Foraminifera
Foraminifera are members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses. Tests of chitin are believed to be the most primitive type. Most foraminifera are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment, while a smaller variety float in the water column at various depths. Fewer are known from freshwater or brackish conditions, some few soil species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA. Foraminifera produce a test, or shell, which can have either one or multiple chambers, some becoming quite elaborate in structure; these shells are made of calcium carbonate or agglutinated sediment particles. Over 50,000 species are recognized, both fossil, they are less than 1 mm in size, but some are much larger, the largest species reaching up to 20 cm. In modern Scientific English, the term foraminifera is both singular and plural, is used to describe one or more specimens or taxa: its usage as singular or plural must be determined from context.
Foraminifera is used informally to describe the group, in these cases is lowercase. The taxonomic position of the Foraminifera has varied since their recognition as protozoa by Schultze in 1854, there referred to as an order, Foraminiferida. Loeblich and Tappan reranked Foraminifera as a class as it is now regarded; the Foraminifera have been included in the Protozoa, or in the similar Protoctista or Protist kingdom. Compelling evidence, based on molecular phylogenetics, exists for their belonging to a major group within the Protozoa known as the Rhizaria. Prior to the recognition of evolutionary relationships among the members of the Rhizaria, the Foraminifera were grouped with other amoeboids as phylum Rhizopodea in the class Granuloreticulosa; the Rhizaria are problematic, as they are called a "supergroup", rather than using an established taxonomic rank such as phylum. Cavalier-Smith defines the Rhizaria as an infra-kingdom within the kingdom Protozoa; some taxonomies put the Foraminifera in a phylum of their own, putting them on par with the amoeboid Sarcodina in which they had been placed.
Although as yet unsupported by morphological correlates, molecular data suggest the Foraminifera are related to the Cercozoa and Radiolaria, both of which include amoeboids with complex shells. However, the exact relationships of the forams to the other groups and to one another are still not clear. Foraminifera are related to testate amoebae; the most recent taxonomy by Mikhalevich 2013. Foraminifera d'Orbigny 1826 Order Reticulomyxida Class Schizocladea Cedhagen & Mattson 1992 Order Schizocladida Class Xenophyophorea Schultze 1904 Order Stannomida Tendal 1972 Order Psamminida Tendal 1972 Class Astrorhizata Saidova 1981 Subclass Lagynana Mikhalevich 1980 Order Ammoscalariida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Lagynida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Allogromiida Loeblich & Tappan 1961 Subclass Astrorhizana Saidova 1981 Order Astrorhizida Lankester 1885 Order Dendrophryida Mikhalevich 1995 Order Hippocrepinida Saidova 1981 Order †Parathuramminida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Psammosphaerida Haeckel 1894 Class Rotaliata Mikhalevich 1980 Subclass Globigerinana Mikhalevich 1980 Order Cassigerinellida Mikhalevich 2013 Order Globigerinida Carpenter, Parker & Jones 1862 Order Hantkeninida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Heterohelicida Fursenko 1958 Order Globorotaliida Mikhalevich 1980 Subclass Textulariana Mikhalevich 1980 Order Nautiloculinida Mikhalevich 2003 Order Spiroplectamminida Mikhalevich 1992 Order Textulariida Delage & Hérouard 1896 Order Trochamminida Saidova 1981 (Carterinida Loeblich & Tappan 1955] Order Verneuilinida Mikhalevich & Kaminski 2003 Subclass Rotaliana Mikhalevich 1980 Superorder Robertinoida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Robertinida Mikhalevich 1980 Superorder Nonionoida Saidova 1981 Order Elphidiida Saidova 1981 Order Nummulitida Carpenter, Parker & Jones 1862 Order †Orbitoidida Copeland 1956 Order Nonionida Saidova 1981 Superorder Buliminoida Saidova 1981 Order Cassidulinida d’Orbigny 1839 Order Buliminida Saidova 1981 Order Bolivinitida Saidova 1981 Superorder Discorboida Ehrenberg 1838 Order Chilostomellida Haeckel 1894 Order Discorbida Ehrenberg 1838 Order Glabratellida Mikhalevich 1994 Order Planorbulinida Mikhalevich 1992 Order Rotaliida Lankester 1885 Order Rosalinida Delage & Hérouard 1896 Class Nodosariata Mikhalevich 1992 Subclass Hormosinana Mikhalevich 1992 Order Ammomarginulinida Mikhalevich 2002 Order Nouriida Mikhalevich 1980 Order †Pseudopalmulida Mikhalevich 1992 Order Saccamminida Lankester 1885 Order Hormosinida Mikhalevich 1980 Subclass Nodosariana Mikhalevich 1992 Order †Biseriamminida Mikhalevich 1981 Order Delosinida Revets 1989 Order Lagenida Delage & Hérouard 1896 Order †Palaeotextulariida Hohenegger & Piller 1975 Order Polymorphinida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Vaginulinida Mikhalevich 1993 Order Nodosariida Calkins 1926 Class Spirillinata Mikhalevich 1992 Subclass Ammodiscana Mikhalevich 1980 Order †Plagioraphida Mikhalevich 2003 Order Ammodiscida Mikhalevich 1980 Order Ammovertellinida Mikhalevich 1999 Order Ataxophragmiida Fursenko 1958 Subclass Spirillinana Mikhalevich 1992 Superorder †Archaediscoida Pojarkov & Skvortsov 1979 Order †Archaediscida Pojarkov & Skvortsov 1979 Order †Lasiodiscida
Organism
