Definitions

• What is an adaptation in organisms?

  A feature that increases survival chances
• What types of adaptations exist?

  Anatomical, physiological, and behavioural
• What are anatomical adaptations?

  Changes to physical features for survival
• What does the kingdom Animalia consist of?

  Multicellular, heterotrophic eukaryotes
• What is Archaea?

  A domain of primitive bacteria in extreme environments
• What does the domain Bacteria consist of?

  True bacteria
• What are behavioural adaptations?

  Ways organisms act to survive better
• What is the binomial system?

  A system for naming organisms by genus and species
• What is biodiversity?

  The variety of living organisms in a region
• What factors affect biodiversity?

  Environmental, genetic, and human factors
• What is classification in biology?

  The organization of organisms into groups
• What is DNA profiling?

  A method to determine DNA characteristics
• How is relatedness estimated in DNA profiling?

  By the percentage of shared DNA or proteins
• What is DNA sequencing?

  Determining the entire DNA nucleotide sequence
• What can DNA sequencing identify?

  Variation in base sequences among species
• What is the highest taxonomic rank?

  Domain
• What does the domain Eukarya consist of?

  All eukaryotic organisms
• What is the five kingdom classification system?

  Classification into Animalia, Fungi, Plantae, Prokaryotae, Protoctista
• What is Fungi?

  Heterotrophic eukaryotes with chitin cell walls
• How do fungi reproduce?

  Asexually by producing spores
• How can genetic biodiversity be assessed?

  By the proportion of alleles in a population
• What is the second highest taxonomic rank?

  Kingdom
• What is the Linnaean system?

  Classification into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
• What is morphological convergence?

  Independent evolution of similar features in unrelated organisms
• What is natural selection?

  The process of advantageous alleles increasing in frequency
• What is genetic biodiversity?

  A measure of the variety of genes in a species
• What are physiological adaptations?

  Internal body changes for survival
• What does the kingdom Plantae consist of?

  Multicellular eukaryotes that can photosynthesize
• What does the kingdom Prokaryotae consist of?

  Unicellular prokaryotes lacking a true nucleus
• What does the kingdom Protoctista consist of?

  Unicellular eukaryotes
• What is Simpson’s Index of Diversity?

  A measurement of diversity considering richness and evenness
• What does a higher value of Simpson’s Index indicate?

  Greater diversity
• What is species?

  A group of similar organisms that breed
• What is species richness?

  The number of different species in an area
• What is species evenness?

  The number of individuals of each species in a community
• What is taxonomic hierarchy?

  The arrangement of organisms into classification levels
• What is the three-domain system?

  A classification method into Archaea, Bacteria, Eukaryota
• What is a taxon?

  A group within a classification system
• What does hierarchical classification involve?

  A structure where smaller groups are contained within larger groups
• What characterizes prokaryotes?

  No membrane-bound organelles