Biology as a Science Flashcards
The atomic composition of living beings is:
CHONP: Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus
Inherited coded instructions (genes) for forming structures from raw materials
DNA
Units of inheritance are called…
genes
the extraction of energy and raw materials from the environment and using it to carry out maintenance, growth and reproduction is called….
metabolism
homeostasis is when…
living things use energy to maintain a constant internal environment
The way living things sense and respond to external stimuli is called
irritability
is adaptation collective or individual?
collective
two ways the living world can be organized into hierarchical ways
by complexity ( levels of organization) and decent
the natural unit of systematic classification is the…
species
in the systemic classification of organisms, the more inclusive (general) the group, the … in the hierarchy
higher up
What type of reasoning does the scientific method use?
inductive
Four postulates of darwin’s theory of evolution
- Organisms vary in behaviour and morphological characteristics
- Differences in organisms are heritable
- there are differences in the number of descendants and org. will have
- resproductive rates or organisms greatly exceed their ability of their environment to support hem
Darwins theory explains historically increasing complexity of what?
the biosphere
theories from different sciences supporting eachother shows…
consilience
humans have a type 1 survivorship curve, meaning what?
most individuals survive for most of the maximum lifespan, with heavy mortality toward the end
How are humans K-strategists?
they breed infrequently and incest a great deal in large, expensive offspring
the science of classification of living and fossil species
systematics
evolutionary innovations unique to the common ancestor of a group and all of its descendents is called a…
shared derived feature
the hierarchy levels genus, family and order are from what hierarchy
Linnaean systematic
the human species is called
sapiens
the henus of humans is called
homo
the family of humans is called
hominidae
Sapiens are characterized with
delicate skull
small face
prominent chin
the homo genus is comprised of humans distinguished by what?
development of the frontal lobes
hominidae is a family comprides of
bipedal hominoids
what is the superfamily of the humans?
hominoidea
Who is a part of the hominodea?
apea, humans, and australopithecines
The name for the order than humans are a part of is called
primates
6 pre-adaptations of primates
1) Stereoscopic vision
2) opposable digits
3) generalized dentition and diet
4) intelligence and sociability
5) high encephalization
6) moderately large body size
what does it mean to have hihg encephalization?
a trend toward high brain weight/body weight ratio
The pre-adaptation of generalized dentition and diet allowed primates to do what?
exploit a wide range of food types and thus of a wide range of habitats
Modern human beings arise from the group of hominoids known as
the great apes
to become bopedal, humans needed to shorten and deepen what?
the pelvis
the opening at the bottom of the skull where the spinal cord enters is called
the foramen magnum
Why go bipedal?
less energetically expensive
What was interesting about the ardipithecus ramidus
it was an early bipedal hominit
the differing in size between males and females of homo is called…
sexual size dimorphism
Reason for delay in maturation of humans
difficult of accomodating huge brained babies
what is paedomorphosis?
juvenille chimps showing a similar cranial structure as homo
the quick evolution from a single ancestral species to a large number of closely related species in a common geographic area is called…
adaptive radiation
what was unique about the homo floresiensis?
it was a small brained, dwarf sized h. erectus that used tools
body build of neanderthalensis
very robust and muscular
