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BIO Unit 2
HS-LS4-2, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4, HS-LS4-5, HS-LS2-8
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Behavioral ecology (HS LS 2-8) | The study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior in response to ecological pressures. It explores how behavior contributes to an organism's survival and reproductive success within its natural environment. |
| Cooperative behavior (HS LS 2-8) | Behaviors in which individuals work together in ways that provide mutual benefits. In biology, this includes activities like hunting in groups, rearing young cooperatively, and defending territory collectively. |
| Altruism (HS LS 2-8) | A behavior in which one individual sacrifices its own well-being to benefit another. In biology, altruistic acts are often explained by kin selection, where organisms help relatives to enhance the survival of shared genes. |
| Environmental stimuli (HS LS 2-8) | Any external signal or change in an organism’s environment that elicits a response. Examples include light, sound, temperature, and chemical signals, which can influence behavior, physiology, or development. |
| Circadian clock (HS LS 2-8) | An internal time-keeping mechanism that aligns an organism's physiological processes and behaviors to a roughly 24-hour cycle, influencing daily rhythms like sleep, feeding, and hormonal changes. |
| Communication (HS LS 2-8) | The transmission of information from one individual to another through signals such as visual displays, sounds, chemical cues, or tactile signals, facilitating interactions like mating, warning of predators, and social coordination. |
| Foraging (HS LS 2-8) | The set of behaviors used by an animal to find, capture, and consume food. Foraging strategies are often shaped by the need to balance energy intake with energy expenditure. |
| Optimal foraging model (HS LS 2-8) | A model that predicts an animal’s foraging behavior by analyzing how it maximizes the net energy gained per unit of foraging time, factoring in the energy expended to search for, capture, and consume food. |
| Energy costs and benefits (HS LS 2-8) | In biology, the energy an organism expends on activities like movement, foraging, and reproduction versus the energy gained from these activities, influencing the organism's overall fitness. |
| Competition (HS LS 2-8) | The interaction between organisms or species for limited resources such as food, territory, or mates. Competition can drive natural selection, favoring traits that improve resource acquisition. |
| Predator (HS LS 2-8) | An organism that actively hunts and kills other organisms, called prey, for food. Predators play a critical role in ecosystems by regulating prey populations. |
| Mutual protection (HS LS 2-8) | A cooperative defense strategy where individuals in a group work together to protect each other from predators, enhancing survival rates for all members involved. |
| Packs (HS LS 2-8) | Social groups, often seen in certain mammals, where members live and work closely together. In biology, packs are common among animals like wolves, and pack behaviors include hunting, caring for young, and defending territory cooperatively. |
| Beneficial change (HS LS 4-2) | A genetic or environmental change that improves an organism’s chance of survival and reproduction, making it more "fit" for its environment. |
| Detrimental change (HS LS 4-2) | A change that reduces an organism’s fitness, making it harder for it to survive or reproduce. |
| Distribution (HS LS 4-2) | How individuals within a species are spread across a particular area or habitat. This can be influenced by environmental conditions, resource availability, and behaviors. |
| Emergence (HS LS 4-2) | The process by which complex traits, behaviors, or structures develop over time, often from simpler interactions. For example, complex patterns in ecosystems can emerge from the interactions of different organisms. |
| Biotic (HS LS 4-2) | Relating to living things within an ecosystem, such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. |
| Abiotic (HS LS 4-2) | Non-living elements of an ecosystem, including sunlight, temperature, soil, and water, which impact living organisms. |
| Advantageous (HS LS 4-2) | A trait or change that gives an organism a better chance of survival or reproduction within its environment. |
| Diverge (HS LS 4-2) | When two or more groups within a species become different from each other over time, often leading to the development of new species due to genetic or environmental differences. |
| Proliferation (HS LS 4-2) | Rapid increase in numbers, especially of cells or organisms, often due to favorable conditions for growth and reproduction. |
