AP Biology Unit 1 Vocabulary

Mean

Average

Standard deviation

Amount of variation in data

Standard error of the mean (SEM)

Measures how accurately your sample represents the true mean

Confidence intervals

±2 SEM= 95% confidence interval

Error bars

Used to illustrate confidence intervals (± 2 SEM)

Types of graphs

Bar

Parts of a graph

Title

Null hypothesis

There is no difference

Alternative hypothesis

There is a difference

Experimental hypothesis

Testable prediction

Experimental group

Group receiving the treatment/being tested to determine the outcome

Positive control group

Change is observed

Negative control group

No change is observed/normal amount of change is observed

Evolution

Change in life over time

Natural selection

Competition for limited resources resulting in differential survival and reproductive success (Survival of the fittest)

Competition

Struggle between organisms for limited resources

Mutation

Permanent change in DNA sequence

Variation

Differences existing in the same species

Adaptation

Heritable trait helping survival and reproduction

Fitness

Measured by reproductive success

Fossils

Remains of organisms that are preserved in rocks and other things

Extinct species

Species that have died out

Transition species

Intermediate states between an ancestor and its descendants

Homologous structures

Similar characteristics resulting from common ancestry

Analogous structures

Separate evolution of structures solving a similar problem with a similar solution (convergent evolution)

Vestigial structures

Structures serving little to no function. They’re present because their ancestors had it

Embryology & development

Similar embryological development in closely related species

Molecular record/homology

Compared DNA and protein structures

Artificial selection

Human-directed evolution

Biogeography

Similarity of life forms across Earth; distribution of organisms that follow patterns are best explained by things like Pangea

Molecular clocks

Proteins mutate at regular rates

Last universal common ancestor

Common organism related to all species