bio quiz study. hopefully I do good

What are the 7 characteristics of life?

Order, regulation, growth and development, energy processing, response to stimuli, reproduction, and evolutionary adaptation.

What is homeostasis?

Maintaining stable internal conditions despite environmental changes.

What is metabolism?

All chemical reactions used to obtain and process energy.

What is phylogenetics?

The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms.

What is a phylogeny?

The evolutionary history of a group of organisms.

What is a common ancestor?

An ancestral organism shared by two or more groups.

What is a clade?

A common ancestor and ALL of its descendants.

What are shared derived characteristics?

Newly evolved traits shared by members of a group.

What is a cladogram?

A diagram showing hypothesized evolutionary relationships.

What does a node represent on a cladogram?

A common ancestor where lineages diverge.

What are sister taxa?

Two groups sharing an immediate common ancestor.

What is an outgroup?

A group that diverged earlier than the groups being studied.

How do you identify the most closely related organisms on a cladogram?

Find the pair sharing the most recent common ancestor.

Does the order of organisms at the tips of a cladogram determine relatedness?

No. Relatedness depends on common ancestors, not the visual order of the tips.

What is speciation?

The formation of new species.

What is extinction?

The permanent disappearance of a species.

What is adaptive radiation?

One ancestral species diversifies into multiple species adapted to different environments.

How can geographic isolation lead to speciation?

Separated populations evolve independently until they become reproductively isolated.

What is reproductive isolation?

Barriers that prevent populations from successfully interbreeding.

What are prezygotic barriers?

Barriers that prevent fertilization before a zygote forms.

What are postzygotic barriers?

Barriers that reduce hybrid survival or reproduction after fertilization.

What is temporal isolation?

Species reproduce at different times.

Example of temporal isolation?

Two frog species breed during different seasons.

What is behavioral isolation?

Different mating behaviors prevent reproduction.

Example of behavioral isolation?

Two bird species have different courtship songs.

What is mechanical isolation?

Reproductive structures are incompatible.

What is gametic isolation?

Sperm and egg cannot successfully fuse.

What is hybrid inviability?

Hybrid offspring fail to develop or survive.

What is hybrid sterility?

Hybrid offspring survive but cannot reproduce, like mules.

How can you distinguish prezygotic from postzygotic isolation?

Prezygotic prevents fertilization; postzygotic affects offspring after fertilization.

What is abiogenesis?

The hypothesis that life originated from nonliving matter through natural processes.

What was the Miller-Urey experiment designed to investigate?

Whether organic molecules could form under simulated early-Earth conditions.

What conditions did the Miller-Urey experiment simulate?

A proposed early-Earth atmosphere with simple gases, water vapor, and electrical sparks.

What did the Miller-Urey experiment produce?

Organic molecules, including amino acids.

What was the significance of the Miller-Urey experiment?

It showed that organic building blocks of life can form from simpler chemicals without living organisms.

What did the Miller-Urey experiment NOT prove?

It did not create life or prove exactly how life originated.

What was the RNA world hypothesis?

RNA may have been an early molecule that stored genetic information and catalyzed reactions.

What are protocells?

Simple cell-like structures that may have preceded the first living cells.

What does fossil evidence tell scientists?

It provides evidence of ancient organisms and the history of life.

What can organic molecules in meteorites suggest?

Some building blocks of life can form outside Earth.

What characteristic of life is shown when an organism maintains a stable body temperature?

Regulation, or homeostasis.

What characteristic of life is shown when a plant grows toward sunlight?

Response to stimuli.

What characteristic of life is shown when organisms pass beneficial inherited traits to offspring over generations?

Evolutionary adaptation.