BIOLOGY SEMESTER 2
Terms
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- gibberellins
- Produce dramatic increases in size, especially in stems and fruit.
- food chain
- series of links between different organisms in ecosystems based of feeding relationships
- meiosis
- a cell division that produces four daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. the products of meiosis are gametes (eggs of sperm)
- sustainable use
- resources should be consumed no faster than they can be regenerated naturally
- Hibernation
- when an animal goes into a long term torpor, by hibernating they reduce their energy requirements and do not need to eat
- chemical communication
- communication between cells by the release of chemicals that interact with specific target cells
- in vitro fertilisation (IVF)
- the egg and sperm join to form a zygote in labratory glassware
- Halophyte
- is a plant adapted to a saline environment. they are able to regualte water loss and control salt accumulation in leaves
- Torpor
- when animals allow their body temperature to drop and they become inactive or dormant for a period of time
- synapse
- the junction between two neurons (axon-to-dendrite) or between a neuron and a muscle
- circannual rhythms
- yearly rhythms
- ecosystem
- the system formed by a community of living organisms together with their physical surroundings
- brainstem
- the oldest part and central core of the brain beginning where the spinal chord enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions
- cerebellum
- The lobe that controls involuntary actions and refines muscle movement.
- bioaccululation
- the concentration of substances such as toxins along food chains in ecosystems
- Lignotubers
- bud that lies under the bark of stem or root of a plant, they are able to sprout after damage to the plant
- neuron
- the basic unit of a nervous system; a cell specialised to receive conduct and transmit information
- decomposers
- consumers that break down dead material
- abundance
- the number of individuals living in the area
- cerebral cortex
- Layer covering the surface of the brain. Involves perception, language, memory, and thinking.
- community
- ecological grouping of different kinds of organisms that live together in a particular place at a particular time and interact with one another
- Alternation of generations
- the alternation of hiploid and diploid stages in the life cycles of eukaryotes
- peripheral nervous system
- all nerves outside the CNS, comprised of sensory and motor systems
- climax community
- the community that may be finally reached by succession
- nitrification
- the conversion of organic nitrogeneous compounds that cannot be used by plants into inorganic compounds that can be used by plants
- homeostatic
- the active process of maintaining a particular physiological parameter relavtively constant is being...
- detrivores
- eat small particles of dead plant and animal organic matter that accumulates as detritus
- misalignment detectors
- monitor the actual factor of the internal environment that is being controlled
- behaviour
- refers to the coordinated activities of an animal that are produced in response to internal or external stimuli
- primary succession
- commences with the colonisation of a bare area, which has not been colonised before
- circadium rhythms
- daily cycles
- hypothalamus
- produce messages controlling sleep, hunger; is the link between the nervous and endocrine systems
- trial and error learning
- Learning that takes place through the application of possible solutions to a problem.
- pH
- How acidic or basic a substance is, measured on a on a scale of 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic). (seven is neutral)
- cambium
- region of rapidly dividing cells that produces secondary growth in woody plants
- lignotuber
- a swelling at the base stem that is a source of dormant buds
- lunar cycles
- cycles that coincide with the waning and waxing of the moon
- dormancy
- in plants: a state of reduced metabolism, occurs in seeds and decidious plants during winter
- secondary succession
- follows disturbance of an existing biological community
- Tolerance range
- the range of conditions that an oragnism can survive in
- phototropism
- change in direction of plant growth in repsonse to light
- vernalisation
- stimulation of a plant or plant part to grow by exposure to cold.
- reflex
- nerve pathway that produces an automatic, rapid response to a stimulus
- effector cell
- a muscle or gland cell that resonds to stimuli ; short-lived daughter cell of lymphocytes
- dominant species
- the most obvious species (either by population or body size)
- humus
- oragnic matter formed from the breakdown of dead plants and animals, makes a dark layer in topsoil
- spore
- a cell encased in a protective coat that enables it to survive in unfavourable conditions. (in plants they are the haploid producers of meiosis)
- heterotherm
- allow body temperature to vary widely depending on need
- observational learning
- type of learning in which new responses are made as a result of watching the performance of others
- amniocentesis
- the taking of a sample of amniotic fluid, containing fetal cells, at about 14-15 weeks pregnancy. this tests the risk of abnormalities at birth
- territorial
- an animal that defends a certain territory is...
