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Biology 3/4 > chap 10- glossary > Flashcards

chap 10- glossary Flashcards

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1
Q

absolute dating

A

Absolute Dating- the process of determining the age in years of rocks and the fossils they contain on the basis of the physical or chemical properties of materials in the rock.

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2
Q

adaptation

A

Adaptation- an anatomical, behavioural and physiological characteristic that allows an organism to exploit a specific ecological role.

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3
Q

adaptive radiation

A

Adaptive radiation- when a single species diversifies relatively rapidly into many new species because of the availability of many ecological niches.

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4
Q

allopatric speciation

A

Allopatric speciation- speciation that occurs when members of an ancestral population become geographically separated and each isolated population evolves into a new species.

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5
Q

analogous structure

A

Analogous structure- an anatomical or morphological feature in different organisms thar has the same function but not the same basic underlying structure.

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6
Q

bioinformatics

A

Bioinformatics- the application of computer science to the digital storage, retrieval and analysis of large volumes of biological data.

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7
Q

biological species concept

A

Biological species concept- the concept that species are groups of natural populations that could potentially interbreed but are reproductively isolated from other populations.

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8
Q

clade

A

Clade- a branch of a cladogram that represents a common ancestor and all of its descendants.

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9
Q

gladogram

A

Cladogram- a phylogenetic tree that depicts a hypothesis about the evolution of a group of organisms from a common ancestor.

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10
Q

convergent evolution

A

Convergent evolution- when organisms that aren’t closely related independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.

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11
Q

correlation

A

Correlation- the inference that rock layers located in distant sites must be of the same age if they have identical mineral and fossil composition.

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12
Q

divergent evolution

A

Divergent Evolution- when members of a population develop adaptations to different selection pressures over many successive generations and eventually become new species.

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13
Q

electron spin resonance

A

Electron spin resonance- a method for determining the age of a rock or fossil based on the properties of electrons trapped inside the crystals or minerals.

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14
Q

evolutionary distance

A

Evolutionary distance- the number of substitutions that have occurred in the amino acid sequences of homologous polypeptides or nucleotide sequences of homologous genes since two organisms diverged from a common ancestor.

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15
Q

fossil

A

Fossil- the preserved remains or traces of an organism.

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16
Q

fossil record

A

Fossil record- the worldwide collection of fossils as they occur in the surface layers of Earth.

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17
Q

fossil succession

A

Fossil Succession- when fossils appear in a consistent order in the fossil record from older rock layers to younger overlying rock layers, the same order is found worldwide.

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18
Q

homologous

A

Homologous- refers to genes or polypeptides that have similar sequences and indicate a shared evolutionary ancestry.

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19
Q

homologous structure

A

Homologous structure- an anatomical feature in different organisms that has the same basic underlying structure but different functions.

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20
Q

index fossil

A

Index fossil- a fossil that is representative of a specific geological time.

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21
Q

isotope

A

Isotope- one of two or more atoms of the same element with the same atomic number and number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons and therefore different relative atomic masses.

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22
Q

lineage

A

Lineage- in evolution, a population that represents a separate line of descent from a common ancestor to modern species.

23
Q

luminescence

A

Luminescence- in absolute dating, a method for determining the age of a mineral crystal based on measuring the emission of light by electrons as they are stimulated to escape from the crystal.

24
Q

mass extinction

A

Mass extinction- the extinction of many species over a relatively short (geological) period.

25
Q

maternally inherited

A

Maternally inherited- describes a genotype that is transmitted entirely from the female parent to the offspring.

26
Q

mineralisation

A

Mineralisation- the process by which minerals from sediments have replaced the biological matter in a decreased organism, making it prone to become a fossil.

27
Q

molecular clock

A

Molecular clock- the number of substitutions that have accumulated in the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide or the nucleotide sequence of a gene in a given lineage; the rate of the molecular clock is used to estimate the time since two species diverged.

28
Q

molecular homology

A

Molecular homology- the similarity of patterns in the nucleotide sequences of DNA or amino acid sequences of polypeptides as evidence for a common evolutionary origin.

29
Q

monophyletic

A

Monophyletic- describes a taxonomic group of species that have all descended from the same common ancestor.

30
Q

morphological species concept

A

Morphological species concept- usually applied to fossils, defines a species by measurable anatomical criteria and characteristics.

31
Q

mya

A

millions of years ago

32
Q

niche

A

Niche- an organisms ecological role, the way the organism lives and functions in its environment.

33
Q

node

A

Node- a junction point in a phylogenetic tree that represents the common ancestor of the lineage that diverge from it.

34
Q

optically stimulated luminescence

A

Optically stimulated luminescence- a luminescence technique that stimulates electrons to escape a mineral crystal is exposed to coloured light.

35
Q

pairwise comparison

A

Pairwise comparison- in evolutionary studies, a comparison between two polypeptide sequences, two DNA sequences or two genomes to determine how similar they are.

36
Q

phylogenetic tree

A

Phylogenetic tree- a branching diagram showing the evolutionary relationships between species, groups joined together in the tree are believed to have descended from a common ancestor.

37
Q

phylogeny

A

Phylogeny- the evolutionary relationships that exist between species, often expressed as a tree-like diagram or represented by a taxonomic classification.

38
Q

phylogram

A

Phylogram- a type pf phylogenetic tree with branch lengths scaled to represent the number of nucleotide or amino acid changes that have occurred during the evolution of each lineage.

39
Q

radioactive decay

A

Radioactive decay- a process by which the nucleus of an unstable isotope splits and emits energy in the form of radioactivity.

40
Q

radiometric dating

A

Radiometric dating- a method for determining the age of a rock or fossil based on the predictable rates of decay of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes present.

41
Q

relative dating

A

Relative Dating- the process of determining the age of rocks and the fossils they contain relative to each other, allowing an estimation of ‘oldest to youngest’ without assigning an actual age in years.

42
Q

reproductively isolated

A

Reproductively isolated- when sexual reproduction can no longer occur freely among any adult members of the population.

43
Q

sequence alignment

A

Sequence alignment- a display in which homologous polypeptide or DNA sequences are positioned against each other to identify patterns of conserved sequence.

44
Q

speciation

A

Speciation- the evolution of one or more new species from an ancestral species.

45
Q

strata

A

Strata- (singular stratum) successive layers of sedimentary rocks; each layer represents a unique age range and contains a unique collection of fossils.

46
Q

structural morphology

A

Structural morphology- the study of the physical structure and form or organisms.

47
Q

superposition

A

Superposition- the principle that strata are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top.

48
Q

sympatric speciation

A

Sympatric speciation- when two species evolve from an ancestral population while still inhabiting the same geographical area.

49
Q

taxonomy

A

Taxonomy- a system of scientific conventions for naming and classifying organisms.

50
Q

tetrapod

A

Tetrapod- a ‘four-footed’ vertebrate animal; includes amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

51
Q

thermoluminescence

A

Thermoluminescence- a luminescence technique that stimulates electrons to escape a mineral crystal wen the crystal is heated.

52
Q

trace fossil

A

Trace fossil- a fossil produced by an organisms activities, such as fossil footprints or burrows.

53
Q

transitional fossil

A

Transitional fossil- a fossil that bears features of both an older ancestral life form and a younger descendent.

54
Q

vestigial structure

A

Vestigial structure- a structure found in organisms that has lost most, if not all, of its original function in the course of evolution, in ancestral organisms, the structures served a purpose, but in their descendants, the structures become trophied or rudimentary.

Biology 3/4 (22 decks)

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