BIOL 1204 Midterm Vocab Flashcards
(81 cards)
Define Biodiversity
- the variety of all life as reflected in
- genetic variability within species
- differences between species
- the number of individuals and species
- the variety of communities and ecosystems
Define Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem functions that directly or indirectly benefit humans
Define Evolution
Intergenerational change or descent with modification
Define Adaptation
A heritable trait that helps an organism to survive and/or reproduce and advantageous alleles become more common and disadvantageous ones become less common
Define Phenotypic Plasticity
When a single genotype can exhibit different phenotypes in different environments (rabbits in summer vs winter change coat colour)
Define Mutation
Any change in the DNA nucleotide sequence
Define Sexual Reproduction
Mixing of genes from different sources
Define Heritability
Percentage of phenotypic variance that is due to genetic factors
Define Vestigial Structure
Non-functional features fully developed and functioning in earlier species but serve little or no purpose for an organism today
Define Genotype
Combination of alleles in an individual organism
Define Phenotype
Observable traits of an individual organism
Define Gene
Functional unit of DNA
Define Alleles
Variants of the same gene
Define Locus (Loci)
Location of the gene on a chomosome
Define Species
A group of individuals that can potentially interbreed with one another and that is reproductively isolated from other groups
Define Subspecies
Is a group within a species that has become somewhat physically and genetically different from the rest of the group. But still similar enough to interbreed with the rest of the species.
Define Population
A group of individuals of the same species with a probability of mating with each other
Define Gene Pool
All the alleles in a population
Define Population Genetics
Is the study of genetic variation and how it changes in populations over time
Define Haploid (n)
A cell or an organism that only has one set of chromosomes
Define Diploid (2n)
A cell or an organism has two sets of chromosomes
Define Natural Selection
The survival and reproduction of individuals in a population due to differences in phenotype that are advantageous traits
Define Gene Flow
The movement of alleles between populations
Define Genetic Drift
Allele frequencies change due to random chance alone