MODULE #18: EXAMINING HOW POPULATIONS OF ORGANISM HAVE 2. Is natural selection survival of the fittest?

CHANGED
"Survival of the fittest" is a popular term that refers to the process of
Microevolution - involves changes that occur within species in short natural selection, a mechanism that drives evolutionary change.
periods of time as population go through natural selection. In this Natural selection works by giving individuals who are better adapted
pattern of change, organisms with useful trait survive and those to a given set of environmental conditions an advantage over those
without useful traits die. This trait is then passed on to the next that are not as well adapted.
generation.

MODULE #21: DIFFERENTIATING THE TWO AND THREE KINGDOM

SYSTEM

There are 4 fundamental forces evolution, and they are believed to be

the reason why organisms changed.

The first is Natural Selection of Charles Darwin from the topic It was Aristotle who first classified organisms into plants and animals
yesterday. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional (2 kingdom system). The problem was that microscopic organisms
advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. were not included. Only those that are visible to the naked eye were
Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage (ex. categorized into the two-kingdom systems. Later on, Carolus
it grew wings and learned to fly). Its offspring would inherit that Linnaeus further developed this system and unicellular forms were
advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior arbitrarily assigned to one of these kingdoms. In this two-kingdom
(disadvantaged) members of the same species would gradually die out, system, those that do not move and are green in color are considered
leaving only the superior (advantaged) members of the species. Those plants, and, those that move belong to the animal category.
who fit in the environment well, survive.
But then, it is still a concern on how to classify the unicellular
The second one is the Genetic Drift. Populations of organisms are organisms in these two kingdoms. It was Ernst Haeckel (1866) who
constantly changing and adapting to their environment. Drastic proposed that the Kingdom Protista shall be included to solve the
changes in environmental conditions can sometimes cause drastic problem of classifying the unicellular forms. The Kingdom Protista
changes to the gene pool of the population. Genetic drift is when includes all unicellular organisms.
chance events cause changes in frequencies of alleles in a population.
MODULE #22: DISCOVERING AND COMPARING THE 5 AND 6
The third one is the Mutation which is permanent alteration of the
KINGDOM SYSTEM
nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism. These changes
can be caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation
from the sun, or can occur if a mistake is made as DNA copies itself
during cell division. Acquired mutations in somatic cells (cells other
than sperm and egg cells) cannot be passed on to the next generation.

Last is the Gene Flow. In population genetics, gene flow (also known
as gene migration) is the transfer of alleles or genes from one
population to another. Migration into or out of a population may be
responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies (the proportion
of members carrying a particular variant of a gene).

FAQS

1. What can cause natural selection? Robert Whittaker (1969) popularized the five-kingdom system. His
Four conditions are needed for natural selection to occur: classification is based on what type the cell is and its mode of nutrition.
reproduction, heredity, variation in fitness or organisms, variation in This system emphasizes the structural differences between
individual characters among members of the population. If they are prokaryotes and eukaryotes. It recognizes one kingdom of
met, natural selection automatically results. prokaryotes (Monera) and four kingdoms of eukaryotes (Protista,
Fungi, Plantae and Animalia).
DO YOU STILL REMEMBER PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTES? are multicellular. Some obtain nutrients from dead organic matter
Prokaryotes - unicellular without true nucleus. (decomposers) and from other living organisms (parasites). They
Eukaryotes - multicellular and unicellular with true nucleus. reproduce sexually or asexually.

FIVE-KINGDOM SYSTEM The Kingdom Plantae are multicellular, eukaryotic photosynthetic

autotrophs containing chloroplasts. They are non-motile (fixed to one
The Kingdom Monera contained the prokaryotes. spot). Their cell wall is made of cellulose. This kingdom includes the
bryophytes (seedless vascular plants), ferns and allies and the seed-
The Kingdom Protista contained the unicellular eukaryotic organisms
bearing plants (gymnosperm and angiosperm)
(protozoa and unicellular eukaryotic algae). The multicellular
organisms were split into three kingdoms on the basis of mode of The Kingdom Animalia is multicellular and heterotrophic. They
nutrition and other fundamental differences in organization. require oxygen for aerobic respiration. They reproduce sexually or
asexually. They are motile during at least a part of the life cycle.
The Kingdom Fungi contained the molds and yeasts which obtain
their food by absorption of nutrients from dead decaying.

