Part A

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:

1. How the innovation appears to have happened
2. What environmental challenges were met and overcome by this innovation, and
3. 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.

The discussion should be informed by the textbook assignment and about 600 words.

Part B

Biodiversity and Adaptation Essay

Assignment: Plant Biodiversity and Adaptation

Post your assignment to the Submissions Area for grading by the instructor by the due date assigned. The minimum length for this assignment is 1,200 words. Be sure to check your Turnitin report for your post and to make corrections before the deadline of 11:59 pm Mountain Time of the due date to avoid lack of originality problems in your work.

Discuss how adaptations allowed plants to move from an aquatic environment to the variety of habitats they inhabit today. You may wish to start out discussing single celled algae and include the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. At the beginning or end of the essay, it may be helpful to write about plants that you have observed (using correct scientific nomenclature), and consider their traits and habitat. Then explain why those traits are adaptive, and how they arose. Don’t forget the role of natural selection in adaptation.