Last update: Tues. Mar. 16, 7 PM

16. Why do charophytes have fewer number of transformations than embryophytes and hence are thought of as the common ancestor to study? (i.e. they appear to have the same number of transformations based on the phylogenetic tree)
16. They don't have such things as a sporophyte, a period when the embryo is supported by the parent gametophyte, air-dispersed spores, or a cuticle; these are all transformations that the land plants sharea. 
15. Can you explain further the concept of tetrahedral apical initial and how it is a hidden synapomorphy.
15. First of all, it's hidden only in the sense that it is tiny and hard to see.   It's a synapomorphy because all the other plants don't have a single intial, they have a number of them and they are not tetrahedral.
14.Why is a spore a haploid cell, even though the sporophyte is in the diploid phase?
14. because to make a haploid spore, the diploid sporophyte sets aside diploid cells to go through meiosis to make the haploid spores.
13. .Is the shoot of a bryophyte haploid or diploid? 
13. It is haploid - the shoots are gametophytes .   There are separate male and female gametophytes.  The shoots of all the other land plants are diploid.
12. I have written in my notes in one place that bryophytes have gametophyte shoots and in another place I have written that diploid structures are shoots where the egg and sperm is produced at the end of these shoots.
12. The second part is a little confused.   Here is how I would rewrite it to correct it: at the end of the female gametophyte shoots are the diploid structures (the sporophytes); they are stems with sporangia at the tip where meiosis takes place to make the haploid spores.

11. What will we need to know about the groups that went extinct? (trilobites and brachiopods)
11. The main thing is, that most of all the species in these groups went extinct at the end of the paleozoic, and that the thinking about cause has to do with the merging of teh ancient continents into the supercontinent        Pangaea, which led to low-oxygen conditions in the sea.



10. Do we have to know about genetic recombination in prokaryotes, transformation and transduction, conjugation, and metabolism in prokaryotes?
10.  No. none of these things.
9. What about the origin of eukaryotes?
9.  Yes, the basic ideas about incorporation of organelles.
8. What should we know about the geologic record?
8.  Know the dates of the beginning of the three eras, paleozoic, mesozoic, and cenozoic.


7. Should we know the structure of sponges?
7. Yes --- in particular the types of cells and their functions.
6. Cnidarian life cycle?
6. Yes, in outline --- that is the alternation of medusa and polyp and that all of these structures are diploid.   A particularly broad comparative context is to think about teh similarities and differences of this life cycle versus something like the fern.
5. What specific phyla do we have to know the features of?
5. The whole list? Ouch.  Let's see, chordates, echinoderms, arthropods, molluscs, nematodes, brachiopods, sponges, cnidarians, platyhelminthes, annelids --- and concentrate on the characters that place them in larger groups, like proto-vs. deuterostomes, coeloms, symmetry, and the features of the lophotrochozoa versus the ecdysozoa.
4. What are all the groups we have to know?
4.What's left to answer in this question are the groups of chordates, which are cephalochordates, tunicates, hagfishes, lampreys, sharks and their kin, ray-finned fishes, coelocanths, amphibia, reptiles including birds, and mammals (characters of the whole group).

3. Do I have to know which kinds of mammals are placentals and which kinds are marsupials?
3. NO!   This is part of what I mean you don't have to know when I say in the study guide "There will NOT be questions about the origin or phylogeny of mammals on the exam."
2. Do I need to know the Latin names of the the different animal groups on the slides (lik Phoronida and Actinopterygii)?
2. No.  What you DO need to know is which evolutionary changes happened in the common ancestors of which lineages.   For example, vertebrae were invented in the common ancestor of lampreys and the higher animals.
1. What do I need to know about the life cycles.
1. Concentrate on the similarities and differences between the life cycles.   For instance, comparing the pine and the flower the key similarities are that there are two kinds of gametophytes, both gametophytes stay in the sporophyte for awhile, pollen and seeds are disperse while spores and sperm are not.    Know differences between them in the numbers of cells in the gametophytes and whether female gametophyte or endoserm nourishes the seed and similar information.