Topic 7 Definitions

Question 1

What are abiotic factors?

Answer 1

Non-living ecosystem aspects:

• Temperature
• Light

Question 2

What is an adaptation?

Answer 2

Feature increasing survival chance in an environment

Question 3

What is an allele?

Answer 3

A version of a gene

Question 4

What is allele frequency?

Answer 4

Number of times an allele appears in a gene pool

Question 5

What is allopatric speciation?

Answer 5

Speciation due to geographic isolation

Question 6

What is autosomal linkage?

Answer 6

Genes on the same autosome inherited together

Question 7

What is an autosome?

Answer 7

Non-X or Y chromosome

Question 8

What is a belt transect?

Answer 8

Quadrats along a line to determine organism distribution

Question 9

What is biodiversity?

Answer 9

Variety of genes

Question 10

What are biotic factors?

Answer 10

Living ecosystem components like food and predators

Question 11

What is carrying capacity?

Answer 11

Average population size supported by an ecosystem

Question 12

What is the chi-squared test?

Answer 12

Statistical test for inheritance pattern significance

Question 13

What is a climax community?

Answer 13

Stable community at the final stage of succession

Question 14

What does codominant mean?

Answer 14

Both alleles equally contribute to phenotype

Question 15

What is a community?

Answer 15

All populations of different species in a habitat

Question 16

What is conservation?

Answer 16

Maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity

Question 17

What are degrees of freedom (X^2 test)?

Answer 17

Number of categories minus one

Question 18

What is dihybrid inheritance?

Answer 18

Inheritance of two genes on different chromosomes

Question 19

What does diploid mean?

Answer 19

Cell with two sets of chromosomes

Question 20

What is directional selection?

Answer 20

Selection favoring one extreme phenotype

Question 21

What is disruptive selection?

Answer 21

Selection favoring extreme phenotypes

Question 22

What does dominant mean?

Answer 22

Allele always expressed

Question 23

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 23

Community and non-living components of an area

Question 24

What is epistasis?

Answer 24

One gene’s allele affecting another gene’s expression

Question 25

What is evolution?

Answer 25

Gradual change in allele frequencies over time

Question 26

What is a gene?

Answer 26

DNA length coding for polypeptides and RNA

Question 27

What is a gene pool?

Answer 27

All alleles in a population

Question 28

What is genetic drift?

Answer 28

Allele frequency variations in small populations

Question 29

What is genetic variation?

Answer 29

Differences in genotypes due to mutations

Question 30

What is a genotype?

Answer 30

Organism's genetic composition

Question 31

What is a habitat?

Answer 31

Region where an organism lives

Question 32

What is the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 32

Model predicting constant allele ratios

Question 33

What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation?

Answer 33

p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1.0

Question 34

What does heterozygous mean?

Answer 34

Two different alleles of a gene

Question 35

What does homozygous mean?

Answer 35

Two identical alleles of a gene

Question 36

What is interspecific competition?

Answer 36

Competition between different species

Question 37

What is intraspecific competition?

Answer 37

Competition between members of the same species

Question 38

What is a locus?

Answer 38

Gene position on a chromosome

Question 39

What is mark-release-recapture?

Answer 39

Method estimating motile organism population size

Question 40

What is the mark-release-recapture equation?

Answer 40

(Number in 1st sample x number in 2nd sample) / number recaptured

Question 41

What is monohybrid inheritance?

Answer 41

Inheritance of one gene

Question 42

What are multiple alleles?

Answer 42

Gene with more than two potential alleles

Question 43

What is natural selection?

Answer 43

Increased frequency of beneficial alleles

Question 44

What is a niche?

Answer 44

Organism's role in an ecosystem

Question 45

What is a phenotype?

Answer 45

Organism's observable characteristics

Question 46

What are pioneer species?

Answer 46

Species colonising bare rock or sand

Question 47

What is a population?

Answer 47

Organisms of the same species in a habitat

Question 48

What is a predator?

Answer 48

Organism that eats other organisms

Question 49

What is prey?

Answer 49

Organism eaten by predators

Question 50

What is a quadrat?

Answer 50

Square grid for sampling organism abundance

Question 51

What is random sampling?

Answer 51

Sampling to avoid bias

Question 52

What does recessive mean?

Answer 52

Allele only expressed without dominant allele

Question 53

What are selection pressures?

Answer 53

Environmental factors driving natural selection

Question 54

What is sex-linkage?

Answer 54

Gene on an X or Y chromosome

Question 55

What is speciation?

Answer 55

Formation of new species

Question 56

What is a species?

Answer 56

Organisms producing fertile offspring

Question 57

What is stabilising selection?

Answer 57

Selection favoring average phenotypes

Question 58

What is succession?

Answer 58

Changes in community over time

Question 59

What does sustainable mean?

Answer 59

Ability to maintain for future generations

Question 60

What is sympatric speciation?

Answer 60

Speciation within the same area

Question 61

What is systematic sampling?

Answer 61

Sampling along an area at periodic intervals

Question 62

What is variation?

Answer 62

Differences between individuals