Genetic Change and Traits
Natural Selection
Speciation
Extinction
Vocab (Reworded)
100
What is a gene?
A gene is a specific segment of DNA that provides instructions for an inherited trait.
100
What is the name of the process by which a population's environment determines which traits are beneficial and which are not?
Natural selection
100
What is it called when two or more populations of the same species no longer reproduce due to a barrier in reproduction.
Speciation
100
What is the different between mass extinction and background extinction?
Background extinction is when a species fails to adapt or compete in their environment while others succeed
Mass extinction is caused by environmental changes such as asteroid collisions, sea level changes, volcanic eruptions
100
A group of individuals that can reproduce successfully in nature
Species
200
What do we call traits that help organisms survive and reproduce in their current environment?
Adaptations
200
Why do strongly unfavorable traits rarely get passed to offspring?
Answers will vary
Natural selection acts like a filter, making those with less favorable traits more likely to die rather than passing on their genes.
200
This term refers to any species that another species may have evolved from
Common Ancestor
200
True or False?
Background extinctions happen continuously at a constant rate as species fail to adapt or compete in their environments while others succeed.
True
200
What is the change in the inherited traits of a population over many generations?
Evolution
300
These are said to be the building blocks of proteins
Amino acids
300
What is the name of this distribution shape?
Bell Curve
300
True or False?
Mammals didn't appear until after the KPg Mass Extinction.
False
They existed prior to this but weren't nearly as diverse as they would become after.
300
How many mass extinctions have occured in Earth's history?
Five
300
This term refers to different types of traits in a population for an inherited characteristic
Genetic Variation
400
Give a real example of genetic variation within a species?
Answers will vary
(beak size, tail length, hair color, etc.)
400
House sparrows were introduced to the cold climates of North America in 1852. Since that time, the bodies of sparrows in the north became larger than those of southern sparrows. What is the most likely cause of the change in northern sparrow body size?
A. If cold weather increases the rate of mutations in the genome, sparrows can mutate into larger organisms.
B. If larger sparrows cannot breed with smaller sparrows, they become isolated and form a new species.
C. If smaller sparrows cannot survive as well in cold weather, only sparrows with genes for large bodies will survive.
D. If sparrows shiver in the cold and gain muscle mass from the shivering, their body size will increase.
C.
More fit individuals survive to pass down their genes
400
Describe at least two factors that can lead to speciation
Answers will vary
Geographic barriers, food resources, differences in mating behaviors, etc.
400
Explain why some organisms are able to survive an event that causes mass extinction.
The populations that survive a mass-extinction event must have traits that help them survive and reproduce in the new environment. Populations can begin to exploit previously occupied niches, which can lead to reproductive isolation
400
Any type of stuff that can trigger a change in the base-pair sequence of a gene is called...
Mutagens
500
If a mutagen changes the genetic structure of a skin cell after birth, which of the following could not occur and why?
A.The cell replicates, passing the mutation on to many cells in the body.
B. The cell stops functioning because of the mutation and eventually dies.
C. The cell produces a new protein because of the mutation, resulting in a new trait.
D. The cell passes the mutation on to the skin cells of offspring born after the mutation.
D could not occur because the mutation happens in the skin cell which is not a reproductive cell, therefore cannot be passed on
500
This occurs when evolution toward similar traits in unrelated species are selected for due to a similar environment.
Convergent Evolution
500
Humans and apes belong to this Order of Mammals
Primates
500
What name is given to species that no longer exist in out nature but are still bred in captivity?
Extinct in the Wild
500
Threshold beneath which there are too few individual members for a population to continue to thrive.
Minimum Viable Population