Biological Diversity
The study of fossils.
Palaeontology
The non-living factors of the environment that affect the distribution and abundance of organisms e.g. availability of water & oxygen, light intensity, temperature.
Abiotic factors
Technology used to magnify specimens so that cells can be studied.
A microscope
Organisms made of only one cell.
Unicellular
The factor a scientist deliberately changes to see if it has an effect on another variable.
Independent variable
The determination of the actual age of things by
measuring the residual radioactivity of certain,
naturally-occurring radio-isotopes in the rocks.
Radiometric dating
The term for an organism that hunts its prey
A predator
A cell with no membrane-bound organelles. Name means "before nucleus".
Prokaryotic cell
Openings on the surface of a leaf that allow water loss by transpiration and gas exchange.
Stomata
A set of columns and rows for recording data in an investigation.
Results
The mechanism that allows biological evolution whereby the environment determines who survives and who dies.
Natural selection
A method of sampling that involves counting abundance in a small known area, then scaling up to the entire study area.
Quadrat sampling
The organelle that is the site of cellular respiration.
Mitochondrion
Blood vessel with a thick, muscular wall that transports blood at high pressure away from the heart.
Artery
A prediction that can be tested by a scientific investigation.
Hypothesis
When totally different organisms live in the same kind of environment and lead similar lifestyles they will be subject to the same sorts of selection pressures and evolve many of the same features, so they may come to resemble each other even though not closely related at all.
Convergent evolution
This is where 2 different species help each other to survive. BOTH gain a benefit from the relationship.
Mutualism
The model that explains the structure and function of cell membranes.
Fluid Mosaic Model
An organism that cannot make its own organic molecules and so consumes other organisms to obtain energy.
Heterotroph
Results (from a large sample size or numerous repetitions) that are consistent.
Reliable data
Model that proposes many species remain the same for millions of years, then, in response to some change in the environment, the species can undergo a rapid burst of changes over a very short period of time.
Punctuated equilibrium
An extinct Australian megafauna related to the wombat.
Diprotodon
The process where an enzyme unravels and permanently changes shape due to extremely high temperature.
Denaturation
Small openings along the flank of an insect that allow air to enter the body.
Spiracles
The pattern in the data or relationship between two variables.
Trend