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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

WHAT IS

ZOOLOGY?

"Zoology is the scientific study of the behavior, structure, physiology, classification, and distribution of animals."

  1. Cellular organization

  2. Reproduction

  3. Metabolism

  4. Homeostasis

  5. Heredity

  6. Response to stimuli

  7. Growth and development

  8. Adaptation through evolution

CHARACTERISTICS

OF LIFE

To have cellular organization means that the organism is made up of cells. There are many different types of cells such as plant cells, fungi cells, bacteria cells, and animal cells.

 

The organism must be able to reproduce meaning that it needs to be able to make more of itself, either sexually or asexually.

 

Metabolism is a collection of reactions that take place inside the organism in order to sustain the life of the organism. These reactions can be used to break down food, produce ATP, build proteins, etc. 

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The maintenance of homeostasis is also an important characteristic of life. The organism needs to be able to have some regulation of body temperature, blood sugar levels, etc.

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An organism must have genetic material that can be passed down to the next generation after reproduction. This is encoded for by DNA.

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Whether it is chemically, or physically a living organism must be able to respond to stimuli from the environment. For instance, some plants can release chemicals when they are being eaten to ward off their attackers.

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During the life of an organism, it must be able to grow and change. Whether it grows in size or changes its morphology the organism must change in someway over its life.

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Although individual organisms don't evolve, it's population must to sustain life and pass on its heredity to the next generation.

CLASSIFICATION

Animal species are compared and classified into groups based on how closely related they are. The further you go down, they more related the species become.

WHAT IS A

CLADOGRAM?

"A cladogram is a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species."

They are used to show the evolutionary relationships between organisms. They are organized used the shared derived characteristics of those organisms. Shared derived characteristics are things that different organisms have in common. This is evidence that they may have evolved from a common ancestor somewhere down the line.

More often than not, a cladogram will have an outgroup present. An outgroup is organisms that don't seem to have much in common with many of the other organisms. It is defined specifically as "a group of organisms not belonging to the group whose evolutionary relationships are being investigated."

Want to make your own Cladogram?

Here's a helpful video!

References Used:

  • Class/Lecture notes

  • All videos posted are from Youtube

  • Example cladogram original image from Good Images

  • Markings and explanations of example cladogram added by me.

  • Web site used:

http://study.com/academy/lesson/8-characteristics-of-life-in-biology.html

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