The Kingdom Plantae included multicellular photosynthetic MODULE #23: IDENTIFYING THE CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANISM
organisms, higher plants and multicellular algae.
The graphic organizer below is all about the hierarchy of organism
The Kingdom Animalia consisted of the invertebrates and based on their classification, One way to remember these in order is:
vertebrates. Most of these forms ingest their food and digest it "Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.
internally, although some forms are absorptive to some extent.

Carl Woese (1990) proposed the six-kingdom system. The

prokaryotes (Monera) are split into two kingdoms based on ribosomal
RNA and other products. This system includes two prokaryotic
kingdoms (Archaebacteria and Eubacteria) and four eukaryotic
kingdoms (Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia). The archaebacteria
are believed to have evolved from the earliest cells. They inhabit
extreme environments such as hot springs and salt ponds. The
eubacteria are considered as the more "modern" prokaryotes. They
are more numerous than the archaebacteria.

SIX-KINGDOM SYSTEM

The Kingdom Archaebacteria contains cell walls lack muramic acid.

They are also called as extremophiles because they are found in harsh
environments. Many of which are anaerobic. This kingdom includes
those that live in highly saline environment (halophiles), very hot A hierarchical system is used for classifying organisms to the species
environment (thermophiles) and in environment with methane gas. level. This system is called taxonomic classification. The broadest
classifications are by domain and kingdom; the most specific
The Kingdom Eubacteria are the true bacteria. Their cell walls have classification is by genus and species. The hierarchical groupings in
peptidoglycan. They can be Autotrophic (can make own food) or between include phylum, class, family, and order.
heterotrophic (cannot manufacture their own food). This kingdom
includes proteobacteria, gram positive bacteria, gram negative Species are the basic unit of classification. While there are different
bacteria, cyanobacteria, spirochetes and Chlamydia views on what defines a species, in sexually reproducing organisms, a
species has traditionally been defined by the ability of its members to
The Kingdom Protista is its informal name because it mostly consists reproduce together to form fertile offspring. A group of organisms at
of unicellular eukaryotes. They exhibit more structural and functional any particular level in a classification system is called taxon. In plant
diversity than any other group of eukaryotes. They are most taxonomy, a division is the equivalent to phylum. A related group of
nutritionally diverse of all eukaryotes, including photoautotrophs (can genera comprise a family. The oldest level of taxonomic classification
produce own food), heterotrophs (absorbs organic molecules or ingest is genus.
larger food particles) and mixotrophs (photosynthesis and
heterotrophic nutrition). This kingdom also includes animal like, plant Classification level Name Characterized by
like and fungus like organisms. Domain Eukarya Nucleus, organelles
Kingdom Animalia Ingests food, multicellular,
The Kingdom Fungi are eukaryotic organisms with cell walls no cell wall
containing chitin. Organisms in this kingdom lack chlorophyll and are Phylum Chordata Spinal cord
heterotrophic. There may be some which are unicellular or some that Subphylum Vertebrata Segmented backbone
Superclass Tetrapoda Four limbs certain groups of animals e.g., birds.
Class Mammalia Nurse offspring
Subclass Theria Live birth Internal morphology Both the soft as well as hard parts of practically
all groups of higher animals have been used as taxonomic characters
Order Primates High level of intelligence
Family Hominidae Walk upright Larval stages and Embryology Various immature or larval stages, the
Genus Homo Human embryology and sometimes even the eggs may provide taxonomic
Species Homosapiens Modern human information e.g., the various sibling species of the Anopheles
maculipenis complex were discovered owing to differences in egg
When identifying an organism, familiar names like human, fruit fly, or structure; the classification of white flies is based primarily on the
maple tree are most likely the names you use. However, each type of pupae. Comparative studies of embryological characters like cleavage
organism has a scientific name humans are called Homo sapiens, for pattern, basculation, gastrulation is also useful in certain phyla.
example. Scientific names are derived from the genus and species
names in a system known as binomial nomenclature ("bi" = two; Karyology is the description of chromosome structure, size, shape
"nom" = name). When species names appear in print, the genus is and number. Chromosomes are particularly useful on two different
always capitalized and the species name is not, and both names levels: (1) they aid in the comparison of closely related species,
appear in italics or underlined but not both. Example: Homo sapiens or including sibling species. These are often far more different
Homo sapiens. chromosomally than in their external morphology. (2) chromosomal
patterns are of extreme importance in establishing phyletic lines.
MODULE #24: IDENTIFYING THE UNIQUE AND DISTINCTIVE
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPECIFIC TAXON RELATIVE TO OTHER TAXA.
2. Physiological
All structures are the products of physiological processes and are thus
related to physiological characters. By physiological characters, one
generally means growth constants, temperature tolerances and the
various processes studied by comparative physiologist. These
characters cannot be studied in preserved materials. E.g., Serology:
The proteins of one organism will react more strongly with antibodies
to the proteins of a closely related or

