Name _____________________

A Brief Survey of Life’s Diversity

1
(aka Parade through the Kingdoms)
AP WINTER BREAK ASSIGNMENT (CH 25-34).
th
Complete the questions using the chapters of Campbell’s Biology (8 edition).

CHAPTER 25: The History of Life on Earth

1. What is the earliest date for which we have clear evidence of life on Earth?

2. In your own words, how did eukaryotes arise from prokaryotes? Include the term serial
endosymbiosis in your answer.

3. What happened in the “Cambrian explosion”?

1
Adapted from a document that Dave Knuffle adapted from one prepared by Kim Foglia.
CHAPTER 26: Phylogeny and the Tree of Life
1. Why do we want our taxonomy to reflect phylogeny?

2. How is phylogenetic relatedness determined?

3. What does cladistics focus on?

4. Use of molecular clocks relies on what assumption? Is that a reasonable assumption?

5. Some have argued that it’s misleading to divide all life into two groups, prokaryotes and
eukaryotes because it implies a close relationship between Archae and Bacteria. Does such a
relationship seem to exist, based on the history of the groups?
CHAPTER 27: Bacteria and Archae
1. How common are prokaryotes on earth?

2. How do bacterial cell walls differ from plant cell walls?

3. How does the cell wall aid in classifying the bacteria?

4. List the methods bacteria use to locomote.

5. Give an example of a stimulus and describe how bacteria react to that stimulus (taxis).

6. How do bacteria typically reproduce?

7. List three methods that can genetically modify bacteria.

a. _____________________________________________________

b. _____________________________________________________

c. _____________________________________________________

8. Identify and briefly define the four nutritional categories of bacteria.

a._______________________________________________________________

b._______________________________________________________________

c._______________________________________________________________

d._______________________________________________________________
9. What are some of the differences between Archae and Bacteria?

10. What is the ecological significance of prokaryotes?

PART 2. Directions: Using Table 27.2 on page 567 and the information in the text, outline the key
characteristics that distinguish the three domains. Include examples of organisms in each domain.

Domain Characteristics Example

CHAPTER 28: Protists
1. Why are Protists said to be the most diverse of all eukaryotes?

2. Why do most systematists currently working on eukaryotic relationships consider Kingdom

Protista and the five kingdom system obsolete?

4. Provide general characteristics of the following protists:

Euglena-

trypanosomes-

dinoflagellates-

Plasmodium-

Paramecium-

diatoms-

cellular slime molds-

CHAPTER 29: Plant Diversity I: How Plants Colonized Land
1. What is the evidence that land plants evolved from green algae?

2. What are some adaptations that were necessary for life on land?

3. Explain what is meant by the alternation of generations. You may want to look at Figure 13.6 to
compare the plant life cycle to that of animals and fungi.

4. Look at Figure 29.7 on p. 605 and read the text in that area. Give the general characteristics and
an example or two for each of the following groups.
General characteristics Examples

Bryophytes

Lycophytes

Pterophytes

Gymnosperms

Angiosperms

5. When you look at moss, are you mostly seeing tissue that is haploid, or tissue that is diploid?

What about with a fern?

Do either mosses or ferns produce seeds?

6. How are the various groups of plants economically important? (This question relates to both
Chapter 29 and Chapter 30.)
CHAPTER 30: Plant Diversity II: The Evolution of Seed Plants

1. What is the advantage to seed plants of reducing the gametophyte generation to such a small
part of the plant?

2. What are the advantages to producing seeds?

3. What are the two major groups of Angiosperms, and what are their differences? (Hint: p. 631)
 CHAPTER 31: Fungi
1. How do fungi acquire nutrients?

2. Because of this mode of nutrition, fungi have evolved what structure to provide for both
extensive surface area and rapid growth?

3. How do the cell walls of fungi differ from the cell walls of plants?

4. How do fungi contribute to an ecosystem?

5. Give some examples of how fungi are important to humans.

Label the figure below using Figure 31.11 on page 642. Then use the information in Figure 31.11
and in the text to fill in the following table. Outline the key characteristics of each branch of the
Kingdom Fungi and include several examples of organisms in each group.

Branch Characteristics Examples

CHAPTER 32: An Introduction to Animal Diversity
1. Outline the major characteristics your textbook uses to define an animal.

2. What is the best-supported hypothesis for the origin of animals? What evidence supports it?

3. Most animal bodies show symmetry. Describe the two forms of symmetry found in animals.

4. What is the significance of cephalization as an evolutionary trend?

5. What are the three germ layers of an embryo? What’s the difference between being diploblastic
and being triploblastic, and what kinds of animals are in each group?

6. Define the following terms and describe their significance in classifying animals. a.
Acoelomates

b. Pseudocoelomates

c. Coelomates

d. Protostomes
 e. Deuterostomes

f. spiral, determinate cleavage

g. radial, indeterminate cleavage

h. blastopore

7. List major differences between the Protostomes and Deuterostomes. (See p. 158 in Cliff’s
book as well as your textbook.)

8. Label the stages of early embryonic development of animals:

 CHAPTER 33: Invertebrates

1.How does the structure of a sponge relate to its method of nutrition?

2. What are some unique characteristics common to the Cnidarians?

3. What are the two forms of shape within the Cnidarians?

4. What are some evolutionary advancements we see in the Platyhelminthes? Is there any
evidence of cephalization?

5. In what way are Platyhelminthes significant to humans?

6. Define parthenogenesis. (We see this in the rotifers, but it will come up in other groups as
well over the course of the year.)

7. What is unique in the structure and function of the Psedocoelomates?

8. List common examples that could be classified as Coelomate Protostomes.

9. What are the three major body regions of a Mollusk?

10. What is the evolutionary significance of the coelom as seen in the Annelids?

11. What is the importance of segmentation?

12. List ways in which Nematodes impact humans.

13. Why are the Arthropoda regarded as the most successful of all animal phyla?

14. Identify a characteristic that was most significant to Arthropod success.

15. List common examples that could be classified as Coelomate Deuterostomes.

16. What traits are particularly unique to the Echinoderms?

PART 2. Directions: Using Figure 33.3 on pages 667-669 and the information in the text, list the
relative diversity, distinguishing characteristics and examples of the major invertebrate phyla.
Phylum Relative Characteristics Examples Diversity

Porifera

Cnidaria

Placozoa

Ctenophora

Platyhel-
minthes

Rotifera

Ectoprocta

Brachio-
poda

Nemertea

Acantho-
cephala

Mollusca
Annelida

Loricifera

Priapula

Nematoda

Arthropoda

Tardigrada

Onychophora

Hemichordata

Echinodermata
Chordata

CHAPTER 34: Vertebrates

1. What are the four characteristics of the Chordates?

2. List and describe an example of an invertebrate chordate.

3. What characterizes the subphylum Vertebrata?

4. In the evolution of vertebrates, identify the significance of being tetrapod.

5. Define paedomorphosis.

6. Identify the significance of the amniotic egg and the amniote.

Fill in the figure below using Figure 34.2 on page 698 as your template. Then, using the figure and
the information in the text, outline the key characteristics that distinguish the major branches of the
subphylum Vertebrata identified on the diagram. Include examples of organisms in each class
(except Urochordata and Cephalocordata).

Division Characteristics Examples

Myxini

Petromyzontida

Chondrichthyes
Actinopterygii

Actinista

Dipnoi

Amphibia

Reptilia

Mammalia

What are the three main groups of mammals, and how do they differ?