8.06 Lab: Animals, The theme of this lab is animal diversity and the importance and uses of animals.

Introduction:

The theme of this lab is animal diversity and the importance and uses of animals.

Objectives:

1. Explore and report on the Animal Kingdom.
2. Develop and present a virtual poster for your online virtual presentation session.

Time Requirements:

This lab should take four hours to complete.

Recording Your Observations:

Download the lab report for this lab, where you’ll record your hypotheses, observations, and conclusions.

Procedures:

1. Visit Introduction to the Metazoa: Animals, Animals, Animals!, University of California, Berkeley Museum of Paleontology. Click the Systematics link and learn more about a group you desire to begin researching for this lab. Note: The boxes without images have not yet been developed.
2. If possible, visit a local zoo and try to learn more about the animal group you are researching. Take pictures, talk to the zookeepers, etc.
3. Visit a number of websites (a few starters are listed below) that deal with the topic of the great diversity, and biological, ecological and economic impact of animals to life on earth and human society. Gather information and images to allow you to prepare a virtual poster session. Be sure to cite your sources!
4. In your poster session presentation, you will need to detail the classification of the group of creatures you are detailing. Include the time of first occurrence, fossil record (if any), economic and societal impact of the group, and its evolutionary importance (for example, the green algae are not terribly important.Save as a stem group for the evolution of plants).

Example sites:

Tree of Life Web  Maintained by scientists and collaborators, this site organizes over 5000 web pages about the classification and relationships of the domains and other taxonomic groups.

Animal Diversity Web  This site compiles many links to aid your research.

Biodiversity Explorer  Provides a look at how the taxonomic groups are classified and basic characteristics.

Discover Life  Links and information for Systematics.

Searching Websites:

Conduct a keyword search to find websites. To begin a keyword search, start by searching broad terms such as biodiversity, animal systematics, animal diversity systematics, or tree of life. The resulting list of websites can give you a lot of information, but how do you know if it is reliable? There are a few basic guidelines that can help you when you open a website and try to determine its reliability.

Always consider a site's:

• Objectivity: Excessive expressions of emotion, opinions, and stereotyping are tip-offs that the information on a site may be biased.
• Ownership and contributors: Go to the Home or About page of the website and find out who sponsors and writes for the site. Look for contributors who have reliable credentials, such as "Harvey Jones, Professor, University of Wisconsin—Madison."
• Writing style and mechanics: Check the grammar, spelling, and writing style on the site. Errors and awkwardness are signs of a nonprofessional website.
• Currency: Look for publication or copyright dates associated with the site; the more current the better.
• Links: What links does the site contain? A reliable website will offer links to other reliable websites, not to "junk" sites.

  Keyword Search: biodiversity, animal systematics, animal diversity systematics, tree of life