Biological Science Flash Cards

Adaptations

Inherited characteristics that help organisms survive and reproduce

Structural Adaptations

Physical features that help an organism survive in its environment (e.g. polar bear blubber)

Behavioral Adaptations

Patterns of activity that help organisms survive in their environment (e.g. nocturnal)

Physiological Adaptions

Internal, automatic body processes that help an organism survive in its environment (e.g. venom/poison)

Endotherms

Animals that control their body temperature using internal energy (metabolism)

Ectotherms

Animals that rely on external sources to regulate body temperature (e.g. sunlight)

Endotherm Adaptations

1. Insulation

2. Shivering

3. High Basal Metabolic Rate

4. Vasodilation

5. Evaporative cooling

6. Behavioural adjustments

Ectotherm Adaptations

1. Behavioural - basking, burrowing, seeking shade

2. Physiological - Slowing metabolism, colour changes to absorb heat

Ecosystem

A complex biological system made up of living (biotic) components and non-living (abiotic) factors, involving communities of organisms interacting with each other and with their physical environment

Predation

A feeding relationship where one organism kills and eats another. The attacker is the predator, and the victim is the prey (e.g. lion kills and eats zebra)

Mutualism

A relationship when two organisms live closely together to benefit each other (e.g. fungus and algae in lichen)

Parasitism

A relationship between two organisms of different species where one (parasite) benefits and the other (host) is harmed (e.g. tapeworm on a human)

Competition

A relationship in which organisms from the same (interspecific) or different (interspecific) species compete to use the same limited resource (e.g. peacocks fighting over a peahen)

Commensalism

A relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected (e.g. barnacles on a whale)

Biotic

Describes living factors in the environment. (e.g. plants, animals)

Abiotic

describes non-living factors in the environment (e.g. sunlight, air)

pH level

A measure of alkalinity or acidity, measured in a scale from 0 to 14

Abiotic Factors

Nonliving components of environment. (e.g air, water)

Biotic factors

living components of an environment (e.g. plants, animals)

Sampling methods

Used to determine the number and distribution of various populations and communities within an ecosystem (e.g. Quadrats, Transects)

Tullgren Funnel

Trap used to collect small animals from leaf litter or in a soil sample, used for small animals that don't like light (e.g. spiders, beetles)

Sweep Net

A net mounted on a stick swept through the air or long grass to collect insects, used for low flying insects or insects on grasses (e.g. butterflies, grasshoppers)

Pond Dipping

A net mounted on a stick used to catch small aquatic creatures (e.g. leeches, tadpoles)

Tree Beating

Shaking the branches of a tree to collect bugs onto a mat

Capture-recapture

Used to estimate the population size of mobile species by catching, marking, releasing, then later recapturing individuals to see how many marked animals appear in the second sample

Quadrats

A one metre square that is placed in an area of study, by which the organisms in that square are counted and assumed to represent the population of the entire area

Quadrat formula

Total population = (number in one quadrat × total area of quadrat) ÷ area of quadrat

Transect

Recording organisms touching or crossing a line

Tropisms

Directional growth responses in plants that occur in a specific direction because of external stimuli

Stimuli

Physical or chemical changes in the environment that trigger a reaction in a organism

Phototropism

A plant's growth response to light

Geotropism

A plant's growth response to gravity

Hydrotropism

A plant's growth response to water

Germination

The process where seeds sprout and begin to grow

Auxin

A growth hormone that helps control how plant cells grow