Animal Organismal Biology: An Overview

• The Animal Organismal Biology course spans from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM, led by Professor Alex E. Mercado Molina.
• The professor can be found in office P-27A.
• Office hours are Mondays 1:00 PM-2:30 PM and Tuesdays 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM, plus by appointment
• The professor's email is [email protected].
• The course covers marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems.
• A description of the course include the biology of the different groups that make up the Animalia Kingdom with emphasis on their morphology, physiology, diversity, reproduction, ecology, behavior, evolution and taxonomy.

Learning Objectives

• Identify and classify animals into their phyla, classes, and orders
• Discuss the evolutionary trends within the group
• Analyze animal functions in nature concerning their ecology and behavior
• Explain the structure of animal systems like integumentary, support, nervous, locomotor, circulatory, ventilatory, excretory, digestive, and reproductive systems

Zoology

• Aids in understanding how animals have adapted to their environments over time
• Enables comprehension of natural processes shaping life on Earth through the study of species evolution

Career Opportunities for Zoology Majors

• Zoologist, Wildlife Biologist, Zookeeper

Impacts on Modern Medicine

• The study of poisons has enabled medical treatments like anticoagulation
• Research on regeneration, like salamanders and planarians,
• The study of animal immune systems, and wound healing (insects and animals)

Understanding Biodiversity

• Zoology helps in understanding the diversity of animal species on Earth
• Knowing different life forms, adaptations, and evolution helps us appreciate the planet's natural wealth and ecological balance

Invasive Species

• It costs the world $423 billion every year
• It causes environmental chaos
• Impacted species include the Indian mongoose and domestic cats

Rules of the Game

• No photography or video recording allowed

Course Evaluation

• Exams account for 50 points
• Class participation marks are to be announced
• Quizzes are 10 pts each
• Assignments are 10-15 pts each.
• Oral presentation at 100 pts
• Multimedia project, 100 pts
• Lab grade counts for 30% of the final grade

Characteristics of Life

• Estimates suggest there are 5 to 1 million species currently on Earth
• Around 3 million species have been recognized
• 1.5 million species have been classified
• Less than 1% of all animal species have been classified

Why is there so much uncertainty about the number of species?

• Many environmental settings are not intensively sampled and are difficult to access
• This includes tropical environments and abyssal ocean areas
• Microorganisms and parasites are understudied
• Cryptic species' techniques are not robust enough to separate these species
• Species is is indistinguishable from another species at a morphological level, but is possibly genetically distinguishable

Properties of Life

• Living systems demonstrate a unique and complex molecular organization

Human body in percentages

• Oxygen is 65%
• Carbon is 18%
• Hydrogen is 9.5%
• Nitrogen is 3.2%
• Calcium is 1.5%
• Phosphorus is 1.2%
• Water is 62%
• Protein is 16%
• Minerals 6%
• Carbohydrates 1%
• Fat 16%
• Potassium 0.4%
• Sulfur 0.2%
• Sodium 0.2%
• Chlorine 0.2%
• Magnesium 0.1%
• Other >1%
• Macrominerals are minerals that the body requires in relatively large quantities, measured in grams per day (g/day). They include sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, and sulfur
• Trace microminerals are required in smaller quantities, measured in milligrams per day (mg/day), and include nickel, arsenic, vanadium, boron, lithium, lead, fluorine, and cadmium.

Macromolecules

• Living organisms possess large molecules called organic macromolecules with are complex than molecules found in non-living matter
• These include Proteins, Carbohydrates, Lipids, and Nucleic acids

Properties

• Genes replicate among themselves to form new genes
• Cells divide to form new cells
• Organisms reproduce to form new organisms
• Organisms maintain themselves by acquiring nutrients from the environment.

Metabolism

• Interaction between two constructive and destructive processes
• Catabolism, the sequences of enzyme-catalyzed reactions by which relatively large molecules are broken down, or degraded
• Anabolism is the process by which the body utilizes the energy released by catabolism to synthesize complex molecules

Movement

• Locomotion consists of an animal moving from one point to another
• All animals have some type of movement, but not all have locomotion
• The movements are required for reproduction, growth, responses to stimuli and development in multicellular organisms

Constant Change

• The history of life presents extensive and continuous evolutionary changes

Viruses

• "Organisms at the edge of life"
• It does not have a cellular structure, cannot perform vital functions by itself, they do not grow or develop, they do not respond to the environment actively, they cannot reproduce by themselves

Species Concepts

• There are varying opinions on how a species should be defined
• Defining a species is controversial and difficult
• Species are evolutionary groups, not static categories defined by perceived distinction

Importance of Defining Species

• Systematics, taxonomy, ecology, and physiology studies occur at the species level
• Species are the main unit of selection, adaptation, and speciation
• Evolutionary and management studies are based on what defines a species

Types of Species Concepts

• Typological Concept: Individuals that differ from other groups by possessing diagnostic characteristic constants, based on unique morphological characters of the specimens, where variations between individuals of the same "species" were considered imperfections of nature.

  • Limitations are a result of:
    • Polymorphism
    • Sexual dimorphism
    • Cryptic sibling/gene exchange not important when describing a species

• Biological Concept: The standard definition of a species is that organisms that can interbreed in nature and produce fertile offspring.

  • It emphasizes genetic cohesion between organisms, morphological and ecological uniformity with population variability under selection
  • Identifies genetic flow as the main cause of the species existence
  • Limitations:
    • The evolutionary relationship of a given species concerning its ancestors/descendants isn't taken into account
    • Inapplicable to fossil evidence and geographically isolated individuals

• Recognition Species Concept: A species is characterized by a unique fertilization system (mate-specific recognition system), which restricts gene flow with other.

  • Limitations revolve around focusing on sexual biology and hybridization between closely related species

• Phylogenetic Species Concept: An irreducible group whose members are descendants of a common ancestor, possessing a unique combination of morphological/genetic traits (molecular markers). - Limitations include requiring expensive genetic data, and cannot address extinct species

• Ecological Concept: Individuals that occupy an ecological niche to which they are adapted, where gene flow is interrupted and niche selection prevents potential hybrids from thriving in parental niches Estimated species discovered between 2018 and 2024 totaled 3,500 and 3,800 animals