Natural Selection Flashcards
What is the definition of a predator?
an animal that kills other animals for food
What are two main things that color can do for an organism?
warns predators to stay away and camouflage
what is the definition of a prey?
an animal that is hunted and killed by another animal
what is the definition of a population?
a group of the same type of organism living the same area
what is the definition of a trait
a specific characteristic of an individual organism
what is a generation?
a group of individuals born and living at about the same time
what is the definition of variation
any difference in traits between individual organisms
on a histogram, what would variation look like? describe it
more bars mean higher variation, fewer bars means less variation
what is the definition of distribution
the number of individuals with each trait in a population
on a histogram, what would distribution look like? describe it
the higher the bar the higher the distribution for that specific trait - the lower the bar the lower the distribution for that trait
what is a non-adaptive trait? give an example
any trait that does not make it more likely an individual will survive - having blue fur in a yellow environment because blue doesn’t camouflage into yellow
what is an adaptive trait? give an example
a trait that makes it more likely that an individual will survive in an environment - having yellow fur in a yellow environment because yellow camouflages with yellow
what is the definition of a species?
a group of organisms of the same kind that don’t reproduce with organisms from any other group
what is the definition of environment
everything (biotic and abiotic) that surrounds an organism
what is the definition of a gene
an instruction for making a protein molecule
how are traits formed
genes code for proteins which make structures that form traits
what is the definition of a protein molecule
a type of large molecule that performs important functions inside organisms made by amino acids