Biology B: Unit 7 Natural Selection

Question 1

adaptation

Answer 1

a trait that gives an individual a survival advantage in a certain environment

Question 2

adaptations

Answer 2

biological mechanisms that enable organisms to adapt to new environments

Question 3

adapted

Answer 3

a term used to describe a species that has evolved characteristics and/or behaviors that can be inherited from generation to generation that allow the species to better survive and reproduce in a given environment

Question 4

adaptive radiation

Answer 4

an evolutionary phenomenon in which populations of a single ancestral species become isolated and adapt to different ecosystems, evolving adaptations specific for that environment, which results in the evolution of several different but related species from a single ancestor over a relatively short amount of time from a geological perspective

Question 5

allele

Answer 5

one of two or more alternate versions of a gene

Question 6

allele frequency

Answer 6

the frequency with which a gene variant occurs in a given population

Question 7

antigenic drift

Answer 7

a natural process seen in viruses in which mutations caused by the process of viral replication cause the virus to appear differently to the immune system

Question 8

causation

Answer 8

when an observed event or action makes another event or action happen

Question 9

competitive advantage

Answer 9

a trait of an organism that gives it a greater chance of surviving and reproducing in a given environment

Question 10

correlation

Answer 10

a relationship between two sets of variables in which one variable responds to changes in another variable

Question 11

data analysis

Answer 11

the process of observing, recording, and modeling data in order to discover useful information

Question 12

dependent variable

Answer 12

a variable (represented on the y-axis of a graph) whose value is measured after changing the independent variable

Question 13

evidence

Answer 13

information that supports or refutes a hypothesis

Question 14

evolution

Answer 14

a change in the characteristics and/or behavior of a species or population over time

Question 15

gene flow

Answer 15

the introduction or removal of certain alleles from the gene pool of a population due to migration of individuals into or out of the population

Question 16

genetic drift

Answer 16

variation in the frequency of genes in a population due to random chance events, such as natural disasters or disease

Question 17

genotype

Answer 17

the alleles carried in an individual’s DNA at a particular gene

Question 18

genotype

Answer 18

the alleles for a certain gene within an individual

Question 19

graph

Answer 19

a diagram that shows the relationship between two variables

Question 20

haplotype mapping

Answer 20

a process by which the inheritance of a group of SNPs is used to establish ancestry or genealogy of a particular individual

Question 21

Hardy-Weinberg equation

Answer 21

the equation and that shows that, in a given population, if the ratio of allele and genotype frequencies remains constant, then that population is in equilibrium

Question 22

Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium

Answer 22

a state in which the allele frequencies of a population remain unchanged from one generation to the next

Question 23

hemoglobin

Answer 23

an iron-containing red protein that is responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood of vertebrates

Question 24

heritable trait

Answer 24

a trait that can be passed down genetically from parent to offspring

Question 25

independent variable

Answer 25

a variable (represented on the x-axis of a graph) whose value is changed by the researcher in order to see its relationship to a dependent variable

Question 26

influenza

Answer 26

a viral infection that affects the human respiratory system

Question 27

interferon

Answer 27

a substance produced by the body that activates the body’s defenses against viruses

Question 28

locus

Answer 28

the location on the chromosome at which a gene or sequence of DNA is found

Question 29

melanistic gene frequency

Answer 29

the prevalence of a gene that codes for dark color

Question 30

mutate

Answer 30

to undergo a change

Question 31

natural selection

Answer 31

the process where organisms better adapted to their environment will survive and produce more offspring

Question 32

niche

Answer 32

a term that describes the habitat and resources used by a species or population along with its interactions with other species within an ecosystem

Question 33

phenotypic plasticity

Answer 33

the ability of an individual genotype to change when subjected to different environmental conditions

Question 34

resource partitioning

Answer 34

a phenomenon in evolutionary biology in which species living in the same ecosystem will use different food, water, and shelter resources in order to avoid competition between each species

Question 35

single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)

Answer 35

a mutation that only changes a single base in a sequence of DNA

Question 36

transitional fossil

Answer 36

a fossil that has features of organisms from different parts of the evolutionary tree, which demonstrates an evolutionary relationship between those parts of the evolutionary tree and supports Darwin’s theory of evolution and common ancestry