1. Biologists explore life across its great diversity of species
Species Genus Family Order Class Phylum Kingdom Domain
Mammalia
Ursus ameri-
canus
(American
black bear)
Ursus
Ursidae
Carnivora
Chordata
Animalia
Eukarya
Biologists explore
life across its great
diversity of species
Taxonomy =

2. Single-celled prokaryotes
Protists: “Catch-all’ group
Uni- and Multi-cellular.
Auto- and Hetero-trophs
Plantae: Multicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes
Animalia: Multicellular heterotrophs
Fungi: Absorptive heterotrophs.
Single-celled prokaryotes.
Many are extremophiles.

3. Interconnecting Webs
-Plants and other photosynthetic organism = producer.
-Consumers =
-Bacteria, Fungi, and small animals in soil = decomposers

4. CHEMICALS: Recycled!!
-air and soil to plants to animals to decomposers to air and soil.
ENERGY: Not Recycled!!

5. EVOLUTION EXPLAINS UNITY AND DIVESITY OF LIFE
November 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
2 Main Points:

6. Species living today descended from ancestral species
*“descent with modification”
* Evolution explains unity and diversity of life
-UNITY =
-DIVERSITY =

7. Natural Selection
a. Individual Variation –
b. Overproduction and competition – A population of any species has the potential to produce far more offspring than will survive to produce offspring of their own. With more individuals than the environment can support, competition is inevitable
SO . . .

8. Example:
Beetle population lives in soil that has been blackened by a brush fire. Beetle color ranges from light gray to charcoal.
Birds eat the beetles it sees most easily (light colored ones)
Beetles that survive reproduce
Population is different then original
**Natural Selection occurs