The Tree of Life 1 - Eukaryotes

1. Approaches to understanding diversity
   1. What is diversity?
   2. Structural diversity
   3. Metabolic diversity
   4. Natural vs. artificial classifications
   5. Molecular phylogenetic approach
2. Eukaryotes
   1. Major groups of eukaryotes
      1. Major Crown group taxa
         1. Animals
         2. Fungi
         3. Plantae
            1. Chlorophyta (green algae) and Embryophyta (plants) - Viridiplantae
            2. Rhodophyta (sedis dubiae)
            3. Glaucocystophyta (sedis dubiae)
         4. Chromista
            1. Heterokonta
            2. Haptophyta
         5. Alveolata
            1. Ciliates
            2. Dinophyta
            3. Apicomplexa
      2. Crown Group taxa of uncertain or controversial placement
         1. Placement of red algae and glaucocystophytes with plants is controversial
         2. Cryptophyta
         3. Chlororachniophyta
         4. Slime Molds
      3. Apparently not crown group
         1. Euglenozoa
            1. Euglenoids
            2. Kinetoplasts
         2. Archaezoa (many, and perhaps all, taxa in this group are incorrectly placed here)
   2. Unresolved problems in eukaryotic phylogeny
      1. Rate effects
         1. Are all organisms in the crown group? (maybe)
         2. Is molecular systematics totally bogus? (no)
   3. Distribution of photosynthesis among eukaryotes

Required reading: vdH: 1-15

Supplementary reading:

Baldauf, S.L., and J.D. Palmer. 1993. Animals and fungi are each other's closest relatives: congruent evidence from multiple proteins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:11558-11562.

Cavalier-Smith, T. 1993. Kingdom Protozoa and its 18 phyla. Microbiol. Rev. 57:953-994.

Corliss, J.O. 1994. An interim utilitarian ("user-friendly") hierarchical classification and characterization of the protists. Acta Protozoologica 33:1-51.

Schlegel, M. 1994. Molecular phylogeny of eukaryotes. TREE 9:330-335.