Evolution
This process causes organisms with helpful traits to survive and produce more offspring; it's driven by environmental pressures.
What is a Natural Selection?
The physical appearance or behavior of an organism (what it looks like or does).
What is Phenotype?
The role of plants that make their own food using sunlight in a food chain.
What is a Producer?
This biome is hot and wet year-round with very high biodiversity
What is a Rainforest?
Cutting down large areas of trees is called this.
What is Deforestation?
The preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms; scientists use them to show how life changed over time.
What are fossils? (or fossil record)
What is Genotype?
The type of relationship where both species benefit (example: bees and flowers).
What is Mutualism?
Biome with cold temperatures, permafrost, and very low-growing plants
What is Tundra?
One action that increases greenhouse gases and worsens climate change.
What is Burning fossil fuels (or releasing greenhouse gases)?
A trait that increases an organism’s chance of surviving in a particular environment.
What is an Adaptation?
A random change in DNA that can create new traits.
What is a Mutation
Organisms that break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
What are Decomposers?
Large areas with similar climate and typical living things (one-word answer).
What is a Biome?
The practice of protecting and using resources in a way that meets human needs while keeping ecosystems healthy.
What is Conservation?
When humans choose which organisms breed to emphasize desired traits (example: faster horses).
What is Selective Breeding?
When the environment affects how genes are shown (example: poor nutrition affects height).
Gene expression can be influenced by environmental factors (example: nutrition affecting height).
Drawn as connected food chains; it shows many feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
What is a Food Web
Freshwater vs. marine: name one major difference between these communities.
Freshwater has low salt; marine has high salt (salinity difference).
If a top predator is removed from an ecosystem, name one likely effect on other populations.
Example effect: prey populations may increase if top predator removed, causing overgrazing; or a decrease in species that relied on the predator for population control—answer should describe a cascade effect.
Explain how the order of fossils in rock layers helps scientists determine which species are older. (Short answer)
Newer (younger) fossils are found in upper rock layers and older fossils are in lower layers; this vertical order shows relative ages.
Compare selective breeding and genetic engineering in one or two sentences.
Selective breeding: choosing parents over generations to produce traits; genetic engineering: directly altering DNA to create traits.
Describe what happens to energy as it moves from producers to top predators in a food chain. (Short answer)
Energy decreases at each trophic level because energy is lost as heat and used by organisms for life processes.
Give two adaptations a desert plant might have to survive with little water.
Examples: deep roots to reach water, thick waxy leaves to reduce water loss, spines to reduce herbivory and water loss, or water-storing tissues.
Daily Double!!
Examples: reduce fossil fuel use (use renewable energy, drive less), conserve habitats (protected areas, reforestation), reduce/recycle waste, use sustainable agriculture.