Untitled Flashcards Set

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

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

Front: What does a pedigree help evaluate?
Back: Inheritance patterns in families.

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

Front: Give an example of autosomal recessive inheritance.
Back: Sickle cell disease.

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

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

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

Front: What is monosomy?
Back: Missing a chromosome.

Front: What is trisomy?
Back: Having an extra chromosome.

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

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

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

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

Flashcards for Intro to Evolution

Front: What is evolution?
Back: Changes in allele frequency in populations over generations.

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

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

Front: What field informed Darwin about competition?
Back: Economics.

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

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

Front: What did Lamarck propose?
Back: Acquired traits can be passed on to offspring.

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

Flashcards for Population Genetics

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

Front: What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation for allele frequencies?
Back: .

Front: What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation for genotype frequencies?
Back: .

Front: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
Back: Frequency of the homozygous dominant genotype.

Front: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
Back: Frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype.

Front: Define in the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
Back: Frequency of the heterozygous genotype.

Front: What is genetic drift?
Back: Random changes in allele frequencies in a population.

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

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

Front: What increases genetic variation in a population?
Back: Mutations.

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

Flashcards for Speciation

Front: What is allopatric speciation?
Back: Speciation caused by physical geographic barriers.

Front: What is sympatric speciation?
Back: Speciation occurring without geographic barriers.

Front: What causes sympatric speciation?
Back: Polyploidy, sexual selection, or niche differentiation.

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

Front: What is temporal isolation?
Back: Two species reproduce at different times.

Front: What is behavioral isolation?
Back: Species-specific mating rituals prevent interbreeding.

Front: What is mechanical isolation?
Back: Species have incompatible reproductive structures.

Front: What is gametic isolation?
Back: Gametes are incompatible despite successful mating.

Front: What is reduced hybrid viability?
Back: Hybrids fail to develop or are weak.

Front: What is reduced hybrid fertility?
Back: Hybrids are healthy but sterile.

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

Flashcards for Phylogenetics

Front: What is taxonomy?
Back: The practice of naming, grouping, and classifying organisms.

Front: What is phylogeny?
Back: The evolutionary history of a species or group.

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

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

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

Front: What are nodes in a phylogenetic tree?
Back: Points representing common ancestors.

Flashcards for Population Ecology

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

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

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

Front: What is logistic growth?
Back: Population growth that slows as it approaches .

Front: What is exponential growth?
Back: Population growth without environmental constraints.

Front: What is semelparity?
Back: Reproducing only once in a lifetime.

Front: What is iteroparity?
Back: Reproducing multiple times throughout life.

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

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

Flashcards for Community Ecology

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

Front: What is predation?
Back: One organism benefits while the other is harmed.

Front: What is competition?
Back: Both species are negatively affected.

Front: What is mutualism?
Back: Both species benefit.

Front: What is commensalism?
Back: One species benefits, and the other is unaffected.

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

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

Front: What is resource partitioning?
Back: Species adapt to use different resources to reduce competition.

Front: What are predator adaptations?
Back: Claws, speed, camouflage, acute senses.

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

Flashcards for Ecosystem Ecology

Front: What are trophic levels?
Back: Primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers.

Front: What is trophic efficiency?
Back: The efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels.

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

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

Front: How does phosphorus enter ecosystems?
Back: Through weathering of rocks and soil erosion.

Front: What are oligotrophic lakes?
Back: Clear lakes with high oxygen and low nutrient content.

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

Flashcards for Conservation Biology

Front: What are the levels of biodiversity?
Back: Genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity.

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

Front: What is extirpation?
Back: Local extinction of a species.

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

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

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

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

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

Front: How can fragmentation be counteracted?
Back: By creating movement corridors or nature preserves.

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