Definitions Flashcards
Ecology & Genetics
1
Q
Ecosystem
A
- All organisms living in a particular area and all abiotic conditions
2
Q
Biotic factors
A
- Living factors
3
Q
A biotic factors
A
- Non-living factors
4
Q
Gross Primary Production
A
- Total amount of chemical energy converted from light energy by plants in a given area
5
Q
Respiratory loss
A
- Energy lost from GPP via respiration
6
Q
Net Primary Production
A
- Energy left over (GPP - R = NPP)
7
Q
Food chains
A
- Show simple lines of energy transfer
8
Q
Trophic level
A
- Each stage of a food chain
9
Q
Food web
A
- Show lots of food chains in an ecosystem and how they overlap
10
Q
Decomposers
A
- Break down dead and undigested material so nutrients can be recycled
11
Q
Detritivores
A
- Feed on dead material - internal digestion
- Worms etc
12
Q
Saprobionts
A
- Extracellular digestion
- Secrete enzymes, break it down, absorb products
- Bacteria, fungi etc
13
Q
Habitat
A
- Place an organism lives
14
Q
Population
A
- All the organisms of one species in a habitat
15
Q
Community
A
- Populations of different species in a habitat make up a community
16
Q
Niche
A
- The role a species has within its habitat
17
Q
Adaptation
A
- A feature that members of a species have that increases their chances of survival and reproduction
18
Q
Interspecific competition
A
- Organisms of different species compete for the same resources
19
Q
Intraspecific competition
A
- Organisms of the same species compete for the same resources
20
Q
Predation
A
- An organism (predator) kills and eats another organism (prey)
21
Q
Carrying capacity
A
- Maximum stable population size of a species that an ecosystem can support
22
Q
Genotype
A
- Genetic makeup of an individual (alleles that they posses)
23
Q
Phenotype
A
- Characteristics of an individual that result from the expression of their genes and their interaction with the environment
24
Q
Homozygous
A
- Having 2 identical alleles of a gene
25
Heterozygous
- Have 2 different alleles for a gene
26
Dominant
- Allele whose effects are always shown in the phenotype, even in a heterozygous individual
27
Recessive
- An allele whose effects are only shown when there is no dominant allele present - when the individual is homozygous for the allele
28
Codominant
- Alleles whose effects both show in the phenotype of a heterozygous individual
29
Multiple alleles
- A gene that has more than 2 allelic forms
30
Autosome
- A chromosome that is not a sex chromosome
31
Epistasis
- When the allele of one gene masks the expression of the alleles of another gene
32
Linked genes
- Different genes on the same chromosome
33
Carrier
- A person carrying an allele which is not expressed in the phenotype but can be passed on to the offspring
34
Gene
- A sequence of nucleotide bases on DNA that codes for a specific polypeptide
35
Locus
- Position of a gene on a chromosome
36
Homologous chromosome
- A pair of chromosomes with the same genes at the same loci
37
Allele
- One form of a gene
38
Sex linked gene
- Gene found on a sex chromosome --> X or Y
