Assignment 1 - In The Year 2525
Welcome to Earth, taxonomist! In this futuristic scenario, humans have long since departed from Earth due to environmental degradation, leaving behind a world where all life forms have evolved in extraordinary ways. Your task is to explore, classify, and identify these new species, applying your expertise in taxonomy to make sense of Earth’s newfound biodiversity.
Assignment Requirements:Create 9 New Species - Be as creative as possible in designing your organisms. You may blend traits across traditional Kingdoms (e.g., animals, plants, fungi, etc.) to reflect the impact of pollution and evolution.
Provide a brief written outline of each species, focusing on major traits, habitat, and unique adaptations.
Include a sketch or diagram for each organism to visualize their appearance.
Develop a Simplified Taxonomic Scheme - use ONLY the following taxonomic ranks for each organism: Kingdom, Phylum, Genus, and Species.
Propose two Kingdoms to classify your organism (e.g., one kingdom might be “Evolved Fauna”, another “Evolved Flora”).
Eliminate intermediate categories (class, order, family) to reflect the simplified ecosystem.
Assign both common names and scientific (binomial) names to your species. Example - Common name: “Glimmerbat”, Scientific (binomial) name: Lumina vespertilio.
Create a Dichotomous Key - Using the appearance of each organism as a basis, create a dichotomous key to help alien researchers identify the species when they visit Earth.
The key should be easy to follow, using simple “yes/no” questions based on physical traits such as size, shape, colour, number of limbs, presence of wings, etc.
Use your sketches/diagrams to guide the creation of the key.
Design a Cladogram - Construct a cladogram for your 10 organisms (the 9 you created and one Earth species of your choice).
Show how these organisms are related through common ancestors, highlighting evolutionary divergence. You can use key traits (e.g., body structures, mode of reproduction) to show shared ancestry.
Make sure to organize the cladogram logically, using your understanding of their evolutionary history.
What to Submit:
Written outline of the 9 species you created.
Sketches/diagrams of each species you created.
Taxonomic classification for each species you created.
Dichotomous key for the 9 species you created.
Cladogram diagram for the 10 species (9 created by you and 1 Earth species of your choice).
Evaluation Rubric