| Bottleneck effect (HS LS 4-2) | A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to a sudden event, like a natural disaster, which decreases genetic diversity and can alter gene frequencies. |
| Island effect (HS LS 4-2) | A phenomenon where species on islands evolve differently from mainland populations due to isolation, often leading to unique adaptations. |
| Geographic isolation (HS LS 4-2) | When populations are separated by physical barriers like rivers, mountains, or oceans, leading to limited gene flow and possibly resulting in the formation of new species over time. |
| Founder effect (HS LS 4-2) | A type of genetic drift that occurs when a small group of individuals establishes a new population, often resulting in limited genetic diversity and different gene frequencies compared to the original population. |
| Recombination (HS LS 4-2) | The process by which genetic material is rearranged during the formation of eggs and sperm, resulting in offspring with unique combinations of genes. Recombination increases genetic diversity within a population. |
| Fitness (HS LS 4-3) | In an evolutionary context, fitness refers to an organism’s ability to survive, reproduce, and pass on its genes to the next generation. Higher fitness indicates a greater likelihood of an organism’s traits being represented in future generations. |
| Gene (HS LS 4-3) | A segment of DNA that contains the instructions for the development of specific traits or proteins in an organism. Genes are the basic units of heredity, passed from parents to offspring. |
| Allele (HS LS 4-3) | A variant form of a gene. Alleles can produce different traits, such as flower color or blood type, and they exist in pairs in diploid organisms, one from each parent. |
| Directional selection (HS LS 4-3) | A type of natural selection where one extreme phenotype is favored over others, causing a shift in the population’s trait distribution in a particular direction. This process can lead to significant evolutionary change over time. |
| Disruptional selection (HS LS 4-3) | A type of natural selection that favors extreme values for a trait over intermediate values. This can result in a population divided into two distinct groups with different traits, potentially leading to speciation. |
| Stabilizing selection (HS LS 4-3) | A type of natural selection that favors intermediate phenotypes, reducing variation in a population and maintaining the status quo for a particular trait. It often occurs in stable environments. |
| Standard deviation (HS LS 4-3) | A statistical measure of the amount of variation or spread in a set of values. In biology, it can indicate how much individual measurements, like trait sizes, differ from the average within a population. |
| Vestigial structure (HS LS 4-3) | A structure in an organism that has lost most or all of its original function through evolution. Vestigial structures, like the human appendix or whale pelvis, provide evidence of an organism’s evolutionary history. |
| Beneficial change (HS LS 4-4) | A genetic or environmental alteration that improves an organism’s fitness, increasing its survival or reproductive success. |
| Detrimental change (HS LS 4-4) | A genetic or environmental alteration that reduces an organism’s fitness, lowering its survival or reproductive success. |
| Distribution (HS LS 4-4) | The way individuals within a population are spread across a given area or habitat, often influenced by factors like resources, behavior, and environmental conditions. |
| Gene frequency (HS LS 4-4) | The relative frequency of an allele (variant of a gene) within a population, often expressed as a percentage or proportion. |
| Gene (HS LS 4-4) | A unit of heredity made up of DNA that determines a particular trait in an organism, passed down from parents to offspring. |
| Biotic (HS LS 4-4) | Pertaining to living components in an ecosystem, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms, which interact with each other and their environment. |
| Abiotic (HS LS 4-4) | Referring to non-living components in an ecosystem, such as sunlight, temperature, water, and soil, that influence living organisms. |
| Advantageous (HS LS 4-4) | A trait or change that improves an organism's fitness, increasing its chances of survival and reproduction. |
| Diverge (HS LS 4-4) | The process by which two or more populations or species develop different traits or behaviors over time, often due to environmental pressures or genetic drift. |
| Proliferation (HS LS 4-4) | The rapid increase in the number or spread of organisms or cells, often influenced by favorable environmental or genetic conditions. |
| Sexual reproduction (HS LS 4-4) | A type of reproduction that involves the combination of genetic material from two parents, leading to offspring with genetic diversity. |