eding season, tolerance to various physical factors, resistance to

predators, competitors and pathogens and in other ecological
factors. E.g., the larvae of both Drosophila mulleri and Drosophila
aldriachi live simultaneously in the decaying pulp of the fruits of
Taxonomic characters are any attributes of a member of a taxon by cactus Opuntia lindheimeri. The two species are markedly specialized
which it differs or may differ from a member of a different taxon. in their preference for certain yeast and bacteria. Similarly, tapeworms
of man and rodents and ascaris of men and pigs, though differ slightly,
This is a characteristic by which member of two taxa agree but differ can be identified by their host specificity. Each genus of Galapagos
from members of a third taxon. finches is characterized by its utilization of the environment.
Geospiza is a ground finch while Camarhyncus is a tree finch.

KINDS OF TAXONOMIC CHARACTERS

4. Ethological
1. Morphological Behavior is one of the most important sources of taxonomic
The morphological characteristics give valuable information which characteristics. They are clearly superior to morphological
helps taxonomists to a great extent because they are easy and can characteristics in the study of closely related species. Similarly,
conventionally be used in the classification of plants. Besides the bioacoustics like mating calls of frogs and toads and crickets are used
conventional morphological characteristics, others like habit, for species delimitation. In other instances, the pattern of the webbing
underground organs, leaves, seedling morphology, stipules, non- constructed by spiders can used in various levels in classification.
conventional characteristics of floral parts, seeds, etc. give valuable
information on how organisms differ. 5. Geographical
Geographical characteristics are among the most useful tools for
Other examples include plumage of bird, pelage of mammals, scale clarifying a confused taxonomic picture and for testing taxonomic
counts of fishes and reptiles hypothesis. The taxonomist is primarily interested in two kinds of
geographical characteristics: (1) general biogeographic patterns,
Special structures (e.g., Genitalia) Differences in genitalic structures which are especially useful in the arrangement of higher taxa, (2) the
has been used to delimit species. It is very effective in insects where allopatric-sympatric relationship, which is most helpful in
lock and key relationships exist between male and female copulatory determining whether or not two populations are conspecific.
organs. Color pattern and other aspect of coloration are among the
most easily recognized and thus the most convenient characteristics in
MODULE #25: DESCRIBING SPECIES DIVERSITY AND CLADISTICS in birds is the presence of eyes. Eyes are present not only in birds but
also in many other groups of animals that share a common ancestor
CLADISTICS with birds. Therefore, the presence of feathers can identify an
organism as a bird, but the presence of eyes cannot. In cladistics, the
The most common method of incorporating information into
sharing of derived traits is the most important evidence for
phylogenetic trees is called cladistics. Cladistics depict hypotheses
evolutionary relationships. Organisms with the same derived traits
about how organisms are related based on traits of ancestor and
(such as feathers) are grouped in the same clade.
descendent species. Use of Cladistics was developed in the 1950s by a
scientist named Willi Hennig. Over the next several decades, it became
very popular and is still widely used today. A derived trait is not necessarily an entirely new trait. More often it is a
modified form of an ancestral trait. For example, birds evolved
feathers from the scales that were already present in their reptile
The term cladistics comes from the word clade. A clade is a group of ancestor. Similarly, mammals evolved fur from the scales of their
organisms that includes an ancestor species and all of its descendants. reptilian ancestors.
A diagram showing evolutionary relationships within one or more
clades is called a cladogram. A clade is a relative concept. How you More than one possible cladogram can usually be created from the
define a clade depends on which species you are interested in same set of data. In fact, the number of possible cladograms increases
classifying. Small clades can include as few as two species and their exponentially with the number of species included in the analysis.
common ancestor. The larger clades can include many more species Only one cladogram is possible with two species. More than 100
and their common ancestors. cladograms are possible with five species. With nine species, more
than two million cladograms are possible!
As another example, consider the cladogram of insect phylogeny
shown in Figure 1 on the side. According to this cladogram, beetles Phylogenetic Classification
were the first insect to A cladogram shows how species may be related by descent from a
branch off from a common common ancestor. A classification of organisms on the basis of such
ancestor. Then, the group relationships is called a phylogenetic classification. A phylogenetic
that includes wasps, bees, classification involves placing organisms in a clade with their
and ants branched off. common ancestor. Consider the cladogram in Figure 3 below. It groups
Finally, flies branched off birds in the same clade as reptiles, because a variety of evidence
from their common ancestor with butterflies and moths. All insects suggests that birds evolved from a reptilian ancestor. The cladogram
can be considered a clade because they have a common ancestor. places mammals in a separate clade, because evidence suggests that
Butterflies, moths, and flies can also be considered a clade for the mammals evolved from a different ancestor.
same reason.

