ears, long curved tusks, and flexible trunks. Their big ears help the elephants to keep cool. They move their ears back and forth like a fan. African elephants also use their ears for communication. Happiness and anger are two feelings they show. Male and female elephants have curved tusks that stick out of the sides of their mouths. The tusks may grow up to eight feet long. The elephants’ trunks are used for many purposes. They use them for breathing, for sucking up water, for smelling, and

The modern concept of species is difficult to apply to asexual organisms, fossil organisms, populations at an intermediate stage of divergence, and allopatric populations. There is no way to check interbreeding in extinct fossil organism. We cannot determine interbreeding in dinosaur fossils. We cannot acquire breeding information from asexual species, such as bacteria that use binary fission. Populations in an intermediate

For example, these creatures are between 9.2 and 11.2 ft long, and weigh from 5000 to 14,000 lb., with the average bull being around 12,000 lb. in weight.10, 11 African elephants are also capable of running as fast as 16mph.12 What about specific physical characteristics and capabilities? The African elephant harbors hair on its body that is lost, although not in its entirety, with age, and also wears a pair of sizable ears on its head, which dispel its body heat.13, 14 Also on its head, is found the elephant's nose, called a trunk, which completes its function of smelling with exceeding capacity.15 This trunk, which is made up of 100,000 muscles, is, of course, used to smell other elephants, for such purposes as that of a bull finding out whether a cow is fertile, but it is also utilized as a means