| Bottleneck effect (HS LS 4-4) | A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to a significant event (e.g., natural disaster), which decreases genetic diversity and can alter gene frequencies. |
| Island effect (HS LS 4-4) | The phenomenon where isolated populations, such as those on islands, evolve differently from mainland populations due to limited gene flow and unique environmental pressures. |
| Geographic isolation (HS LS 4-4) | The physical separation of populations by geographical barriers (e.g., mountains, rivers), which can lead to reproductive isolation and potential speciation. |
| Gene flow (HS LS 4-4) | The movement of genes or alleles between populations, typically through migration, which can increase genetic diversity and reduce differences between populations. |
| Genetic drift (HS LS 4-4) | A random change in allele frequencies within a population over time, often having a larger impact in small populations. |
| Founder effect (HS LS 4-4) | A type of genetic drift that occurs when a small group of individuals establishes a new population, leading to reduced genetic diversity and potential divergence from the original population. |
| Beneficial change (HS LS 4-5) | A genetic or environmental change that increases an organism's fitness, improving its chances of survival and reproduction within its environment. |
| Detrimental change (HS LS 4-5) | A change that decreases an organism's fitness, reducing its likelihood of survival and reproduction in its environment. |
| Emergence (HS LS 4-5) | The process by which new, complex properties or behaviors arise from simpler interactions, as seen in biological systems where new patterns or traits appear over time. |
| Gene frequency (HS LS 4-5) | The proportion of a specific allele within a population, often expressed as a percentage. Changes in gene frequency can indicate evolutionary processes at work within the population. |
| Gene (HS LS 4-5) | A unit of heredity made up of DNA, which carries information that determines traits and is passed from parents to offspring. |
| Biotic (HS LS 4-5) | Referring to the living components of an ecosystem, such as plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi, which interact and affect one another. |
| Abiotic (HS LS 4-5) | The non-living parts of an ecosystem, like sunlight, temperature, water, and soil, which influence the survival and growth of organisms. |
| Advantageous (HS LS 4-5) | A trait or characteristic that provides a benefit to an organism, making it better suited for its environment and increasing its chances of survival and reproduction. |
| Diverge (HS LS 4-5) | The process by which two or more populations or species develop distinct traits or characteristics over time, often leading to speciation due to genetic differences and environmental pressures. |
| Proliferation (HS LS 4-5) | The rapid increase or spread of cells or organisms, often due to favorable conditions for growth and reproduction. |
| Bottleneck effect (HS LS 4-5) | A sharp reduction in population size due to an event like a natural disaster, which can drastically reduce genetic diversity and alter gene frequencies in the surviving population. |
| Island effect (HS LS 4-5) | The tendency for species on isolated islands to evolve differently from mainland populations, often resulting in unique adaptations due to limited gene flow and specific environmental conditions. |
| Geographic isolation (HS LS 4-5) | When a population is separated by physical barriers, like rivers, mountains, or oceans, which restrict gene flow and can lead to the formation of new species over time. |
| Gene flow (HS LS 4-5) | The movement of genes or alleles between populations through migration or reproduction, which increases genetic diversity and can reduce differences between populations. |
| Genetic drift (HS LS 4-5) | A random change in allele frequencies within a population, often having a more significant effect in small populations and leading to changes that are not necessarily adaptive. |
| Founder effect (HS LS 4-5) | A type of genetic drift that occurs when a small group of individuals establishes a new population, leading to reduced genetic diversity and different gene frequencies compared to the original population. |
| Recombination (HS LS 4-5) | The process by which genetic material is exchanged during the formation of eggs and sperm, creating offspring with new combinations of genes and increasing genetic diversity within a population. |
| Microevolution (HS LS 4-5) | Small-scale changes in gene frequency within a population over time, resulting in minor evolutionary changes that occur within a species. |
| Hybrid (HS LS 4-5) | An organism resulting from the cross-breeding of two different species or varieties, often combining traits of both parent species. |
Created by:
PRO Teacher
sue.davis
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