03. Definitions

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

the long-term adaptive process spanning generations, that equips each species for life in its ever changing natural habitat

Question 2

Structural proteins

Answer 2

form the structure of every cell of the body

Question 3

enzymes

Answer 3

control the rate of every chemical reaction in every cell

Question 4

Coding genes

Answer 4

code for unique protein molecules

Question 5

Regulatory genes

Answer 5

work through various biological means to help activate or suppress specific coding genes and thereby influence the body’s development.

Question 6

Environment

Answer 6

every aspect of an individual and his or her surroundings except the genes themselves

Question 7

Genotype

Answer 7

refers to the set of genes that the individual inherits

Question 8

Phenotype

Answer 8

refers to the observable properties of the body and behavioural traits

Question 9

Mitosis

Answer 9

Cell division to produce new cells (other than egg or sperm cells). Each chromosome precisely replicates itself.

Question 10

Meiosis

Answer 10

when cells divide to produce an egg or sperm cell, cells are not genetically alike

Question 11

Zygote

Answer 11

The result of a sperm and egg cell uniting (each is unique)

Question 12

Monozygotic twins (identical twins)

Answer 12

Twins from one zygote

Question 13

Fraternal twins

Answer 13

Dizygotic twins, originate from two zygotes. As genetically similar as non-twin siblings

Question 14

Homozygous

Answer 14

Identical genes occupying the same locus on a pair of chromosomes

Question 15

Heterozygous

Answer 15

non-identical genes which occupy the same locus on a pair of chromosomes

Question 16

Alleles

Answer 16

Different genes that can occupy the same locus and thus can potentially pair with each other

Question 17

Dominant gene

Answer 17

A gene which will produce its observable effects in either the homozygous or heterozygous condition

Question 18

Recessive gene

Answer 18

A gene which will produce its effects only in the homozygous condition.

Question 19

Normal distribution

Answer 19

most scores fall near the middle of the range and the frequency tapers off toward the two extremes

Question 20

Polygenic charactersitics

Answer 20

Are characteristics that vary in a continuous way and are generally affected by many genes

Question 21

Selective breeding

Answer 21

This procedure involves the mating of individuals that lie toward the same extreme on the measure in question. For single-gene characteristics the effects of selective breeding are immediate, but for polygenic characteristics the effects are gradual and cumulative over generations.

Question 22

Epigenetics

Answer 22

“changes in gene function that do not alter its underlying structure of DNA but result in genes being switched on or off in a reversible way”

Question 23

Artificial selection

Answer 23

Used by Darwin to refer to human-controlled selective breeding

Question 24

Mutations

Answer 24

Are errors that occasionally and unpredictably occur during DNA replication, causing the “replica” to be not quite identical to the original

Question 25

Environmental change spurs evolution by…

Answer 25

promoting natural selection

Question 26

naturalistic fallacy

Answer 26

The mistaken belief that whatever is natural (and particularly whatever is a product of natural selection) is right, good, or moral.

Question 27

Functionalism

Answer 27

the attempt to explain behaviour in terms of what it accomplishes for the behaving individual.

Question 28

Distal explanations (of behaviour)

Answer 28

Are explanations at the evolutionary level. They are statements of how the behaviour helped the individual’s ancestor’s genes make it into the next generation. Distal causation is sometimes referred to as ultimate causation.

Question 29

Proximate explanations (of behaviour)

Answer 29

Are explanations that deal not with function but with mechanism; they are statements of the immediate conditions, both inside and outside the animal, that elicit the behaviour.

Question 30

vestigial characteristics

Answer 30

Are traits that evolved because they served the needs of our ancestors but are no longer functional today, yet they remain.

Question 31

Adaptation

Answer 31

In evolutionary theory, universal and reliably developing inherited feature that arose as a result of natural selection and helped to solve some problem of survival. (e.g. umbilical cord)

Question 32

Genetic drift

Answer 32

mutations, due to chance alone, which are inconsequent to survival (such as different nose shapes)

Question 33

Species typical behaviours

Answer 33

characteristic ways of behaving for each species of animal, commonly called instinct

Question 34

Genetic determinism

Answer 34

The idea that genes “determine” behaviour

Question 35

Homology

Answer 35

Any similarity that exists because of the different species’ common ancestry (the more closely two species are, the more homologies they show)

Question 36

Analogy

Answer 36

any similarity that stems not from common ancestry but from convergent evolution- when different species, because of similarity habitats or lifestyles independently evolve a common characteristic

Question 37

Polygyny

Answer 37

one male mates with more than one female

Question 38

Polyandry

Answer 38

One female mates with more than one male

Question 39

Monogamy

Answer 39

one female mates with one male

Question 40

Promiscuity

Answer 40

more than one male and more than one female mate with each other within the same group

Question 41

Parental investment

Answer 41

the time energy and risk to survival that are involved in producing, feeding, and otherwise caring for each offspring