Adaptations

Question 1

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 1

The gene pool is a measure of all alleles within a population. The more extensive or more diverse a population gene pool is the more significant the population’s genetic diversity and therefore resilience to environmental change

Question 2

Population?

Answer 2

a group of individuals of the same species living in the same location.

Question 3

Gene pool?

Answer 3

The total number of individual alleles within a particular population

Question 4

Why is genetic diversity important?

Answer 4

It is important to protect the longevity of a species by guarding it against disadvantageous environmental changes, such as disease or predators. The larger the population the greater the resilience to environmental change.

Question 5

Advantages and disadvantages of Sexual reproduction

Answer 5

Advantages -
_ increases genetic diversity in a population therefore increasing the longevity of a species and its protection against environmental changes.
_ improve disease resistance by promoting the difference of alleles.
Disadvantages
_ The cost and time spent in making zygotes is time and resource-consuming.
_ risk of transferable diseases, and risk of losing offspring due to outside influence such as embryo damage.

Question 6

Advantages and disadvantages of Asexual reproduction

Answer 6

Advantages
_ Populations grow faster
_ offspring are genetically identical to parents helpful for organisms in which their phenotype is adapted to a specific environment.
_ does not require a mate to reproduce and is not time-consuming.

Disadvantages
_ Genetic diversity is low therefore these populations may suffer during environmental change or be more susceptible to diseases.

Question 7

What is embryo-splitting?

Answer 7

The division of an early embryo into several individual embryos.
Process: Fertaliasation ⇾ Early embryo ⇾ embryo splitting ⇾ surrogate mothers ⇾ genetically identical offspring.
The most common process is IVF

Question 8

What are the Complications of embryo splitting?

Answer 8

⇾ Alteration of embryos: Some believe that alteration is acceptable however some believe that embryos are sacred
⇾ Genetic diversity: The diversity of a population is decreased leaving the species susceptible to disease and predators.
⇾ Research Animals: large production may lead to objectification and the abuse of animals.

Question 9

What is a clone?

Answer 9

Genetically identical organisms or segments of DNA

Question 10

What are reproductive cloning technologies?

Answer 10

artificially induced human interactions to produce genetically identical clones.

Question 11

What is SCNT?
+ stages

Answer 11

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is the transference of a somatic nucleus in an enucleated egg cell.

1. Enucleation: the removal or destruction of the nucleus from the donated egg cell to produce an enucleated egg.
2. Extraction: The donated somatic cell’s nucleus is extracted
3. Insertion: The somatic cells’ nucleus is inserted into the enucleated egg cell.
4. Development: Following insertion, the cell begins to divide and develop into an embryo, which is then implanted into a surrogate mother. The pregnancy then continues as normal.

Question 12

Complications of SCNT?

Answer 12

⇾ Animal Suffering: Ofen SCNT is unsuccessful due to the non-viable embryos being produced to miscarriages during the pregnancy. Even animals that survive are at risk of a lower life expectancy.
⇾ Human Cloning: Applcation of SCNT in humans is illegal due to the destruction of embryos.
⇾ Premature Ageing: Clned animals age much quicker compared to natural species due to the shortening to telomeres.

Question 13

Cloning in plants

Answer 13

produces little to no genetic diversity which again allows for the species to be susceptible to disease and predators.

Question 14

Abiotic Factors

Answer 14

Non-living parts of an ecosystem that shapes the environment
⇾ pH
⇾ Temperature
⇾ Light
⇾ Water

Question 15

Biotic Factors

Answer 15

Living organisms that affect/shape the environment
⇾ Food
⇾ Plants
⇾ Animals
⇾ Bacteria

Question 16

Open Grassland Ecosystem Impact

Answer 16

High Human Impact

Question 17

Dry Environment Impact

Answer 17

Medium Human Impact

Question 18

Swap Environment Impact

Answer 18

Low Human Impact

Question 19

Tolerance Levels

Answer 19

⇾ Optimum Range: climate conditions where an organism thrives
⇾ Zone of Physiological Stress: conditions where an organism can survive but with reproductive success
⇾ Zone of intolerance: conditions where an organism cannot survive (extremes of the limiting factor )

Question 20

Adaptation Defenition

Answer 20

Genetically controlled structural physiological or behavioural features that enhance the survival; of an organism in a particular environment.

