BIOLOGY FINAL

• Embryology is the study of embryos and their development
• Environmental changes can be natural or human-induced
• Competition for resources can lead to extinction
• Divergent evolution is when a species splits into two or more species that are no longer able to interbreed
• Adaptive radiation is when one species evolves into many new species to fill different ecological niches
• Convergent evolution is when unrelated species evolve similar characteristics due to adapting to similar environments
• Extinction occurs when a species no longer exists
• Homologous structures are physical features in organisms that share a common ancestor, even if the features don't have the same function (e.g. wings of bats and birds)
• Analogous structures are physical features in organisms that serve the same function but have a different evolutionary origin (e.g. wings of insects and birds)
• Evolutionary trees are graphical representations that show the evolutionary history between a set of organisms
• Sex cells are gametes
• Vestigial structures are physical features in organisms that have become reduced in size and function over evolutionary time
• Resistance to antibiotics or pesticides is an example of adaptation
• The Galapagos Islands and finches were key pieces of evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection
• Variation refers to the differences among individuals or the differences between populations within the same species
• Adaptation is a beneficial, inherited change in the structure or function of an organism that helps it survive and reproduce in its environment
• Biological classification systems organise living things into a hierarchy based on their physical and genetic similarities
• The levels of biological classification from broadest to most specific are: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
• ATP is the energy currency of cells, providing energy for cellular processes
• Respiration and fermentation are two different processes that cells use to release energy from organic compounds
• Scavengers eat the dead bodies of organisms
• Predators are organisms that hunt and consume other organisms
• Herbivores are organisms that eat plants
• Decomposers break down dead or decaying organic matter
• Limiting factors are anything that contains a population's size and stops it from growing
• Density-dependent limiting factors depend on population density
• Density-independent limiting factors affect a population despite its density
• Feedback mechanisms regulate ecological systems
• Symbiosis is any type of close and long-term biological interaction between two different species
• Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship where one species lives in or on another species, causing it harm
• Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship where one species benefits while the other is neither harmed nor benefits
• Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship where both species benefit
• Food webs represent feeding relationships within a community
• Food chains are linear sequences of links in a food web, starting with an autotrophic organism
• Energy pyramids model the flow of energy from one trophic level, or feeding level, to the next
• Primary consumers are organisms that eat producers
• Secondary consumers are organisms that eat primary consumers
• Niche is the role an organism plays in a community
• Ecological succession is the process of change in the species that make up a community over time
• Secondary succession happens when a disturbed community or intermediate community is impacted by a disturbance