Genetics
What are the singular genes that organisms have that code for traits?
Alleles
What is are allele frequencies?
Allele frequencies are how common and abundant the allele is among organisms in a population.
What is evolution and how does it affect organisms?
Evolution is the change in the genetic makeup of a population over time and it can change organisms on the molecular level and can create completely new ones.
Do Pre-zygotic and Post-zygotic Barriers keep animals from ever making offspring?
No. Some animals can still reproduce like a mule which is a cross between a donkey and a horse.
What is a predator and what is a prey?
A predator is an organism who hunts and costumes another organism for nourishment. Prey is an organism who is hunted and eaten by an organism for nourishment.
How can mutations create genetic variety?
They mutate genes, which adds to the gene pool, and causes reproduction to have more variety in offspring.
What is Gene flow and how does it alter genetic drift?
Gene flow is the movement of a group of organisms from one population to another. This movement adds more genes into the gene pool creating more genetic variety. This over time can cause the genes in the organisms to change as more traits are presented.
Define a genotype and a phenotype of an organism.
A phenotype is all of the traits showing on the outside of an organism; traits that you see. A genotype is all of the genes in an organism visible or not.
What are three examples of pre-zygotic Barriers?
Answers may include habitat isolation, mating seasons, mechanical isolation, gamete isolation, and behavioral isolation.
What is natural selection?
Differential survival and reproductive success among a group of organisms due to differences in the inherited traits or characteristics of the organisms.
What is recombination and what does it result in?
Recombination is when homologous chromosome pairs exchange genetic material in prophase during crossing over. It results in genetic variety as traits are mismatched causing offspring to have genetic variety.
What is speciation?
The divergence of populations or subpopulations of the same species to the point where they can no longer interbreed and generate fertile offspring.
What are the four mechanisms of evolution?
Natural selection, Gene flow, Genetic drift, and Mutation.
What is the difference between Post-zygotic and Pre-zygotic Barriers?
Pre-zygotic Barriers stop organisms from reproducing in the first place so they can't create an offspring. Post-zygotic Barriers cause something with the offspring itself to not allow it to survive like a disfunctional embryo or the organism lacking the traits to survive.
What is a Punnett Square?
A tool used to analyze the possible allele combinations of the offspring between two individuals.
All of the genes in a population are called the _____ and these genes changing over time is called _______
Gene pool; Genetic drift.
What is the bottleneck effect?
When a population is drastically reduced in size to only a few individuals so a lot of genetic variety is lost in the population.
Explain how natural selection contributes to evolution.
Natural selection causes only certain organisms to survive and reproduce due to their certain traits. Them reproducing causes certain traits in the gene pool to change and eventually the entire population starts to change and take on those genetics.
How can behavioral isolation stop animals from creating offspring?
Behavioral isolation makes it so animals do not have a recognized or have a rejected way to mate which creates a barrier in their ability to reproduce.
What is reproductive success and what does it allow the creation of?
Reproductive success is the ability to produce fertile offspring. Offspring is the product of reproduction between produced by one or more organisms.
How do the genes of an organism changing due to adaptation affect a population?
An organism changing due to adaptation makes them better fit to survive in the environment and allows them to reproduce spreading their genes to the rest of the population.
What is the founder effect and how does it work?
The founder effect is the chance fixation of alleles in a population due to those alleles being possessed by a small number of individuals from which the entire population descends. It is when a population comes from a certain group with certain traits so those traits are widespread among the population.
What can evolution result in and how does that affect organisms?
Evolution can result in genetic differences over time big or small which can cause speciation and adaptation so organism begin to change. This can cause organisms to change and make them migrate, die, or, become different organisms completely.
How can Post-zygotic Barriers cause the inability for animals to reproduce?
They either stop the organism from being born in the first place by creating a disfunctional zygote, the offspring cannot survive in the environment, or the offspring is infertile and cannot reproduce.
What is the process of predation and how does it affect ecosystems?
Predation is an interaction between organisms in which one organism captures and consumes another organism. It causes animals to die and survive in an ecosystem so it changes the inhabitants of an ecosystem which changes everything.