BIODIVERSITY (2)

Question 1

What is a punnet square used for?

Answer 1

predicting the possible genotypes and phenotypes of offspring.

Question 2

What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

Answer 2

Genotype refers to the genetic makeup of an organism (their alleles), phenotype refers to the characteristics that these alleles code for. Often it is easy to remember as we can’t see genotypes, but we can see phenotypes.

Question 3

How can we measure the health of an ecosystem?

Answer 3

Through an understanding of biological diversity which is a measure of the types of organisms in an area vs. the number of organisms in an area. Having greater diversity likely means an ecosystem is healthy.
Example: a river with a low diversity index (does not support many species) is not as healthy as a river with a high diversity index (supports many species).

Question 4

What is the benefit of variation?

Answer 4

variation helps an ecosystem or species adapt to changes in environment

Question 5

How is variation created in an ecosystem?

Answer 5

Through both genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the specialization of different species and within different species.

Question 6

What is the difference between sexual and asexual reproduction?

Answer 6

In asexual reproduction the genetic material of the offspring, and thus their inherited characteristics, are identical to those of the parent. In sexual reproduction, since two parents supply genetic information, the offspring will not be exactly like either one. Instead, the offspring will display a combination of characteristics from both parents

Question 7

What are the 4 types of sexual reproduction?

Answer 7

1 - zygospores (similar to asexual spores, but contain genetic info from TWO parents)
2 - bacterial conjugation
3 - sexual reproduction in plants (flowering plants and plants that produce cones (seed production))
4 - sexual reproduction in animals

Question 8

what are the 4 types of asexual reproduction?

Answer 8

1 - binary fission (example = amoebas, viruses)
2 - spores (example = fungi)
3 - fragmentation/regeneration (think cuttings, spider plant)
4 - budding (example = yeast)

Question 9

How many chromosomes are in somatic cells and how many chromosomes are in gamete cells?

Answer 9

somatic cells have 46 chromosomes that are organized into 23 pairs of chromosomes (each pair sort of looks like an X), but gamete cells only have half of each of these Xs so gamete cells have a total of 23 chromosomes (and they aren’t paired!)

Question 10

*Describe the structure of DNA.

(Not for memorizing, but because it is on Mrs Rheinstein’s study sheet)

Answer 10

DNA is like a twisted ladder (also known as a double helix) where is rung of the ladder is made up of nitrogen bases that come in pairs.

These bases are adenine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G) and cytosine (C).

They create pairs to form the runs of the ladder, A pairs with T, and C pairs with G.

The sides, or supports of the ladder are made of a phosphate, and a sugar (P and S).

So a flattened DNA would look like:

S – A-T – S
| |
P P
| |
S – T-A – S
| |
P P
| |
S – C-G – S

Where the bases are attached to the sugar (S) or the outside of the ladder, and air paired together as the rungs of the ladder.

Question 11

What is mitosis?

Answer 11

Mitosis is how somatic cells replicate. In mitosis, a copy of each chromosome is made before the cell divides into two cells. This way when the cell divides it has a full set of chromosomes. Note: this is about replication of cells WITHIN a body, not the creation of a new organism.

Question 12

What is meiosis?

Answer 12

Meiosis creates sex cells (also called gametes). In meiosis, like mitosis the chromosomes are copied, but the difference is that cell division happens TWICE in meiosis. So, chromosomes are copied and the cell divides, creating two cells, each of these divides again creating gametes with HALF the number of chromosomes (23 chromosomes each).

Question 13

What is the difference between mitosis and meiosis?

Answer 13

In miosis cell division happens ONCE and each new somatic cell contains 46 chromosomes. In meiosis cell division happened TWICE and each gamete contains 23 chromosomes.

Question 14

Name one benefit and one disadvantage of asexual reproduction.

Answer 14

Benefits: fast (short reproductive cycles), only requires one parent
Disadvantages: limited variation as variation can only occur through mutation

Question 15

Name one benefit and one disadvantage of sexual reproduction.

Answer 15

Benefits: increased variation
Disadvantage: slow, produces less offspring due to longer reproductive cycles

Question 16

How are bioindicators related to types of niches?

Answer 16

Bioindicators typically have narrow niches, which is how they can be used to identify changes in the environment. If they had broad niches, it would require larger environmental change to see a change in these species.

Question 17

What is extinction?

Answer 17

when a species no longer exists

Question 18

what is extirpation and how is it different than extinction?

Answer 18

the extinction of a species from specific geographic areas, which is different from extinction because extinction is when a species no longer exists in any geographic area. In extirpation the species may still exist in other geographic regions.

Question 19

What is a key stone species?

Answer 19

a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically

Question 20

why does the extirpation of a keystone species from an ecosystem matter?

Answer 20

because it will greatly impact the ecosystem impacting all of the other species living within that ecosystem.

Question 21

*What is a trophic cascade and how are they related to key stone species?

(Review, but don’t worry if not memorized, this is just included on MRs. Rheinstein’s study sheet)

Answer 21

are powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems, occurring when a trophic level in a food web is suppressed. For example, a top-down cascade will occur if predators are effective enough in predation to reduce the abundance, or alter the behavior of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation (or herbivory if the intermediate trophic level is a herbivore).
Think, if we had no coyotes, how huge would the rabbit population be in our area and how would this impact the trophic levels below rabbits? If we were to remove a keystone species, this could probably induce a trophic cascade (or large change at a different trophic level)

Question 22

*give an example of how human activities can impact bioindicator species or keystone species in an ecosystem.