Generating Cladograms
How do scientists construct cladograms like the one about insects?
The starting point is a set of data on traits of a group of related species.
The traits could be physical traits, genetic traits, or both. The next step
is deciding which traits were inherited from the common ancestor and
ILES
which traits evolved only in a descendant species after splitting off REPT
from the common ancestor. Traits inherited from a common ancestor
are called ancestral traits. Traits that evolved since two groups shared
a common ancestor are called derived traits, and both types of traits
are illustrated in Figure 2 below.
Figure 4 shows the phylogenetic classification of reptiles, birds, and
mammals based on the cladogram in Figure above. Birds are grouped
with reptiles in one clade, called the Sauropsids. Mammals and their
reptile-like ancestor are grouped in a separate clade, called the
Synapsids. Compare this phylogenetic classification with the Linnaean
classification, also shown in Figure below. In the Linnaean
classification, reptiles, birds, and mammals are all placed in separate
classes based on differences in physical traits. This classification
artificially separates both birds and mammals from their reptilian
ancestors. It also illustrates the difficulty of showing evolutionary
relationships with Linnaean taxonomy.
Consider birds as an example. A derived trait in birds is feathers. The
trait is present only in birds and was not inherited from a common
ancestor of birds and other organisms. An example of an ancestral trait
  Base sequence data may be influenced by horizontal gene
transfer. This occurs when an organism passes DNA to an
unrelated organism. First discovered in bacteria in 1959, it is
now known to be common in bacteria and some other
microorganisms. Horizontal gene transfer can make species
seem more closely related than they really are.

Because of horizontal gene transfer, some biologists have started to

question whether phylogenetic trees are the best way to show
evolutionary relationships. This is especially true for those biologists
Figure 4 The cladistic classification on the right assumes that mammals and birds
that are interested in classifying bacteria. An entirely new process of
evolved from different reptilian ancestors. Mammals are placed in one clade, and birds determining evolutionary relationships may be needed in order to
are placed in another clade (with modern reptiles). include horizontal gene transfer.

Evidence for Evolutionary Relationships

Traditionally, evidence for evolutionary relationships included

similarities in physical traits of form or function. For example, in
Linnaean taxonomy, homeothermy (warm-bloodedness) is one of the
traits used to separate both birds and mammals from other animals
(see Figure 4). However, this trait is not suitable for showing
evolutionary relationships between birds and mammals. This is
because birds and mammals did not inherit the trait of homeothermy
from a common ancestor. Both groups independently evolved the trait.
The presence of homeothermy in both birds and mammals is an
example of convergent evolution. In general, convergent evolution
may make two groups seem to be more closely related than they really
are. Using such traits for phylogenetic analysis can create misleading
phylogenetic classifications.

Similarities among nucleic acid base sequences provide some of the

most direct evidence of evolutionary relationships. Nucleic acids
directly control genetic traits and copies of nucleic acids are actually
passed from parents to offspring. Therefore, similarities in these traits
are likely to reflect shared ancestry. By the 1960s, scientists had found
ways to sequence the bases in nucleic acids. This coincided with the
growing popularity of cladistics. In cladistic analysis, similar nucleic
acid base sequences are assumed to indicate descent from a common
ancestor. The more similar the sequences, the more recently two
groups are assumed to have shared a common ancestor.

Many base sequence comparisons have confirmed genetic

relationships that were assumed on the basis of similarities in physical
traits. For example, 96 percent of the DNA in humans and chimpanzees
is the same. This agrees, in general, with the Linnaean classification of
chimpanzees as close human relatives.

Most biologists interested in taxonomy now use nucleic acid

sequences or other related molecular data to classify organisms.
However, using nucleic acid base sequences for phylogenetic analysis
is not without its drawbacks. Two of the drawbacks are the following:

 Data on nucleic acids can rarely be obtained for extinct

species. This is true even for species represented by fossils.
Fossil DNA and RNA generally are not sufficient in quantity or
quality to be useful for such analyses.