Terms : Hide Images
| 8722463701 | Logistical growth curve | A population graph that initial shows exponential growth and then plateaus because the population maxes out the ecosystems carrying capacity. | 0 | |
| 8722463702 | Mutations | Random errors in gene replication that lead to a change in the sequence of nucleotides; the source of all genetic diversity | 1 | |
| 8722463703 | Biodiversity | The variety of organisms in a given area, the genetic variation within a population, the variety of species in a community, or the variety of communities in an ecosystem | 2 | |
| 8722463704 | Speciation | The process by which a new species evolves from a prior species, the most basic process in macroevolution. | 3 | |
| 8722463705 | Allopatric Speciation | Speciation due to organisms of a species being separated by geographical barriers so that eventually they become so different that they cannot interbreed. | 4 | |
| 8722463706 | Sympatric Speciation | Speciation that occurs within one area - some factor other than geographical separation has prevented free interbreeding between members of the species. | 5 | |
| 8722463707 | Bottleneck effect | Genetic drift resulting from the reduction of a population, typically by a natural disaster, such that the surviving population is no longer genetically representative of the original population. | 6 | |
| 8722463708 | Genetic drift | The gradual changes in gene frequencies in a population due to random events | 7 | |
| 8722463709 | Background extinction rate | The average rate at which species go extinct over the long term. Approximately 10 per year. | 8 | |
| 8722463710 | Adaptive radiation | Process by which a single species or small group of species evolves into several different forms that live in different ways; rapid growth in the diversity of a group of organisms. Example of this is birds with different beaks adapted to different beaks. | 9 | |
| 8722463711 | Biosphere | All the parts of the planet that are inhabited by living things; sum of all earth's ecosystems | 10 | |
| 8722463712 | founder's effect | an extreme example of genetic drift; a small part of a population settles in an area far away from the rest of the population, resulting in large amounts of genetic variation. | 11 | |
| 8722463713 | positive feedback loop | Causes a system to change further in the same direction. Example: melting of Arctic sea ice | 12 | |
| 8722463714 | negative feedback loop | A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving. Example: reproduction --> overgrazing --> less reproduction | 13 | |
| 8722463715 | independent variable | the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied. Plotted on the x-axis | 14 | |
| 8722463716 | dependent variable | the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable. Plotted on the y-axis | 15 | |
| 8722463717 | control group | provides a normal standard against which the biologist can compare results of the experimental group | 16 | |
| 8722463721 | Species Richness | The number of species in a given area |  | 17 |
| 8722463722 | Species Eveness | The relative proportion of individuals within the different species in a given region |  | 18 |
| 8722463723 | Phylogeny |  | 19 | |
| 8722463724 | Roughly ten million | How many species are there estimated to be today? | 20 | |
| 8722463725 | Evolution | A change in the genetic composition of a population over time. | 21 | |
| 8722463726 | Microevolution | Evolution between the species level | 22 | |
| 8722463727 | Macroevolution | Evolution that gives the rise to new species, genera, families, classes, or phyla | 23 | |
| 8722463728 | Gene | A physical location on the chromosomes within each cell of an organism. | 24 | |
| 8722463729 | Genotype | The complete set of genes in an individual. |  | 25 |
| 8722463730 | Phenotype | A set of traits expressed by an individual (observable). |  | 26 |
| 8722463731 | Mutation | A random change in the genetic code produced by a mistake in the copying process. | 27 | |
| 8722463732 | Recombination | The genetic process by which one chromosome breaks off and attaches to another chromosome during reproductive cell division. | 28 | |
| 8722463733 | Evolution by artificial selection | The process in which humans determine which individuals breed, typically with a preconceived set of traits in mind | 29 | |
| 8722463734 | Evolution by natural selection | The process in which the environment determines which individuals survive and reproduce. | 30 | |
| 8722463735 | Fitness | An individual's ablility to survive and reproduce | 31 | |
| 8722463736 | Adaptation | A trait that improves an individual's fitness | 32 | |
| 8722463737 | Gene flow | The process by which individuals move from one population to another and thereby alter the genetic composition of both populations. | 33 | |
| 8722463740 | Extinction | The death of the last member of a species |  | 34 |
| 8722463742 | Geographic isolation | Physical separation of a group of individuals from others of the same species | 35 | |
| 8722463743 | Allopatric isolation | The process of speciation that occurs in geographic isolation | 36 | |
| 8722463744 | Reproductive isolation | The result of two populations within a species evolving separately to the point that they can no longer interbreed and produce viable offspring | 37 | |
| 8722463746 | Genetically modified organism (GMO) | An organism produced by copying genes from a species with a desirable trait and inserting them into another species | 38 | |
| 8722463747 | Range of tolerance | The limits to the abiotic conditions that a species can tolerate | 39 | |
| 8722463748 | Fundamental niche | The suite of abiotic conditions under which a species can survive, grow, and reproduce | 40 | |
| 8722463749 | Realized niche | The range of abiotic and biotic conditions under which a species actually lives | 41 | |
| 8722463750 | Distribution | Areas of the world in which a species lives | 42 | |
| 8722463751 | Niche generalist | A species that can live under a wide range of abiotic or biotic conditions. |  | 43 |
| 8722463752 | Niche specialist | A species that is specialized to live in a specific habitat or to feed on a small group of species |  | 44 |
| 8722463753 | Mass Extinction | A large extinction of species in a relatively short period of time |  | 45 |
