Untitled Flashcards Set

Flashcards for Human Genetics

Q: Why can’t we do experiments on humans for genetics?
A: Few offspring, it’s illegal, and multiple generations take a long time to study.

Q: What tools are used to test human genetics?
A: DNA sequencing, pedigree analysis, genetic testing, and population studies.

Q: What does a pedigree help evaluate?
A: Inheritance patterns in families.

Q: What is Mendelian inheritance?
A: A genetic inheritance pattern based on dominant and recessive alleles.

Q: Give an example of autosomal recessive inheritance.
A: Sickle cell disease.

Q: What is autosomal dominant inheritance?
A: A pattern where only one mutated allele is needed for a trait to appear.

Q: What are non-Mendelian inheritance patterns?
A: Inheritance patterns that don’t follow Mendel’s laws, including aneuploidy, X-linked traits, and chromosomal structural changes.

Q: What is aneuploidy?
A: A condition where there is an abnormal number of chromosomes due to nondisjunction during meiosis.

Q: What is monosomy?
A: Missing a chromosome.

Q: What is trisomy?
A: Having an extra chromosome.

Q: What are structural changes in chromosomes?
A: Deletion, insertion, translocation, inversion, and imprinting.

Q: What is translocation?
A: A piece of one chromosome moves to another chromosome.

Q: What is inversion?
A: A segment of a chromosome flips but doesn’t lose or gain information.

Q: What is imprinting?
A: The expression of an allele depends on the parent of origin.

Flashcards for Intro to Evolution

Q: What is evolution?
A: Changes in allele frequency in populations over generations.

Q: What is gradualism?
A: A concept that slow, gradual changes occur over long periods of time.

Q: What is uniformitarianism?
A: A geological principle that the same processes occurring today shaped the Earth in the past.

Q: What field informed Darwin about competition?
A: Economics.

Q: What are Darwin’s four observations for natural selection?
A: Overproduction, unequal survival and reproduction, heritable variation, and non-random survival and reproduction.

Q: What is natural selection?
A: An increase in beneficial traits’ frequency over time.

Q: What did Lamarck propose?
A: Acquired traits can be passed on to offspring.

Q: What does fitness mean in evolution?
A: Reproductive success; more offspring equals higher fitness.

Flashcards for Population Genetics

Q: What is a population?
A: A group of individuals with a shared gene pool, living in the same place at the same time.

Q: What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation for allele frequencies?
A: .

Q: What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation for genotype frequencies?
A: .

Q: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
A: Frequency of the homozygous dominant genotype.

Q: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
A: Frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype.

Q: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
A: Frequency of the heterozygous genotype.

Q: What is genetic drift?
A: Random changes in allele frequencies in a population.

Q: What is the founder effect?
A: Genetic drift in a new, small population separated from a larger one.

Q: What is the bottleneck effect?
A: Genetic drift caused by a sudden reduction in population size.

Q: What increases genetic variation in a population?
A: Mutations.

Q: What mechanisms reduce genetic variation?
A: Genetic drift, non-random mating, and natural selection.

Flashcards for Speciation

Q: What is allopatric speciation?
A: Speciation caused by physical geographic barriers.

Q: What is sympatric speciation?
A: Speciation occurring without geographic barriers.

Q: What causes sympatric speciation?
A: Polyploidy, sexual selection, or niche differentiation.

Q: What is habitat isolation?
A: Two species live in different habitats and do not meet.

Q: What is temporal isolation?
A: Two species reproduce at different times.

Q: What is behavioral isolation?
A: Species-specific mating rituals prevent interbreeding.

Q: What is mechanical isolation?
A: Species have incompatible reproductive structures.

Q: What is gametic isolation?
A: Gametes are incompatible despite successful mating.

Q: What is reduced hybrid viability?
A: Hybrids fail to develop or are weak.

Q: What is reduced hybrid fertility?
A: Hybrids are healthy but sterile.

Q: What is hybrid breakdown?
A: First-generation hybrids are viable, but their offspring are weak or sterile.

Flashcards for Phylogenetics

Q: What is taxonomy?
A: The practice of naming, grouping, and classifying organisms.

Q: What is phylogeny?
A: The evolutionary history of a species or group.

Q: What is a monophyletic group?
A: A group that includes a common ancestor and all its descendants.

Q: What is a paraphyletic group?
A: A group that includes a common ancestor but not all its descendants.

Q: What is a polyphyletic group?
A: A group that does not include the common ancestor.

Q: What are nodes in a phylogenetic tree?
A: Points representing common ancestors.

Flashcards for Population Ecology

Q: What are the variables in population growth equations?
A: : population size, : number of births, : number of deaths, : per capita mortality rate, : per capita birth rate, : carrying capacity.

Q: What is the per capita growth rate?
A: , where means population growth, means population decline, and means equilibrium.

Q: What is carrying capacity ()?
A: The maximum number of individuals an environment can sustain.

Q: What is logistic growth?
A: Population growth that slows as it approaches .

Q: What is exponential growth?
A: Population growth without environmental constraints.

Q: What is semelparity?
A: Reproducing only once in a lifetime.

Q: What is iteroparity?
A: Reproducing multiple times throughout life.

Q: What is K-selection?
A: Fewer offspring with higher survival rates, longer lifespan, and high parental care.

Q: What is r-selection?
A: Many offspring, low parental care, short lifespan, and high mortality rates.

Flashcards for Community Ecology

Q: What are the types of species interactions?
A: Predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Q: What is predation?
A: One organism benefits while the other is harmed.

Q: What is competition?
A: Both species are negatively affected.

Q: What is mutualism?
A: Both species benefit.

Q: What is commensalism?
A: One species benefits, and the other is unaffected.

Q: What is parasitism?
A: One species benefits while the other is harmed but not killed.

Q: What is competitive exclusion?
A: One species outcompetes another, leading to niche differentiation.

Q: What is resource partitioning?
A: Species adapt to use different resources to reduce competition.

Q: What are predator adaptations?
A: Claws, speed, camouflage, acute senses.

Q: What are prey adaptations?
A: Camouflage, physical defenses (e.g., shells, spikes), and mimicry.

Flashcards for Ecosystem Ecology

Q: What are trophic levels?
A: Primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers.

Q: What is trophic efficiency?
A: The efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels.

Q: What is carbon fixation?
A: The process of converting inorganic carbon (CO) into organic forms.

Q: What is nitrogen fixation?
A: The process of converting atmospheric nitrogen (N) into usable forms by microbes.

Q: How does phosphorus enter ecosystems?
A: Through weathering of rocks and soil erosion.

Q: What are oligotrophic lakes?
A: Clear lakes with high oxygen and low nutrient content.

Q: What are eutrophic lakes?
A: Lakes with high nutrient content and low oxygen levels.

Flashcards for Conservation Biology

Q: What are the levels of biodiversity?
A: Genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity.

Q: What are ecosystem services?
A: Nutrient cycling, pollination, air and water purification, and food resources.

Q: What is extirpation?
A: Local extinction of a species.

Q: What is a keystone species?
A: A species critical to maintaining ecosystem balance.

Q: What is the extinction vortex?
A: A feedback loop of inbreeding and genetic drift in small populations, leading to extinction.

Q: What is the minimum viable population?
A: The smallest population size needed to avoid the extinction vortex.

Q: What is the small population approach in conservation?
A: Focusing on saving endangered species.

Q: What is the declining population approach?
A: Addressing factors causing population decline to prevent extinction.

Q: How can fragmentation be counteracted?
A: By creating movement corridors or nature preserves.

Q: What is overharvesting?
A: Hunting or harvesting a species faster than it can reproduce.