Species Diversity
Over the long period of time that life has existed on Earth, there have been a number of important or significant innovations including (but not limited to) endosymbiosis to create mitochondria and chloroplasts; multicellularity; adaptation to land by plants and animals; development of exoskeletons in arthropods, shells in molluscs, and notochords followed by vertebral columns in chordates and vertebrates; and bipedalism in the ancestry of humans. All of these had to come about by natural selection in response to changing environmental forces. After studying the textbook reading assignment, pick one of these significant innovations and describe:
How the innovation appears to have happened
What environmental challenges were met and overcome by this innovation, and
What opportunities were opened for the organism that made this innovation
You must include in your post an example of at least one species and demonstrate that you understand scientific nomenclature by writing the correct binomial of the species name, and showing its hierarchy of classification. The hierarchy is shown from Domain to species. Explain how you use the scientific name to locate the nearest relatives of your chosen species, and provide an example.
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Species Diversity: Significant Evolutionary Innovations
1. Species Diversity
Over the long period of time that life has existed on Earth, there
have been a number of important or significant innovations
including (but not limited to) endosymbiosis to create
mitochondria and chloroplasts; multicellularity; adaptation to
land by plants and animals; development of exoskeletons in
arthropods, shells in molluscs, and notochords followed by
vertebral columns in chordates and vertebrates; and bipedalism
in the ancestry of humans. All of these had to come about by
natural selection in response to changing environmental forces.
After studying the textbook reading assignment, pick one of
these significant innovations and describe:
How the innovation appears to have happened
What environmental challenges were met and overcome by this
innovation, and
What opportunities were opened for the organism that made this
innovation
You must include in your post an example of at least one
species and demonstrate that you understand scientific
nomenclature by writing the correct binomial of the species
name, and showing its hierarchy of classification. The hierarchy
is shown from Domain to species. Explain how you use the
scientific name to locate the nearest relatives of your chosen
species, and provide an example.
