WCU BIO-110: General Biology, Exam 1 (Auld)

What is meant by the term "emergent property"?

A property which a collection or complex system has, but which the individual members do not have.

What is a hypothesis?

A rational accounting for a set of observations, guided by inductive reasoning.

What is a theory?

A hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and not rejected.

What is qualitative data?

Information about qualities; information that cannot actually be measured.

What is quantitative data?

Information about quantities; information that can be measured with and written down with numbers.

Why is evolution a unifying theory in biology?

Evolution helps scientists find the connections between all of the different species on earth.

What are the three domains of life?

Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya

What are the kingdoms in the Eukarya domain?

Protista, Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae

What is meant by the term "descent with modification"?

Homology

What is homology?

Similarity resulting from common ancestors.

What are homologous structures?

Structures with underlying similarities but different functionality.

What is the mechanism behind adaptation?

Natural selection

What is a phylogeny?

A pictorial hypothesis about evolutionary history; they may show species or other taxa

What is a branch point on a phylogeny?

Where lineages diverge

What is a polytomy on a phylogeny?

An unresolved pattern of divergence

What is a clade?

A monophyletic group - a group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants; can be nested.

What are polyphyletic groups?

Groupings that consist of various taxa with different ancestors

What are paraphyletic groups?

Groupings that consist of ancestral species and some, but not all, of the descendants.

What does maximum parsimony assume?

That the tree that requires the fewest evolutionary events (changes in character state) is the most likely

What is an atom?

The smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element

What charge does a neutron hold?

None

What charge does a proton hold?

Positive

What charge does an electron hold?

Negative

What is a mass number of an element?

The number of protons + neutrons

What is an atomic number of an element?

The number of protons

What is energy?

The capacity to cause change

What is potential energy?

The energy that matter has due to its structure or location

What is a covalent bond?

Sharing of a pair of valence electrons by two atoms

What constitutes a molecule?

Atoms held together by valence bonds

To what does bonding capacity correspond?

The number of electrons required to complete the valence shell

What is electronegativity?

An atom's attraction for shared electrons

In a polar covalent bond, electrons __________ shared equally.

are not

In a nonpolar covalent bond, electrons _________ shared equally.

are

What is a hydrogen bond?

When a H atom covalently bonded to an electronegative atom is attracted to another electronegative atom

What is an ionic bond?

A bond that forms when one atom gives up one or more electrons to another atom

Cations have a ________ charge.

Positive

Anions have a __________ charge.

Negative

What are chemical reactions?

The making and breaking of bonds

When is chemical equilibrium reached?

When the forward and reverse reaction rates are equal

Water molecules are _________.

Polar

What is a solution?

A liquid that is a homogeneous mixture of substances

What is a solvent?

The dissolving agent

What is a solute?

The dissolved substance

What is an aqueous solution?

When water is the solvent - ionic and polar solutes

Hydrophilic substances _______________ water.

have an affinity for

Hydrophobic substances _________________ water.

do not have an affinity for

What is an acid?

A substance that increases H+ ions

What is a base?

A substances that decreases H+ ions

What is an organic molecule?

A carbon-based compound

How many covalent bonds can carbon form?

4

What are functional groups?

Components of organic molecules that are commonly involved in chemical reactions

What is a polymer?

A long molecule consisting of many monomers.

What are monomers?

Building blocks

What is the function of an enzyme?

Speeds up chemical reactions

What is adenosine triphosphate (ATP)?

The primary energy-transferring molecule in the cell

What is polymerization?

A process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks.