Rucete ✏ Biology In a Nutshell
1. Kingdom Protista
a) Algaelike Protists (Plant-like)
- Euglenoids: Unicellular, with flagella and eyespots, can be photosynthetic.
- Dinoflagellates: Two flagella, some are bioluminescent; responsible for red tides.
- Diatoms: Silica cell walls; important photosynthesizers.
- Brown Algae: Multicellular; includes kelp; produces flagellated sperm.
- Red Algae (Rhodophyta): Contains phycobilins; lives in deep water.
- Green Algae (Chlorophyta): Contains chlorophyll a and b; believed to be ancestor of land plants.
b) Animal-like Protists (Protozoa)
- Rhizopoda: Move using pseudopodia (e.g., amoebas).
- Foraminifera: Shell-bearing with pseudopodia.
- Apicomplexans: Parasites with complex life cycles (e.g., Plasmodium).
- Ciliates: Use cilia for movement and feeding (e.g., Paramecium).
c) Fungus-like Protists
- Cellular Slime Molds
- Plasmodial Slime Molds
- Oomycota (water molds)
2. Kingdom Fungi
- Heterotrophic decomposers with chitin-based cell walls
- Body made of hyphae; network called mycelium
- Sexual reproduction: plasmogamy → karyogamy → meiosis
- Asexual reproduction: fragmentation, budding, sporangiospores, conidia
- Major groups:
- Zygomycota: bread mold
- Glomeromycota: mycorrhizae (plant root symbiosis)
- Ascomycota: yeasts, truffles
- Basidiomycota: mushrooms
- Deuteromycota: imperfect fungi (e.g., Penicillium)
- Lichens: symbiotic association between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria
3. Kingdom Plantae
- Multicellular autotrophs with cellulose cell walls
- Life cycle: alternation of generations (haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte)
a) Nonvascular Plants
- Bryophytes: mosses, liverworts, hornworts
- Dominant generation: gametophyte
- Lack vascular tissue and seeds
b) Vascular Seedless Plants
- Lycophyta: club mosses
- Pterophyta: ferns, horsetails
- Dominant generation: sporophyte
c) Vascular Seed Plants
- Gymnosperms: conifers (seeds not enclosed)
- Angiosperms: flowering plants (seeds enclosed in fruit)
4. Kingdom Animalia
- Multicellular, heterotrophic, motile organisms
- Reproduce sexually, dominant diploid generation
a) Body Plan Features
- Tissue complexity: parazoa (no true tissues) vs. eumetazoa (true tissues)
- Body symmetry: radial vs. bilateral
- Cephalization: presence of a head
- Digestive system: gastrovascular cavity vs. complete digestive tract
- Coelom: acoelomate, pseudocoelomate, coelomate
- Segmentation: body divided into repeated units
- Development: protostomes vs. deuterostomes
b) Major Animal Phyla
- Porifera: sponges
- Cnidaria: jellyfish, sea anemones
- Platyhelminthes: flatworms
- Nematoda: roundworms
- Rotifera: microscopic, with complete digestive tract
- Mollusca: snails, squids
- Annelida: segmented worms
- Arthropoda: insects, spiders, crustaceans
- Echinodermata: sea stars, sea urchins
- Chordata: vertebrates; possess notochord, dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and post-anal tail
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Biology in a nutshell