Lab 12: Biodiversity Flashcards

Flashcards covering the types of biodiversity, historical mass extinction events, plant classification (monocots vs. dicots), and structural biological concepts.

Ecosystem Diversity

The variety of habitats within a specific geographical location.

Species Diversity

The variety of species within a habitat or a region.

Genetic Diversity

The diversity within a single species, such as variations in the Mc1r gene.

Niche

The role or function of an organism or species in an ecosystem, including its relationship to all biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors.

End Ordovician Extinction

A mass extinction occurring $444$ million years ago where $85\%$ of species, primarily small marine organisms, were lost due to habitat loss.

Late Devonian Extinction

A mass extinction occurring $375$ million years ago where $75\%$ of species, including many tropical marine species, were lost.

End Permian Extinction

A mass extinction occurring $251$ million years ago where $96\%$ of species were lost, affecting a wide range of organisms including many vertebrates.

End Triassic Extinction

A mass extinction occurring $200$ million years ago resulting in the loss of $80\%$ of species.

End Cretaceous Extinction

A mass extinction occurring $66$ million years ago where $76\%$ of all species were lost.

Holocene Extinction

Also known as the $6th$ mass extinction, characterized by the loss of $300,000$ known species in the past $50$ years correlated with human population growth.

Bryophytes

Non-vascular land plants, such as mosses, that lack a tube system for transporting water and nutrients.

Pteridophytes

Seedless vascular plants, such as ferns, that possess a vascular system for water conduction.

Gymnosperms

Vascular plants that produce pollen and "naked" seeds, including conifers.

Angiosperms

Vascular plants that produce flowers, fruit, pollen, and seeds.

Vascular System

A tube system in plants consisting of xylem and phloem used to transport water, sugars, and nutrients.

Monocot

A flowering plant characterized by one cotyledon, fibrous roots, scattered vascular bundles, parallel leaf veins, and flower parts in multiples of $3$.

Dicot

A flowering plant characterized by two cotyledons, tap roots, ringed vascular bundles, net-like leaf veins, and flower parts in multiples of $4$ or $5$.

Homologous Structures

Structures with similar traits and the same origins or ancestry, though they may have different functions, such as human, whale, and bat limbs.

Analogous Structures

Structures with similar functions and traits but different origins or ancestry, such as the quills of a hedgehog and a cactus.

Blood Pressure

The measurement of force applied to artery walls.