Biological Diversity, Genetics, and Reproduction

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key biological concepts including biodiversity, Linnaean taxonomy, symbiotic relationships, genetic variation, cellular division, reproduction methods, Mendelian inheritance, and species conservation.

Biodiversity

The variety of species and ecosystems on the Earth and the ecological processes of which they are a part.

Ecosystem Diversity

The different types of living communities and the environments in which they can be found.

Community Diversity

The diversity that occurs within populations of organisms living within a particular ecosystem.

Species Diversity

The diversity that occurs within individual organisms of the same species, showing highest concentrations in tropical rainforests and coral reefs and decreasing closer to the poles.

Genetic Diversity

The diversity occurring within organisms at a cellular level that describes the variety of genetic material present in all living things.

Five Kingdoms

The structural classification categories into which all organisms are divided: Animalia (animals), Plantae (plants), Fungi (yeasts, moulds, and mushrooms), Protista (mostly single-celled organisms), and Monera (bacteria).

Taxonomic Hierarchy

The structural classification order below Kingdom: Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.

Carolus Linnaeus

The scientist who developed the two-name Latin naming system (binomial taxonomy) based on physical structure rather than habitat.

Species

A particular group of organisms that have the same structure and can reproduce with each other.

Niche

The role of an organism within a particular ecosystem, including what it eats, what eats it, its habitat, nesting site, range, habits, and its effects on other populations and the environment.

Commensalism

A symbiotic association in which one participating member benefits, while the other does not benefit but suffers no harm (e.g., barnacles on a whale).

Mutualism

A symbiotic relationship in which both participating organisms benefit from the interaction (e.g., lichen composed of algae and fungi in the Arctic Tundra).

Parasitism

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other organism (the host) is harmed (e.g., a tapeworm in a human host).

Interspecies Competition

Competition that occurs when two or more different species need the same resource, functioning to limit competing population sizes.

Resource Partitioning

The action that enables competing species to share resources by accessing them in different ways, leading to less direct competition.

Variability

Variation within a population of a single species that enables some individuals to survive sudden or drastic environmental changes.

Discrete Variation

Differences in characteristics that have a definite form, where an individual has either one specific trait or the single other alternative form.

Continuous Variation

Differences in characteristics that display a continuous range or multitude of variations, such as height and shoe size.

Heritable Characteristics

Structural and distinguishing traits (such as eye color, hair type, skin color, and earlobes) passed directly from parents to offspring via genetic material during sexual reproduction.

Non-inherited Characteristics

Acquired characteristics learned during early life (such as athleticism, artistic ability, and leadership qualities) that are not passed genetically across generations.

Natural Selection

The slow environmental process that selects individuals within a species possessing survival adaptations to survive, live long enough to reproduce, and pass those traits to offspring.

Asexual Reproduction

Reproduction involving only one parent that produces offspring genetically identical to the parent.

Binary Fission

A form of asexual reproduction in single-celled organisms (bacteria, amoeba, algae) where a cell duplicates its DNA and splits into two identical cells.

Budding

An asexual reproduction process where the parent produces a smaller version of itself that detaches to become an identical, self-sufficient individual (e.g., hydra, yeast, coral).

Spore Production

A form of asexual reproduction in fungi, green algae, moulds, and ferns where seed-like spores are produced strictly by cell division on the parent without the union of two cells.

Vegetative Reproduction

Reproduction of a plant that does not involve a seed, producing new plants through cuttings, runners, suckers, or tubers.

Sexual Reproduction

Reproduction involving specialized sex cells (gametes) from two individuals uniting during fertilization to produce genetically unique offspring.

Gametes

Specialized reproductive sex cells whose sole function is to unite during reproduction, consisting of sperm cells in males and egg cells (ova) in females.

Zygote

The single fertilized cell created when a male gamete unites with a female gamete, representing the first cell of a new individual.

Meiosis

A specialized cell division process involving two cell divisions that produces sex cells containing only half the DNA of a normal cell.

Mitosis

The cell division process in multicellular organisms that produces two new body cells with the exact same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

The inherited genetic blueprint molecule located in cell nuclei responsible for variation and transmitting genetic codes across generations.

James Watson and Francis Crick

The researchers who unraveled the molecular structure of DNA as a double-stranded twisted ladder spiral.

DNA Nitrogen Bases

The four chemicals pairing up to form the rungs of the DNA ladder: guanine (G), cytosine (C), adenine (A), and thiamine (T).

Chromosomes

Compact packages of DNA found in cell nuclei; humans have $46$ ($23$ pairs), dogs have $78$ ($39$ pairs), and cats have $38$ ($19$ pairs).

Gene

An uninterrupted segment of DNA located on a chromosome that contains specific coded instructions for an organism.

Alleles

The possible alternative forms or variations of a single gene that differ in their exact DNA sequences.

Incomplete Dominance

An inheritance pattern occurring when alleles are neither dominant nor recessive, resulting in an intermediate blended trait combining both.

Dominant Trait

An inherited characteristic whose DNA instructions are carried out whenever the allele is present, appearing in $100\%$ of true-breed crosses and an average of $75\%$ of hybrid crosses.

Recessive Trait

A trait that only appears when two copies of the recessive allele are inherited, appearing in approximately $25\%$ of hybrid cross offspring.

Extinction

The complete and permanent disappearance of every individual of a species from the entire planet.

Extirpation

Local extinction referring to the disappearance of a species from a specific geographic area while surviving elsewhere.

Artificial Selection

The human-controlled process of selecting and breeding organisms with desirable traits to produce offspring possessing those specific characteristics.

Ex-situ Conservation

The conservation and protection of biological diversity outside of its natural habitat, including seed banks (IPGRI), zoos, and sperm and egg banks.