1. Biodiversity
Diversity Video

2. Why should Humans (at the top of the Hierarchy
of Living things) care about those below?

3. Species Diversity
Scientists have identified 1.75 million
different species of organisms.
The actual number may be 10 times more.
This is Biodiversity
Biodiversity: The number, variety, and
genetic variation of different organisms
found within a specified geographic region

4. How would you classify these?
1
3
2
2
3
4
4
1
4
1
3
2

5. The Father of Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus, also known as Carl von
Linné or Carolus Linnaeus, is often
called the Father of Taxonomy.
His system for naming, ranking, and
classifying organisms is still in wide use
today (with many changes).
His ideas on classification have
influenced generations of biologists
during and after his own lifetime, even
those opposed to the philosophical and
theological roots of his work.
(1707-1778)

6. Key factors in Evolution
1. Population is small
2. Mating opportunities are nonrandom (preferred mates
will pass on their alleles in greater numbers, ie. The robin with
the brightest breast, or the stronger Ram)
3. Mutations Occur (create new alleles, changing frequencies of
new and original allele)
4. Migration Occurs (alleles move to a different population)
5. Natural Selection Occurs (better suited alleles
reproduce, increasing their frequency in the next generations)

7. Sexual Selection
Favours the selection of any trait that influences the
mating success of the individual
Most common is female selection of the male from male
versus male competition…
colours, appearance, behaviour, songs, dancing… as they are
selected they may exaggerate over time.
Not limited to animals… but also plants, based on
attracting insects and birds (smells, colours…)
Beneficial?
or
Detrimental?

8. Speciation
Natural Selection is the same selective mechanism that
accounts for speciation
Speciation:
The evolutionary formation of new species
The evolution that occurs at the species level is
referred to as microevolution

9. What is a Species?
Species:
Members of interbreeding groups or population that are
reproductively isolated from other groups and evolve
independently

10. What do you get when you cross a Horse and a Donkey?
A mule, which is sterile!
+
=

11. Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms
Behaviour, structure or biochemical traits that prevent
individuals of different species from reproducing
successfully together
Doesn’t work for asexual organisms such as prokaryotic
organisms, some fungi and plants, and even some
vertebrates
The Flamingo Dance

12. Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms
Mechanisms that prevent interspecies mating and
fertilization
Mating Prevention
1. Ecological isolation
2. Temporal Isolation
3. Behavioural Isolation
Fertilization Prevention
1. Mechanical Isolation
2. Gametic Isolation

14. Taxonomy
The traditional science and
methodology of classifying organisms
based on physical similarities.
It is criticized for not reflecting
patterns of evolutionary relatedness.
Taxonomists classify all organisms into
a hierarcy, and give them standardized
Latin names.

15. Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
←←←←←←←←←←
Increasing diversity
Increasing similarity
→→→→→→→→→→
Levels of Classification

16. Taxonomy
A given organism belongs to one species, which
belongs to one genus, which belongs to one
family, and so on.
Conversely, a genus can contain one or many
species, a family can contain one or many genera, an
order can contain one or many families, etc.
Man
Gorilla
Chimpanzee Orangutam Gibbon

17. Taxonomy
Within a particular group of organisms, "Latinized"
ending are attached to names of all groups at the same
taxonomic level.
Divisions of plants end in "-phyta," and Families of
animals usually end in "-idae.“

18. When referring to a particular species, it is correct
to give both genus and species together. As an
example, here is the taxonomic classification for
the grey wolf:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Sub-phylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: lupus

19. When referring to a particular species, it is correct
to give both genus and species together. As an
example, here is the taxonomic classification for
the grey wolf: Canis lupus
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Sub-phylum: Vertebrata
Class: Gastropoda
Order:
Family:
Genus: Cochlicopa
Species: lubrica

20. Binomial nomenclature: system of naming organisms
using a two-part scientific name
Example: Castor canadenis, “beaver from Canada”
Species: a group of organism that resemble one
another physically, behaviourally, or genetically and
that can interbreed under natural conditions to
produce fertile offspring

21. More Naming…
Phylogenetics: the study of how organisms are related to
one another. Using the fossil record together with
characteristics of living species such as
morphology, behavior, and molecular analysis of proteins
and DNA, a "best guess" about how closely various species
are related.
Try to determine how long ago two or more species had a
common ancestor. A "phylogeny" is a sort of family
tree, showing how one group of species gave rise to other
groups.

22. More Naming…
Cladistics or Phylogenetic Systematics: the science
of classifying organisims strictly on their
evolutionary relatedness. The functional grouping unit
is a "clade," a group of organisms with a common
ancestor.

23. Dichotomous Key
A two-part key used to identify living things.
The key is constructed so that a series of choices must be
made, and each choice leads to a new branch of the key.
If choices are made accurately, the end result is the name
of the organism being identified.

24. The Evolution of Man and Diversity on Earth
Often the choice is hard: conserve a species or feed a
community, tourists' dollars or turtles' nests.
In 2003 the World Conservation Union's Red List said more
than 12,000 species (out of 40,000 assessed) faced some
extinction risk, including:
one bird in eight
13% of the world's flowering plants
a quarter of all mammals.

25. The Evolution of Man and Diversity on Earth
Science has described 1.75 million species, some
experts estimate that there may be 13 or 14 million in
the world in total - but until they are
catalogued, nobody knows.
FIVE MASS EXTINCTIONS
Cretaceous (About 65 million years ago)
Triassic (About 208 million years ago)
Permian (About 245 million years ago)
Devonian (About 360 million years ago)
Ordovician (About 438 million years ago)