- environment
- all of the surrounding things, conditions, and influences affecting the growth or development of living things.
- parasitism
- one organism (the parasite) benefits and the other is harmed
- imprinting
- a learning process in early life whereby species specific patterns of behavior are established (duckings imprinting on their mother)
- refractory period
- sets the limit on the maximum rate at which action potentials can be generated.
- auxin
- hormone that promotes growth, cell elongation, fruit development
- self-sustaining system
- can be maintained into the future largely without inputs from outside the system
- ethylene
- hormone that promotes leaf abscission and fruit ripening
- chorionic villus sampling
- method of obtaining fetal cells early in pregnancy for analysis.
- nerve
- any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body
- xerophyte
- grow in hot dry environments and are adapted to conserve moisture and to prevent leaf temperature from rising too much
- depolarisation
- occurs during action potential
- inter-specific competition
- struggle between organisms of different species for the same supply of food, water, space or nest sites that is in limited supply
- producers
- autotrophs and the first link in the food chain.
- meristem
- the growing tip of a plant
- nocturnal
- active at night
- eutrophication
- change of an aquatic ecosystem from one that is less fertile to one that is richer in nutrients
- disturbance detectors
- respond to changes that are likely to cause a change in the factor of the internal environment that is being controlled
- carnivores
- consumers that eat other consumers
- counter-current flow
- passage of fluids in close proximity and in opposite directions, allows more efficient of exchange between fluids
- sympathetic division
- the part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to deal with perceived threats
- commensalism
- the relationship between species where one partner benefits but the other neither benefits or is harmed
- immigration
- organisms arriving from outside the population
- consumers
- organisms that either eat producers
- osmosis
- diffusion of molecules through a semipermeable membrane from a place of higher concentration to a place of lower concentration until the concentration on both sides is equal
- carrying capacity
- the maximum population that can be sustained in an ecosystem before organisms run out of environmental resources
- sexual reproduction
- reproduction involving the fusion of two gametes (egg and sperm) which are the haploid products of meiosis
- pollination
- the transfer of pollen from one flower to another
- apoximis
- produces very rapid multiplication of plant
- homeostasis
- describes the body's ability to maintain internal stable conditions even while the outside is changing
- Hydrophyte
- aquatic vascular plant that has few stomata and large intercellular air spaces to provide buoyancy and retain gases
- sense organs
- organs that recieve stimuli: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin,
- innate behaviour
- any behaviour that is not learned
- insight learning
- the process of mentally working through a problem until the sudden realization of a solution occurs
- Biotic factors
- availability of mates or the impact of predators
- pheromones
- carry messages between different individuals; attracts individuals of opposite sexes
- memory
- the ability to store and retreive information about past events
- chemical communication
- the release of chemicals into the environment that transmit information to those animals that have the appropriate receptors for receiving the chemical signal
- communication
- the transfer of information from one animal to another
- ammonification
- the formation of ammonia by bacteria in soil or in root nodules
- fertilisation
- penetration of egg by sperm and fusion of the egg and sperm nuclei
- Abiotic limiting factors
- soil, rainfall, temperature, salinity and nest sites
- mutualism
- the partnership between two different kinds of organisms where both of them benefit
- Asexual reproduction
- one parents giving rise to a new individual from its body cells, offspring are genetically identical to their parent
- parasites
- specialised consumers that live and feed on the surface of, or inside, other organisms, causing them harm
- net primary productivity
- the rate of accumulation of producer tissue
- hormone
- substance produced by a particular group of cells and transported through an organism to sites where affects the function of the cells that capable of responding
- cultural exchange
- the passage of information from generation to generation by non-genetic means
- biogeochemical cycles
- involve the transfer of nutrients from the physical environment to food chains and back again`
- tropism
- a plant response in wich the direction of the respnse is related to the direction from which the stimulus comes. (positive or negative)
- negative feedback system
- a control system where the response produced due to a particular stimulus reduces the size of the original disturbance; leads to homeostasis
- interneuron
- a neuron that transmits information from one neuron to another
- mitosis