In biology, an organism is any individual entity that exhibits the properties of life. It is a synonym for "life form". Organisms are classified by taxonomy into specified groups such as the multicellular animals and fungi. All types of organisms are capable of reproduction and development, some degree of response to stimuli. Humans are multicellular animals composed of many trillions of cells which differentiate during development into specialized tissues and organs. An organism may be either a eukaryote. Prokaryotes are represented by two separate domains -- archaea. Eukaryotic organisms are characterized by the presence of a membrane-bound cell nucleus and contain additional membrane-bound compartments called organelles. Fungi and plants are examples of kingdoms of organisms within the eukaryotes. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which only about 1.2 million have been documented. More than 99% of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that lived are estimated to be extinct.
In 2016, a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor of all organisms was identified. The term "organism" first appeared in the English language in 1703 and took on its current definition by 1834, it is directly related to the term "organization". There is a long tradition of defining organisms as self-organizing beings, going back at least to Immanuel Kant's 1790 Critique of Judgment. An organism may be defined as an assembly of molecules functioning as a more or less stable whole that exhibits the properties of life. Dictionary definitions can be broad, using phrases such as "any living structure, such as a plant, fungus or bacterium, capable of growth and reproduction". Many definitions exclude viruses and possible man-made non-organic life forms, as viruses are dependent on the biochemical machinery of a host cell for reproduction. A superorganism is an organism consisting of many individuals working together as a single functional or social unit. There has been controversy about the best way to define the organism and indeed about whether or not such a definition is necessary.
Several contributions are responses to the suggestion that the category of "organism" may well not be adequate in biology. Viruses are not considered to be organisms because they are incapable of autonomous reproduction, growth or metabolism; this controversy is problematic because some cellular organisms are incapable of independent survival and live as obligatory intracellular parasites. Although viruses have a few enzymes and molecules characteristic of living organisms, they have no metabolism of their own; this rules out autonomous reproduction: they can only be passively replicated by the machinery of the host cell. In this sense, they are similar to inanimate matter. While viruses sustain no independent metabolism and thus are not classified as organisms, they do have their own genes, they do evolve by mechanisms similar to the evolutionary mechanisms of organisms; the most common argument in support of viruses as living organisms is their ability to undergo evolution and replicate through self-assembly.
Some scientists argue. In fact, viruses are evolved by their host cells, meaning that there was co-evolution of viruses and host cells. If host cells did not exist, viral evolution would be impossible; this is not true for cells. If viruses did not exist, the direction of cellular evolution could be different, but cells would be able to evolve; as for the reproduction, viruses rely on hosts' machinery to replicate. The discovery of viral metagenomes with genes coding for energy metabolism and protein synthesis fueled the debate about whether viruses belong in the tree of life; the presence of these genes suggested. However, it was found that the genes coding for energy and protein metabolism have a cellular origin. Most these genes were acquired through horizontal gene transfer from viral hosts. Organisms are complex chemical systems, organized in ways that promote reproduction and some measure of sustainability or survival; the same laws that govern non-living chemistry govern the chemical processes of life.
It is the phenomena of entire organisms that determine their fitness to an environment and therefore the survivability of their DNA-based genes. Organisms owe their origin and many other internal functions to chemical phenomena the chemistry of large organic molecules. Organisms are complex systems of chemical compounds that, through interaction and environment, play a wide variety of roles. Organisms are semi-closed chemical systems. Although they are individual units of life, they are not closed to the environment around them. To operate they take in and release energy. Autotrophs produce usable energy using light from the sun or inorganic compounds while heterotrophs take in organic compounds from the environment; the primary chemical element in these compounds is carbon. The chemical properties of this element such as its grea
Ancient Greek
The Ancient Greek language includes the forms of Greek used in Ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BCE to the 6th century CE. It is roughly divided into the Archaic period, Classical period, Hellenistic period, it is succeeded by medieval Greek. Koine is regarded as a separate historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it resembled Attic Greek and in its latest form it approaches Medieval Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects. Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians and philosophers, it has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects; the main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic and Doric, many of them with several subdivisions.
Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are several historical forms. Homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the "Iliad" and "Odyssey", in poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects; the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period, they differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek, but its relationship to the historical dialects and the historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not than 1120 BCE, at the time of the Dorian invasion—and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BCE.
The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians; the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, Cypriot, far from the center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-west Greek is the strongest marked and earliest division, with non-west in subsets of Ionic-Attic and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Non-west is called East Greek. Arcadocypriot descended more from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age.
Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect. Thessalian had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek, spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, Northern Peloponnesus Doric; the Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek. All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, these colonies developed local characteristics under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects; the dialects outside the Ionic group are known from inscriptions, notable exceptions being: fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos, in Aeolian, the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar and other lyric poets in Doric.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed based on Attic Greek, but with influence from other dialects. This dialect replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek. By about the 6th century CE, the Koine had metamorphosized into Medieval Greek. Ancient Macedonian was an Indo-European language at least related to Greek, but its exact relationship is unclear because of insufficient data: a dialect of Greek; the Macedonian dialect (or l
Mollusca
Mollusca is the second largest phylum of invertebrate animals. The members are known as mollusks. Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized; the number of fossil species is estimated between 100,000 additional species. Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats, they are diverse, not just in size and in anatomical structure, but in behaviour and in habitat. The phylum is divided into 8 or 9 taxonomic classes, of which two are extinct. Cephalopod molluscs, such as squid and octopus, are among the most neurologically advanced of all invertebrates—and either the giant squid or the colossal squid is the largest known invertebrate species; the gastropods are by far the most numerous molluscs and account for 80% of the total classified species. The three most universal features defining modern molluscs are a mantle with a significant cavity used for breathing and excretion, the presence of a radula, the structure of the nervous system.
Other than these common elements, molluscs express great morphological diversity, so many textbooks base their descriptions on a "hypothetical ancestral mollusc". This has a single, "limpet-like" shell on top, made of proteins and chitin reinforced with calcium carbonate, is secreted by a mantle covering the whole upper surface; the underside of the animal consists of a single muscular "foot". Although molluscs are coelomates, the coelom tends to be small; the main body cavity is a hemocoel. The "generalized" mollusc's feeding system consists of a rasping "tongue", the radula, a complex digestive system in which exuded mucus and microscopic, muscle-powered "hairs" called cilia play various important roles; the generalized mollusc has three in bivalves. The brain, in species that have one, encircles the esophagus. Most molluscs have eyes, all have sensors to detect chemicals and touch; the simplest type of molluscan reproductive system relies on external fertilization, but more complex variations occur.
All produce eggs, from which may emerge trochophore larvae, more complex veliger larvae, or miniature adults. The coelomic cavity is reduced, they have kidney-like organs for excretion. Good evidence exists for the appearance of gastropods and bivalves in the Cambrian period, 541 to 485.4 million years ago. However, the evolutionary history both of molluscs' emergence from the ancestral Lophotrochozoa and of their diversification into the well-known living and fossil forms are still subjects of vigorous debate among scientists. Molluscs still are an important food source for anatomically modern humans. There is a risk of food poisoning from toxins which can accumulate in certain molluscs under specific conditions and because of this, many countries have regulations to reduce this risk. Molluscs have, for centuries been the source of important luxury goods, notably pearls, mother of pearl, Tyrian purple dye, sea silk, their shells have been used as money in some preindustrial societies. Mollusc species can represent hazards or pests for human activities.
The bite of the blue-ringed octopus is fatal, that of Octopus apollyon causes inflammation that can last for over a month. Stings from a few species of large tropical cone shells can kill, but their sophisticated, though produced, venoms have become important tools in neurological research. Schistosomiasis is transmitted to humans via water snail hosts, affects about 200 million people. Snails and slugs can be serious agricultural pests, accidental or deliberate introduction of some snail species into new environments has damaged some ecosystems; the words mollusc and mollusk are both derived from the French mollusque, which originated from the Latin molluscus, from mollis, soft. Molluscus was itself an adaptation of Aristotle's τὰ μαλάκια ta malákia, which he applied inter alia to cuttlefish; the scientific study of molluscs is accordingly called malacology. The name Molluscoida was used to denote a division of the animal kingdom containing the brachiopods and tunicates, the members of the three groups having been supposed to somewhat resemble the molluscs.
