Biology Flashcards
Who published his theory of evolution in the 1859 book On the Origin of Species?
Charles Darwin
What general term is used for the large dry oily seeds or fruit of some plants which are usually edible?
Nuts
In which process do plants convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen using energy from sunlight?
Photosynthesis
Which acid formed when milk goes sour also builds up in muscles during strenuous exercise?
Lactic Acid
What term is given to the chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life?
Metabolism
Which portmanteau word refers to the whole hereditary information of an organism that is encoded in the DNA – the human version was sequenced in 2001?
Genome
Used as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function which process removes waste and excess water from the blood?
Dialysis
Also known as dextrose which sugar circulates in the blood of animals as blood sugar?
Glucose
What is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups?
Taxonomy
What is the name of the Austrian monk who carried out experiments on pea plants and is regarded as the founder of genetics?
Gregor Mendel
Which term was first coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 who defined it as “the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism to the environment”?
Ecology
What term is given to the study of the microscopic structure of tissues?
Histology
By which process is water absorbed by plants usually through the roots and evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surface mainly from the leaves?
Transpiration
Female sex chromosomes have two copies of the X chromosome while male sex chromosomes have one X chromosome and one of which other chromosome?
Y
What name is given to any organism such as bacteria that lacks nuclei and other complex cell structures?
Prokaryote
RNA acts as a messenger between DNA and ribosomes and is also responsible for making proteins. What do the initials RNA stand for?
Ribonucleic Acid
What chemical substance is produced and released into the environment by an animal for example to indicate the availability of the female for breeding?
Pheromone
Derived from the Greek word for “wood” which type of transport tissue in vascular plants transports water from roots to shoots and leaves?
Xylem
Which protein makes up 80% of the proteins in cow’s milk?
Casein
What term is used for the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration?
Osmosis
James Watson and Francis Crick realised that the molecules of DNA were of what structure (two-word answer required)?
Double Helix
Named after a character in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass which evolutionary hypothesis proposes that organisms must constantly adapt evolve and proliferate simply to survive?
Red Queen Hypothesis
Which process transforms one diploid cell into four haploid cells and forms the basis of sexual reproduction?
Meiosis
What term used both in zoology and in botany literally means “giving live birth”?
Viviparity
Leucine lysine and methionine are three of the “essential” types of which group of acids?
Amino Acids
The Latin word for “whip” what name is given to the tail-like projections that protrude from the cell body of microorganisms and aid in locomotion?
Flagella
What name is given to a plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows on another plant but is not parasitic on it?
Epiphyte
What name is given to the breathing pores on the surface of a plant’s leaves?
Stomata
What term is defined as the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely given the food habitat water and other necessities available in the environment?
Carrying Capacity
Which Russian scientist led a campaign against genetics in the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1960s and developed a theory of genetics which suggested that environment can alter the hereditary material?
Trofim Lysenko
Also known as the citric acid cycle what series of chemical reactions used by all aerobic organisms to generate energy is named after a German-born biochemist?
Krebs Cycle
Representing a single ‘branch’ on the ‘tree of life’ what term is used for a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants?
Clade
Haemocyanin is a protein that transports oxygen throughout the bodies of some invertebrate animals and contains two atoms of which metal?
Copper
Responsible for fatal brain diseases such as CJD which microscopic protein particle is similar to a virus but lacks nucleic acid?
Prion
What term is used for plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground?
Herbaceous
Auxins are one of the five classes of which chemicals that regulate plant growth?
Hormones
What name is given to a flowering plant with two embryonic seed leaves that usually appear at germination?
Dicotyledon
Which domain of single-celled organisms were originally classified as bacteria but their membranes are made of molecules that differ from those in other life forms?
Archaea
What name is given to an organism that cannot fix carbon and uses organic carbon for growth?
Heterotroph
The Latin word for “sewer” what is the name of the orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive reproductive and urinary tracts of certain animal species?
Cloaca
Who won a Nobel Prize in 1933 for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity by studying mutations in the fruit fly?
Thomas Hunt Morgan
What name is given to the process of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms?
Apoptosis
ATP is a coenzyme that is used to transport energy to cells for biochemical processes. What do the initials ATP stand for?
Adenosine Triphosphate
Which waxy steroid with the chemical formula C27H46O is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes?
Cholesterol
What is the name of the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake?
Benthic Zone
In zoology what word describes organisms that do not possess a means of self-locomotion and are normally immobile e.g. barnacles?
Sessile
Named after an English naturalist what form of mimicry refers to a situation where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator?
Batesian
What name is given to the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms?
Phylogenetics
The first synthetic cell known as Synthia was created in 2010 at an Institute named after which American biotechnologist?
Craig Venter
Probably the last entry in any Dictionary of Biology what is the science that studies the process of fermentation?
zymology (Or zymurgy)