- division of the nucleus which leads to identical copies of each chromosome being passed from mother cell to two daughter cells
- Thigmotropism
- change in direction of plant growth in response to contact with a surface
- endotherm
- An animal whose body regulates its own temperature by controlling the internal heat it produces
- myelin
- Fatty substance that forms an insulating layer (myelin sheath) around some axons in vertebrates
- action potential
- a local change in the electrical potential of the plasma membrane that is conducted along the length of the neuron
- hermaphrodites (plants)
- having both stamens and carpels in the same flower
- target cell
- a cell with the appropriate receptors to respond to a particular chemical signalling molecule
- primary productivity
- the rate at which producers convert light energy to chemical energy as new plant growth
- biomes
- broad categories of ecological communties in the world based on climate
- instinct
- the innate ability to complete a specific behaviour pattern
- self fertilisation
- (in hermaphrodites) fertilisation of eggs by sperm produced in the same individual
- tactile communication
- communication by touch
- pituitary gland
- the master gland of the endocrine system
- exponential growth
- the rapid increase of a population
- releaser
- specific signal, called a sign stimulus, that results in an innate behavioural response
- succession
- theory of how communities and their environments change, with one community replacing another in an orderly sequence over time
- Distribution
- where organisms live
- autonomic nervous system
- the part of the nervous system of vertebrates that controls involuntary actions of the smooth muscles and heart and glands
- scavenegers
- consumers that eat dead animals
- abscisic acid
- a growth inhibiting plant hormone that controls a plant's responses to stress and dormancy
- non-biodegradable
- chemicals that decomposers cannot break down
- gametophyte
- the gamete-forming haploid stage in the life cycle of a plant
- apical dominance
- Concentration of growth at the tip of a plant shoot, where a terminal bud partially inhibits axillary bud growth.
- symbiosis
- living together of two organisms in close partnership
- cytokinin
- any of a class of plant hormones that promote cell division and delay the senescence of leaves
- indirect development
- development of an animal that involves an intermediate freeliving larval for before the adult form is reached
- food web
- more than one hundred food chains linked together
- habituation
- the gradual fading of a response to a stimulus that proves to be safe or irrelevant
- cuticle
- a layer of non-cellular material on the outer surface of a plant or animal, impermeable to water
- social behaviour
- related to the interactions with other organisms, such as the activites of a group of bee's
- transect
- useful for describing changes in communities that appear to form zones
- life cycle
- sequence of changes in the growth and development of sexually reproducing organism from one generation to the next
- habitat
- the type of place where an organism lives
- trophic level
- each level in a food web
- central nervous system
- the brain and the spinal cord of vertebrates
- Circadian rhythm
- natural cycle of about 24 hours observed in animals or plants
- external fertilisation
- fertilisation that takes place outside the body
- direct development
- pattern of animal development in which an individual is hatched or born in it's adult form
- mycorrhiza
- sybotic relationship between a soil fungas and a plant (the host).
- Limiting factor
- an environmental requirement that is in limited supply
- associative learning
- the association of a new signal (ringing a bell) with an innate signal (tasting food) that triggers a particular behavioural response (salivating)
- photoperiod
- the night-day cycle to which many organism respond
- endocrine gland
- a gland that produces hormones into the bloodstream
- diurnal
- active during the day
- ecological pyramid
- diagram to show the decline in energy of the mass of plant and animal tissue (biomass) at each trophic level in a food web
- ectotherm
- an animal whose body temperature varies with the temperature of its surroundings
- geographic range
- all the places where a particular species can be found
- pneumatophore
- aerial root in mangroves that increases the surface area exposed to the air at low tide for oxygen uptake
- emigration
- organisms moving out of the population
- population
- number of individuals of the same species which live in a defined geographic area
- brown fat
- a tissue specialised for heat production
- individual behaviour
- movement or phsiological regulation
- Geotropism
- change in direction of plant growth in response to gravity
- biosphere
- all the parts of planet earth where organisms live as a single ecosystem
- Hermaphrodites (animals)
- producing both female and male gamtes
- Adaptation
- an inherited characteristic that increases the likelihood of survival and reproduction of an individual organism.
- coleoptile
- a protective sheath covering the embryonic shoot
- learning
- the modification of a behavioural response to a particular stimulus on the basis of previous experience
- metamorphis
- the abrupt transition from one development stage to another