Zoology Chap 1
Zoology Cap 1 Vocabulary
Terms
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- adaptation
- An anatomical structure, physiological process, or behavioral trait that evolved by natural selection and improves an organism's ability to survive and to leave desendants; contrasts with exaptation
- deoxyribonucleic acid
- The genetic material of all organisms, characteristically organized into linear sequences of genes.
- metamorphosis
- Sharp cange in form during postembryonic development, for example, tadpole to frog or larval insect to adult.
- metabolism
- A group of processes that includes digesion, recovery of energy (respiration), and synthesis of molecules and structures by organisms; the sum of the constructive (anabolic) and destuctive (catabolic) processes.
- control
- That part of a scientific experiment to which the experimental variable is not applied but which is similar to the experimental group in all other respects.
- biosphere
- That part of the Earth containing living organisms.
- variation
- Differences among individuals of a group or species that cannot be ascribed to age, sex or position in the life cycle.
- data
- The results in a scientific experiment, or descriptive observations, upon which a conclusion is based.
- chromosome
- A complex body, spherical or rod-shaped, that arises from the nuclear network during mitosis, splits longitudinally, and carries a part of the organism's genetic information as genes composed of DNA associated with proteins.
- eukaryotic
- Organisms whose cells craracteristically contain a membranebound nucleus or nuclei; contrasts with prokaryotic.
- reduction
- In chemistry, the gain of an electron by an atom or molecule of a substance; also the addition of hydrogen to, or the removal of oxygen from, a substance.
- hypothetioc deductive method
- Scientific process of making a conjecture and then seeking empirical tests that potentially lead to its rejection.
- gradualism
- A component of Darwin's evolutionary theory postuating that evolution occurs by the temporal accumulation of swmall, incremental changes in populations, usually across very long periods of geological time; it opposeds claims that evolution can occur by large, discontinuous or macromutational changes.
- hierarchical system
- A scheme arranging inclusiveness, as illustrated by Linnaean classification.
- nucleic acid
- One of a class of molecules composed of joined nucleotides; chief types are deoxyribonucleic acid, found in cell nuclei and mitochondria, and ribonucleic acid, found both in cell nuclei and in cytoplasmic ribosomes.
- asexual
- Without distinct sexual organs not involving formation of gametes
- irritability
- A general property of all organisms involving the ability to respond to stimuli or changes in the environment.
- ecology
- Part of biology that concerns the relationship between organisms and their environment.
- neo-Darwinism
- A modified version of Darwin's evolutonary theory that eliminates elements of the Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics and pangenesis that were present in Darwin's formulation; this theory originated with August Weismann in the late nineteenth century and, after incorporating Mendelian genetic principles, has become the currently favored version of Darwinian evolutionary theory.
- proximate cause
- Explanations of the functioning of a biological system at a particular time and place, such as how an animal performs its metabolic, physiological, and behavioral activities.
- gamete
- A mature haploid sex cell; ussually, male and female gametes can be distinguished. An egg or a sperm.
- heredity
- The faithful transmission of biological traits from parents to their offspring.
- natual selection
- A non random reproduction of varying organisms in a population that results in the survival of those best adapted to their environment and elimination of those less well adapted; leads to evolutionary change if the variation is heritable.
- B.P.
- before the present
- hypothesis
- A statement or proposition that can be tested by obeservation or experiment.
- deduction
- Reasoning from the general to the particular from given premises to their necessary conclusion.
- phylogeny
- The origin and diversification of any taxon, or the evonlutionary history of its origin and diversification of any toxon, or the evolutionary history of its origin and diversification, usually presented in the form of a dendrogram.
- entropy
- A quantity that is the measure of energy in a system not abailable for doing work.
- emergence
- The appearance of properties in a biological systen (at the molecular, cellular, organismal, or species levels) that cannot be deduced from knowledge of the component combinations; such properties are termed emergent properties.
- species
- A group of interbreeding individuals of common ancestry that are reproductively isolated from all other such groups; a taxonomic unit ranking below a genus and designated by a binomen consisting of its genus and the secies name.
- physiology
- A branch of biology covering the organic processed and phenomena of an organism or any of its parts or of a particular bodily process.
- ultimate cause
- The evolutionary factors responsible for the origin, state of being, or role of a biological system.
- experiment
- A trial made to support or to disprove a hypothesis.
- evolution
- Organic evolution encompasses all changes in the characteristics and diversity of life on earth throughout its history.