apes Flashcards

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