Natural Selection

Question 1

What is the definition of a predator?

Answer 1

an animal that kills other animals for food

Question 2

What are two main things that color can do for an organism?

Answer 2

warns predators to stay away and camouflage

Question 3

what is the definition of a prey?

Answer 3

an animal that is hunted and killed by another animal

Question 4

what is the definition of a population?

Answer 4

a group of the same type of organism living the same area

Question 5

what is the definition of a trait

Answer 5

a specific characteristic of an individual organism

Question 6

what is a generation?

Answer 6

a group of individuals born and living at about the same time

Question 7

what is the definition of variation

Answer 7

any difference in traits between individual organisms

Question 8

on a histogram, what would variation look like? describe it

Answer 8

more bars mean higher variation, fewer bars means less variation

Question 9

what is the definition of distribution

Answer 9

the number of individuals with each trait in a population

Question 10

on a histogram, what would distribution look like? describe it

Answer 10

the higher the bar the higher the distribution for that specific trait - the lower the bar the lower the distribution for that trait

Question 11

what is a non-adaptive trait? give an example

Answer 11

any trait that does not make it more likely an individual will survive - having blue fur in a yellow environment because blue doesn’t camouflage into yellow

Question 12

what is an adaptive trait? give an example

Answer 12

a trait that makes it more likely that an individual will survive in an environment - having yellow fur in a yellow environment because yellow camouflages with yellow

Question 13

what is the definition of a species?

Answer 13

a group of organisms of the same kind that don’t reproduce with organisms from any other group

Question 14

what is the definition of environment

Answer 14

everything (biotic and abiotic) that surrounds an organism

Question 15

what is the definition of a gene

Answer 15

an instruction for making a protein molecule

Question 16

how are traits formed

Answer 16

genes code for proteins which make structures that form traits

Question 17

what is the definition of a protein molecule

Answer 17

a type of large molecule that performs important functions inside organisms made by amino acids

Question 18

difference between gene and chromosome?

Answer 18

chromosomes carry many genes and are long, condensed pieces of DNA - genes just make instructions for protein molecules

Question 19

why do chromosomes come in pairs?

Answer 19

each parent passes down a chromosome, which makes a pair

Question 20

why do we have 2 copies of each gene?

Answer 20

each chromosome in a pair has a copy of each gene

Question 21

what are alleles

Answer 21

different versions of genes

Question 22

how does a person tell if a mutated gene is passed down from parent to offspring

Answer 22

there is no telling because genes are passed down randomly and inherited genes also don’t show up on a punnet square

Question 23

definition of offspring?

Answer 23

an organism produced as a result of reproduction

Question 24

in relation to natural selection, why is it important to survive?

Answer 24

to reproduce and keep the population going and pass on adaptive traits to offspring

Question 25

definition of natural selection?

Answer 25

the process by which the distribution of traits in a population naturally changes over many generations

Question 26

definition of cause

Answer 26

event or process that leads to a result or change

Question 27

definition of effect?

Answer 27

a result or change that happens because of an event or process

Question 28

what are the names of the two scientists mainly credited with discovering natural selection?

Answer 28

Charles darwin - alfred Russel wallace

Question 29

title of first published book about natural selection?

Answer 29

"On the Origin of Species"

Question 30

purpose of Wallace line?

Answer 30

line divides places from where asian animals live from where south Pacific and australian animals live

Question 31

what does having less genetic variation in a population mean for their survival?

Answer 31

having less genetic variation in a population means a less likely chance of that population surviving because there is a lower chance that one of the traits in that low variation population to be an adaptive trait

Question 32

what effects do most mutations have on traits

Answer 32

none

Question 33

what is a mutation

Answer 33

a random change to a gene that sometimes results in a new trait

Question 34

non-adaptive mutated genes become ____ ______ over time

Answer 34

less common

Question 35

how can mutations helps in a changing environment

Answer 35

can introduce new traits which will increase variation and the distribution of that one trait in that population

Question 36

can a non-adaptive trait turn adaptive or vice versa? explain

Answer 36

yes, because the environment is always changing, so the non-adaptive trait could become an adaptive trait when the environment changes and the current adaptive trait could turn non-adaptive

Question 37

difference between traits and features?

Answer 37

feature is characteristic at 99% of people have, traits are characteristics of individual organisms

Question 38

histograms are specifically used to show what?

Answer 38

to show the difference in populations from different time periods or different populations in general

Question 39

how are histograms useful?

Answer 39

can show if the variation or distribution changed in a population over time

Question 40

how can a mutation which only affects one individual organism end up being the most common trait in a population?

Answer 40

the organism with the mutation will reproduce and pass down that trait to their offspring and that offspring will reproduce and pass down the no longer mutated trait - can become most common trait in population if it is an adaptive trait

Question 41

what does having more genetic variation in a population mean for that population's survival?

Answer 41

will more likely survive than population will low variation because there is a higher chance that one of the traits is an adaptive trait

Question 42

what is artificial selection?

Answer 42

an evolutionary process in which humans consciously select for or against particular traits in a population

Question 43

what is genetic engineering?

Answer 43

intentional modification of traits by altering genes