Traits
What is a trait?
A quality or characteristic of an organism
Define inherited traits.
Traits that an organism gets from its biological parents.
What is an organism's genotype?
The genetic structure or code of an organism
What is a Punnett Square?
Using traits to continue living in one's environment
What are genes?
Information in your cells that helps determine some of an organism's traits
Define learned traits.
Traits of an organism that are influenced by environments or experiences
What is an organism's phenotype?
What an organism looks like or can do as a result of a trait
How many alleles go into a Punnett Square from both parents? How many possible results (boxes) are there for offspring in a Punnett Square?
2 alleles from each parent
4 options/chances total
How does camouflage help organisms survive in their environments?
Organisms can blend into their surroundings to avoid predators or catch prey.
What is variation?
Change or difference between traits within a species
Give two examples of traits that an organism can learn during its lifetime.
Learning to play an instrument, playing sports, handwriting, drawing, etc.
What is an allele?
The different forms of a gene
example: Aa
Using the letter B/b, explain what the 3 different genotypes are that are possible in a Punnett Square and if each phenotype would be dominant or recessive.
BB - dominant
Bb - dominant
bb - recessive
What is blubber and how does it help organisms survive in their environment?
A layer of fat that helps keep animals warm in cold climates
What is a multifactorial trait? Give an example.
A trait controlled by multiple factors
examples: height, intelligence
Give three examples of inherited traits: one for a human, one for another animal, and one for a plant.
human: eye color, skin color, hair color, ear shape, widow's peak, nose shape, etc.
other animal: fur color, tail shape, ear shape
plant: stem length, stem color, flower position, flower shape, thorns
How many of each allele does an organism inherit? Use the letter T to tell what forms are possible.
An organism inherits one allele from each biological parent. For the letter T, it could have a capital T or a lowercase t.
If the parent genotypes for an organism are DD and dd, is it possible that the offspring will get the recessive trait? Create a Punnett Square to explain.
All chances have a dominant allele, so the phenotype must be the dominant form of the trait.
Explain how the height of two plants can be affected by their environments.
Even with the same nutrients and water, two plants may not grow to the same heights if they do not get the same amount of sunlight in their environment.
How are traits of one generation passed to the next? Give an example.
Each biological parent gives an genetic information to help determine what traits the offspring will have.
examples: eye color, skin color, widow's peak, etc.
Why do some offspring look like their parents while others do not? Give an example.
An organism inherits one allele from each parent. They could inherit a recessive allele that does not show in a parent.
example: A parent with brown eyes could give a recessive allele to a child that leads them to have a different eye color (i.e. green eyes)
What is the difference between dominant and recessive alleles?
Dominant alleles always show when present.
Recessive alleles only show if there is no dominant allele.
Create a Punnett Square for a plant to determine the likelihood that it will have thorns using the genotypes below. T means has thorns.
Parent 1: Tt; Parent 2: tt
What are the chances that the offspring will have thorns?
Possibilities: Tt, Tt, tt, tt
There is a 50% chance the offspring will have thorns.
arctic - icy, cold, tundra
marine (ocean) - saltwater, colder the deeper you go
freshwater - smaller bodies of water, lakes, rivers, ponds
forest - lots of trees/plant life, moderate climates
rain forest - tropical climates, lots of rain
desert - very dry, extreme temperatures
grassland - flat lands without a lot of water, hot temperatures