vocab

biological species concept - an alternate method of defining species

• basis isnt on morphology but rather the ability to interbreed & produce fertile offspring

• according to this concept, a species is a group of organisms that can interbreed & produce fertile offspring

autosomes - chromosomes that dont play a role in deciding the individual’s biological gender

sex chromosomes - chromosomes that do play a role in determining biological gender

karyotyping - determining & analysing the karyotype of an individual

• involves isolating condensed chromosomes taken from actively dividing cells

• individual chromosomes are stained to highlight banding patterns

• can be arranged to create matching pairs as seen in karyogram

karyogram - visual representation of the individual’s chromosomes, which allows for visual interpretation of the chromosome characteristics

genome - is all the genetic info of an organism

single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - are when one nucleotide in genome is replaced with another nucleotide

• this introduces variation - individuals of same species can be genetically different from each other

genome sequencing - process of determining the order of the bases of an organism’s genetic code

dichotomous key - a tool used to identify a species based on observations (physical characteristics)

• each question has only 2 possible answers

DNA barcoding - method of environmental sampling that allows for identification of species & determination of biodiversity from DNA traces