Question 21

Surface Area to Volume Ratio for Hot Areas

Answer 21

Having a high SA:V in deserts absorbs or releases a high amount of quest quickly
Having A low SA:V will release or absorb a low amount. of heat quickly, therefore internal temperature is resistant to change.

Question 22

Surface Area to Volume Ratio for Cold Areas

Answer 22

Having a low SA:V in cold temperatures releases heat slowly allowing for time to be taken to change body temperature. Most animals maintain spheric shape with a low SA:V to decrease heat loss

Question 23

What are structural adaptations?

Answer 23

evolved modifications to an organism’s physical structure, e.g..
The gills of fish.
Beaver’s large and pointed teeth.
Duck’s webbed feet.
The flexible jaw of a snake.

Question 24

What are physiological adaptations?

Answer 24

Evolved modifications to an organism’s internal functioning or metabolic processes, e.g.
temperature regulation,
release of toxins or poisons,
releasing antifreeze proteins to avoid freezing in cold environments

Question 25

What are behavioural adaptations?

Answer 25

evolved modifications to an organism’s actions
e.g. bird calls and migration
hibernation

Question 26

What are the limiting factors?

Answer 26

any conditions that approach or exceed the limits of a tolerance for an organism.
E.g. access to water, food, mates, shelter and sunlight

Question 27

Relationships between organisms

Answer 27

⇒ Mutualism (+/+): interactions between two organisms of different species where both parties experience some overall benefit

⇒ Commensalism( +/0): interactions between two organisms of different species where one gains some benefit while the other experiences no significant benefit or harm

⇒ Predation (+/-): interactions between different species where one organism hunts and kills another organism for food

⇒Parasitism (+/-): interactions between two organisms of different species where one organism obtains nutrients at the expense of a
host organism

⇒ Amensalism (0/-): interactions between two organisms of different species where one organism experiences some negative effect while the other experiences neither a beneficial nor negative effect

⇒ Competition (-/-): interactions between two or more organisms competing for the same pool of resources

Question 28

carrying capacity

Answer 28

the maximum population size that an environment can sustain indefinitely

Question 29

Keystone species & It’s Types

Answer 29

A species whose effects on the ecosystem are more significant than expected in relation to their population size.

⇒ Apex Predators: Sit at the top of the food chain because they have no predators, They are responsible for controlling the number of prey therefore the number of organisms in the ecosystem.
Eg. Great white sharks control the number of organisms in the ocean by eating sea lions which eat fish, therefore, preventing unmanageable numbers.

⇒ Ecosystem Engineers: Organisms that create or significantly alter the structure of the environment.
Eg. The Bilby is responsible for digging holes whilst hunting for food and creates microhabitats for seeds and leaves to fall into while also trapping water.

Question 30

Explain Fire Techniques for Aboriginal Land Management

Answer 30

Purposeful low burns were used to regenerate seed and grass growth by burning away all the shrubs. The plants were stimulated by fire and would regenerate seed growth and new grasses and plants would grow. This method for plants also kept bushfires away because there was not much bushland to act as fuel.

Question 31

What are fire mosaics?

Answer 31

Small sections of land are burned specifically to make way for managing wildlife, managing crops, reducing fuel, and clearing paths and undergrowth.

Question 32

Species richness

Answer 32

The number of different species in a region – this is the total number of species (both plant and animal) for each location.

Question 33

Species evenness

Answer 33

How balanced are the numbers of each species in a habitat? The more ‘even’ the species in a habitat are, the greater the biodiversity as there are not one or two species dominating over the rest. To quantify this, ecologists will count each individual member of each species in what can be a time-consuming process. Instead, you evaluated the abundance of the species as low, medium, or high.