(again, to be reviewed/thought about because it is on the study sheet, but this is more of a thinking idea)

Answer 22

For example humans can create physical changes to environments (like the ring road and Weaslehead) which impact various species, sometimes these might impact a bioindicator species, which would let us know about changes happening in the environment. This could also tell us about key stone species, if there was a massive change or disruption due to one species being impacted.

Question 23

Quiz question

A comparison of the number of species in an ecosystem to the number of individuals, is a way of describing _________.

Answer 23

diversity index

Question 24

Quiz question

What may occur when food, water, or sunlight become scarce?

Answer 24

Competition

Question 25

Quiz question

What do you call physical characteristic that may help an organism survive in an environment?

Answer 25

structural adaptation

Question 26

Quiz question

What do we call actions an organism learns in order to survive in its environment?

Answer 26

Behavioural adaptation

Question 27

Quiz question

__________ allows many different species to inhabit a single area.

Answer 27

Variation

Question 28

Quiz question

________ describes the number and variety of organisms in an ecosystem.

Answer 28

Biological diversity

Question 29

Quiz question

What are 3 things that organisms of a single species share?

Answer 29

(1) similar characteristics, (2) can produce fertile offspring, (3) will show some amount of variation

Question 30

Quiz question

What is commensalism?

Answer 30

a symbiotic relationship between two different types of organisms in which one of the partners benefits and the other neither benefits nor loses

Question 31

Quiz question

What is parasitism?

Answer 31

a symbiotic relationship between two different types of organisms in which one of the partners is harmed and the other benefits

Question 32

Quiz question

how do most yeast cells reproduce?

Answer 32

They reproduce asexually in a process called budding whereby the offspring starts off as a growth on the parent before it breaks off to become an independent organism

Question 33

Quiz question

When a single-celled organism transfers material to another single-celled organism in a process called bacterial conjugation, which process must this be combined with to create varied offspring?

Answer 33

Binary fission

Question 34

Quiz question

Give an example of a heritable form of continuous variation?

Answer 34

hair colour

Question 35

Quiz question:

Why is it that a mutation can be especially important in an asexually reproducing species compared to a sexually reproducing species?

Answer 35

Without mutations, asexual species have little variation in their populations, unlike sexual species whose offspring are varied at each reproductive cycle.

Question 36

Quiz question

A man and a woman who both have brown hair have three children. Two of the children have brown hair and one child has blonde hair. The gene that codes for brown hair (B) is dominant to the gene that codes for blonde hair (b). The gene pair combinations of the man and woman are most likely…

Answer 36

Both parents are heterozygous (Bb) as they would have the greatest probability of having brown haired children, but can still have blonde children

(Tip: for genotype/phenotype questions you can draw the punnet squares to help you figure out the answer)

Question 37

Quiz question

Calculate the diversity index for the following data set where each letter represents an individual within an ecosystem:

A A A A B B C D D D E F G H H H I I J J J J K

Round your answer to the nearest hundredth.

Answer 37

remember diversity index = (number of types of individuals)/(total number of individuals)

First, how many different TYPES of individuals if each letter represents a different type? There are 11 types (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K).
Second, how many individuals are there?
A=4, B=2, C=1, D=3, E=1, F=1, G=1, H=2, I=2, J=4, K=1
4+2+1+3+1+1+1+2+2+4+1 = 22

Diversity Index = (# of types of individuals)/(# of individuals)
= 11/22
= 0.50
Diversity index = 0.50

Question 38

Quiz question

Sigfried and Bertha are in love! Sigfried and Bertha want to have many, many babies together so they can ensure that their genetic codes are passed on. Their main concern is that their awesome thick toenails might become lost in the netherland of genetic elimination if they were to mate. Having gotten a genetic analysis done on their own toenails, they have figured out that Sigfried is homozygous, while his love, Bertha is also homozygous for thick toenails.

What are the genotypes possible for Bertha and Sigfried’s offspring?

Answer 38

100% homozygous

Because they have no recessive genes to give!

Question 39

Quiz question

Sigfried is incredibly upset following the birth of his and Bertha’s baby. Both he and Bertha are homozygous dominant for having thick toenails, but their baby has thin toenails and the couple’s dream of passing on their favourite trait has been crushed! Sigfried has become suspicious that perhaps Bertha had been cheating on him and that their newborn isn’t even his! Sigfried now plans to sue Bertha for infidelity. In court, what evidence could he use to prove that the baby could in no way be his and that Bertha must have had an affair?

Answer 39

Sigfried has no case. There is no way Bertha could give birth to a thin toenailed baby because she does not carry any recessive alleles in her genotype. The baby must be a mutant.

Question 40

Quiz question

What is the correct order of reproductive parts involved in sexual reproduction of lily plants:

Answer 40

Pollen gets stuck on the stigma, pollen travels from the stigma down the pollen tube, fertilization in the ovary, production of a zygote, formation of the cotyledon.

Question 41

Quiz question

Name 3 direct risks to the Weaselhead from construction of the Calgary West Ring Road?

Answer 41

noise pollution, disruption to animal migration corridors, habitat destruction

Question 42

Quiz question

_________ describes organisms taking on slightly different roles in an ecosystem, allowing them to rely on slightly different resources within the same general area, in order to reduce competition.

Answer 42

resource partitioning

Question 43

Quiz question

How are natural selection and evolution related to each other?

Answer 43

Natural selection is caused by the evolution of adaptations over time, based on whether the adaptations are advantageous for survival.