Discussion Questions - Kingdom MONERA - Chapter 25

1. Discuss the difficulty in identifying biological species in the Monera kingdom. How are species identified in the Monera kingdom?

2. How can bacteria be so adaptable, like developing resistance to antibiotics, since they do not have sexual reproduction?

3. Discuss the diversity of energy and carbon sources used by organisms in the Monera kingdom. Describe the four major metabolic categories and give examples of each.

4. Discuss the possible origin and importance of glycolysis, electron transport and photosynthesis.

5. Sketch the likely phylogenetic relationship among prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Discuss the characteristics and logic that were used to make this cladogram.

6. Describe the types of Archaebacteria that are found today and discuss why they are probably found only in such harsh environments.

7. Discuss the importance of bacteria to humans and use specific examples. (Use at least three examples of beneficial bacteria and and three examples of harmful bacteria).

8. What are Koch's postulates?

9. What is the significance of prokaryotes being "fast" and "small?"

Some terms to know:

aerobic

anaerobic

antibiotic

archaebacteria

autotrophs

binary fission

chemotrophs

conjugation

eubacteria

halophiles

heterotrophs

methanogens

nitrogen fixation

peptidoglycan

phototrophs

symbiosis

thermoacidophiles

transduction

transformation