Chapter 2

Question 0

Habitat

Answer 0

The specific area of the natural environment in which an organism lives

Question 1

Species

Answer 1

A group of related organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile, viable offspring.

Question 2

Adaptations

Answer 2

Changes in physical structure, function, or behavior that allow an organism or species to survive and reproduce in a given environment.

Question 3

Natural selection

Answer 3

The process by which some organisms, with features that enable them to adapt to the environment, preferentially survive and reproduce, thereby increasing the frequency of those features in the population.

Question 4

Adaptive radiation

Answer 4

The diversification of an ancestral group of organisms into new forms that are adapted to specific environmental niches

Question 5

Lamarckism

Answer 5

The theory of evolution through the inheritance of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features acquired during it’s lifetime.

Question 6

Gemmules

Answer 6

As proposed by Darwin, the units of inheritance, supposedly accumulated in the gametes so they could be passed on to offspring

Question 7

Blending inheritance

Answer 7

An outdated, did reputed theory that the phenotype of an offspring was a uniform blend of the parents’ phenotypes.

Question 8

Gene

Answer 8

The basic unit of inheritance; a sequence of DNA on a chromosome, coded to produce a specific protein

Question 9

Allele

Answer 9

One or more alternative forms of gene

Question 10

Dominant

Answer 10

An allele that Is expressed in an organism’s phenotype and that simultaneously masks the effects of another allele, if another one is present

Question 11

Recessive

Answer 11

An allele that is expressed in an organism’s phenotype if two copies are present, but is masked if the dominant allele is present

Question 12

Mendelian inheritance

Answer 12

The basic principles associated with the transmission of genetic material, forming the basis of genetics, including the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment.

Question 13

Genotype

Answer 13

The genetic makeup of an organism; the combination of alleles for a given gene

Question 14

Phenotype

Answer 14

The physical expression of the genotype; it may be influenced by the environment.

Question 15

Chromosomes

Answer 15

Strand of DNA found in the nucleus of eukaryotes that contains hundreds or thousands of genes.

Question 16

Evolutionary synthesis

Answer 16

A unified theory of evolution that combines genetics with natural selection

Question 17

Four causes of evolution

Answer 17

Natural selection
Mutation
Gene flow
Genetic drift

Question 18

Mutation

Answer 18

Random change in agents or chromosome, creating a new trait that may be advantageous, deleterious, or neutral in it’s effects on the organism

Question 19

Gene flow

Answer 19

Admixture, or the exchange of alleles between two populations

Question 20

Genetic drift

Answer 20

The random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next, with greater effect in small populations