DNA
This double-helix molecule holds the genetic code for all living organisms.
What is DNA?
If a fruit fly's somatic (body) cells contain 8 chromosomes, what number of chromosomes will be found in one of its sperm cells?
4
This term describes a genotype consisting of two identical alleles, such as TT or tt.
What is homozygous?
This scientist is widely known as the father of evolution for his work on natural selection in the Galápagos Islands.
Which scientist was Charles Darwin?
These organisms, also known as autotrophs, make their own food using sunlight through photosynthesis.
What are producers?
In the DNA ladder, adenine always pairs with this specific nitrogen base.
What is thymine?
A heterozygous tall pea plant (Tt) is crossed with a short pea plant (tt). What is the expected phenotypic ratio?
1:1
This is the phenotypic ratio resulting from a cross between two heterozygous parents (Tt x Tt) for a dominant/recessive trait.
What is a 3:1 ratio?
This mechanism of evolution describes how organisms with traits better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.
What is natural selection?
This term describes the living components of an ecosystem, such as plants, animals, and bacteria.
What are biotic factors?
These three-part building blocks of DNA consist of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogen base.
What is nucleotides?
This type of inheritance results in a blend of traits, such as a red flower and a white flower producing pink offspring.
What is incomplete dominance?
This type of inheritance pattern controls traits like human height and skin color, which vary continuously across a wide spectrum because they are influenced by multiple independent genes.
What is polygenic inheritance?
These physical structures in different species share a common evolutionary origin and anatomical structure, even if they serve different functions today (like a whale's flipper and a human arm).
What are homologous structures?
Only this approximate percentage of energy is transferred from one trophic level up to the next highest level in an energy pyramid.
What is 10 percent?
During which specific phase of meiosis do homologous chromosomes line up in pairs along the center of the cell?
What is metaphase I?
What mechanical event allows two genes on the exact same chromosome to swap places and separate?
What is crossing over?
If a heterozygous round-seeded plant (Rr) is crossed with a wrinkled-seeded plant (rr), the percentage of the offspring that will be wrinkled.
What is 50%?
This term refers to any inherited characteristic or trait that increases an organism's chance of surviving and reproducing in its environment.
What is an adaptation?
Which specific type of ecological succession is triggered when a catastrophic event like a volcanic eruption or a retreating glacier leaves behind absolutely no soil, only bare rock?
What is primary succession?
This enzyme is responsible for unwinding and unzipping the double helix by breaking hydrogen bonds.
What is helicase?
This genetic condition occurs when both alleles are fully expressed at the same time, like a cow showing both red and white hairs.
What is codominance?
Albinism is an autosomal recessive condition. If two parents with normal skin pigmentation have an albino child, what is the percentage chance that their next child will also be born with albinism?
What is 25%
This type of evolutionary remnant refers to structures that have lost all or most of their original function through evolution, such as the human appendix or pelvic bones in whales.
What are vestigial structures?
This ecological term refers to the maximum population size of a species that a specific environment can sustainably support over time.
What is carry capacity?