As it is now known these groups have no relation to molluscs, little to one another, the name Molluscoida has been abandoned. The most universal features of the body structure of molluscs are a mantle with a significant cavity used for breathing and excretion, the organization of the nervous system. Many have a calcareous shell. Molluscs have developed such a varied range of body structures, it is difficult to find synapomorphies to apply to all modern groups; the most general characteristic of molluscs is they are bilaterally symmetrical. The following are present in all modern molluscs: The dorsal part of the body wall is a mantle which secretes calcareous spicules, plates or shells, it overlaps the body with enough spare room to form a mantle cavity. The anus and genitals open into the mantle cavity. There are two pairs of main nerve cords. Other characteristics that appear in textbooks have significant exceptions: Estimates of accepted described living species of molluscs vary from 50,000 to a maximum of 120,000 species.
In 1969 David Nicol estimated the probable total number of living mollusc species at 107,000 of which were ab
Animal locomotion
Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are self-propelled, e.g. running, jumping, hopping and gliding. There are many animal species that depend on their environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g. sailing, rolling or riding other animals. Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival and, as a result, natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms. For example, migratory animals that travel vast distances have a locomotion mechanism that costs little energy per unit distance, whereas non-migratory animals that must move to escape predators are to have energetically costly, but fast, locomotion; the anatomical structures that animals use for movement, including cilia, wings, fins, or tails are sometimes referred to as locomotory organs or locomotory structures.
The term "locomotion" is formed in English from Latin loco "from a place" + motio "motion, a moving". Animals move through, or on, four types of environment: aquatic, terrestrial and aerial. Many animals—for example semi-aquatic animals, diving birds—regularly move through more than one type of medium. In some cases, the surface they move on facilitates their method of locomotion. In water, staying afloat is possible using buoyancy. If an animal's body is less dense than water, it can stay afloat; this requires little energy to maintain a vertical position, but requires more energy for locomotion in the horizontal plane compared to less buoyant animals. The drag encountered in water is much greater than in air. Morphology is therefore important for efficient locomotion, in most cases essential for basic functions such as catching prey. A fusiform, torpedo-like body form is seen in many aquatic animals, though the mechanisms they use for locomotion are diverse; the primary means by which fish generate thrust is by oscillating the body from side-to-side, the resulting wave motion ending at a large tail fin.
Finer control, such as for slow movements, is achieved with thrust from pectoral fins. Some fish, e.g. the spotted ratfish and batiform fish use their pectoral fins as the primary means of locomotion, sometimes termed labriform swimming. Marine mammals oscillate their body in an up-and-down direction. Other animals, e.g. penguins, diving ducks, move underwater in a manner, termed "aquatic flying". Some fish propel themselves without a wave motion of the body, as in the slow-moving seahorses and Gymnotus. Other animals, such as cephalopods, use jet propulsion to travel fast, taking in water squirting it back out in an explosive burst. Other swimming animals may rely predominantly on their limbs. Though life on land originated from the seas, terrestrial animals have returned to an aquatic lifestyle on several occasions, such as the aquatic cetaceans, now distinct from their terrestrial ancestors. Dolphins sometimes ride on the bow waves created by boats or surf on breaking waves. Benthic locomotion is movement by animals that live on, in, or near the bottom of aquatic environments.
In the sea, many animals walk over the seabed. Echinoderms use their tube feet to move about; the tube feet have a tip shaped like a suction pad that can create a vacuum through contraction of muscles. This, along with some stickiness from the secretion of mucus, provides adhesion. Waves of tube feet contractions and relaxations move along the adherent surface and the animal moves along; some sea urchins use their spines for benthic locomotion. Crabs walk sideways; this is because of the articulation of the legs. However, some crabs walk forwards or backwards, including raninids, Libinia emarginata and Mictyris platycheles; some crabs, notably the Portunidae and Matutidae, are capable of swimming, the Portunidae so as their last pair of walking legs are flattened into swimming paddles. A stomatopod, Nannosquilla decemspinosa, can escape by rolling itself into a self-propelled wheel and somersault backwards at a speed of 72 rpm, they can travel more than 2 m using this unusual method of locomotion.
Velella, the by-the-wind sailor, is a cnidarian with no means of propulsion other than sailing. A small rigid sail catches the wind. Velella sails always align along the direction of the wind where the sail may act as an aerofoil, so that the animals tend to sail downwind at a small angle to the wind. While larger animals such as ducks can move on water by floating, some small animals move across it without breaking through the surface; this surface locomotion takes advantage of the surface tension of water. Animals that move in such a way include the water strider. Water striders have legs that are hydrophobic, preventing them from interfering with the structure of water. Another form of locomotion is used by the basilisk lizard. Gravity is the primary obstacle to flight; because it is impossible for any organism to have a density as low as that of air, flying an
