Chapter 1 - Introduction to Biological Diversity – Summary notes

1.1 Terminology:
1. Biodiversity - The variety of living organisms and the variety of ecosystems that they form.
2. Systematics - The scientific study of the diversity of organisms and their evolutionary relationships.
3. Taxonomy - The science of naming, describing and classifying organisms.
4. Classification - Arranging organisms into groups based on their similarities, which reflect historical
relationships among lineages.

1.2 Binomial System of Nomenclature

- Proposed by Carolus Linnaeus in 18th C.
Rules & Regulations:
1. Every organism has one scientific name.
2. Every scientific name consists of two words.
3. The first word of a scientific name designates the genus and the second word is called specific
epithet.
4. The first letter of the first word is capitalized whereas the first letter of the second word is not.

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5. Scientific name must be underlined or italicized.
6. Scientific names are generally derived from Greek or Latin roots or from Latinized versions of

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the names of persons, places or characteristics

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1.3 Hierarchy of Classificationrs e
-The range of taxonomic categories from species to kingdom forms a hierarchy.
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Domain  Kingdom  Phylum  Class Order  Family  Genus  Species
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Domain consists of a few related kingdoms,

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Kingdom consists of a few related phyla.

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Phylum consists of a few related classes,… etc

1.4 Classification of Organisms

2–Kingdom classification: Plantae & Animalia
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From time of Aristotle to mid 19th C, biologists divided organisms into 2 kingdoms.
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3–Kingdom classification: Protista, Plantae & Animalia

Ernst Haeckel (1866) proposed a third kingdom, Protista (Protoctista) to accommodate bacteria &
other microorganisms such as Euglena.
Today, kingdom Protista includes algae, protozoa, water molds & slime mold, no bacteria.
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5–Kingdom classification: Prokaryotae (Monera), Protista, Fungi, Plantae & Animalia

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R.H.Whittaker (1969) suggested fungi to be removed from the plant kingdom and classified in their
own kingdom Fungi (not photosynthetic and absorb nutrients produced by other organisms)
Kingdom Prokaryotae (formerly called Monera) was established to accommodate bacteria (lack
distinct nuclei & other membranous organelles).

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 6–Kingdom classification: Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Prostista, Fungi, Plantae & Animalia.
Late 1970s, Carl Woese of the University of Illinois and his colleagues analyzed RNA of organisms to
study their evolutionary relationships. He proposed that there are two fundamentally different
groups of bacteria, Archaebacteria and Eubacteria.

Now, biologists group organisms into:

3 Domains: Eubacteria, Archaea, Eukarya
6 Kingdoms: Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae & Animalia.

1.5 Systematic & Phylogeny

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- The goal of systematics is to determine the evolutionary relationships, or phylogeny, among and
between species and higher taxa.

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- Systematists uses similarities in structural, physiological, developmental, behavioral, and molecular
traits among the organisms (living or fossil) when constructing phylogeny.

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Homology refers to the presence in two or more species of a structure derived from a recent
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common ancestor.
Homologous structures have the same structure, different functions & show a common ancestry.
Eg. The bones in a bat's wing, human's arm, penguin's flipper are the same (homologous), but their
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functions are different.

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Homoplasy (analogy)- A characteristic that superficially appears to be homologous, but is actually

independently acquired through convergent evolution.
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eg. Wings of a butterfly and birds which both are adapted for flight, but from different ancestor.
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Shared ancestral characters (plesiomorphic characters) are traits that were present in an ancestral
species and remain present in all the groups that descended from that ancestor.
E.g. Vertebral column present in all vertebrates
Shared derived characters (synapomorphic characters) are traits found in two or more taxa that
first appeared in their most recent common ancestor.
E.g. Between dogs, dolphins and whale which are all mammals, the absence of hair in
dolphins and whales is a derived character within mammals providing evidence that these animals
evolved from a common ancestor not shared by dogs.

Three kinds of taxonomic grouping:

1. Monophyletic taxon
The group that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.

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 2. Paraphyletic taxon
The group that contains a common ancestor and some, but not all, of its descendants.

3. Polyphyletic taxon
- The group that consists of several evolutionary lines and not including the most recent common
ancestor of the included lineages.

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In determining the relationships among organisms, systematists use a variety of data and methods.
Three Systematic Approaches:
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1. Phenetics or numerical taxonomy

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2. Evolutionary systematics (classical evolutionary systematics)

3. Phylogenetic systematics (cladistics)
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Phenetics or numerical Evolutionary systematics Phylogenetic systematics

taxonomy (cladistics)
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Based on phenotypic Based on shared ancestral & Based on shared derived

similarities shared derived characters characters only
Show evolutionary relationship Show evolutionary relationship of Show evolutionary relationship of
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of organisms in the form of organisms in the form of organisms in the form of

phylogenetic diagram phylogenetic tree cladogram
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Do not consider homology & Consider homology & homoplasy Consider homology & homoplasy
homoplasy
Do not consider monophyletic Accept monophyletic & Accept monophyletic group only
& paraphyletic group paraphyletic group
Do not accept differences / Accept differences / Accept differences /
dissimilarities dissimilarities dissimilarities

The End & Happy Reading

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