Key definition

Chapter17: Reproduction in humans

1. Ovulation: When egg in ovary is mature, an egg cell bursts out of ovary and into
the funnel at the end of oviduct.
2. Fertilization: Nucleus of sperm fuses with nucleus of egg.
3. Implantation: The embryo sinks into the soft lining of uterus.
4. Sexually transmitted infection: an infection that is transmitted via body fluids
through sexual intercourse.

Chapter 18: Inheritance

1. Chromosome: A thread-like structure of DNA, carrying genetic information in the
form of genes.
2. Gene: A length of DNA that codes for specific protein.
3. Inheritance: The transmission of genetic information from generation to generation
4. Haploid nucleus: A nucleus containing a single set of unpaired chromosome.
5. Mitosis: Nuclear division giving rise to genetically cells.
6. Meiosis: Reduction division in which chromosome number is halved from diploid
to haploid, resulting in genetically different cell.
7. Allele: Any of two or more alteration forms of a gene
8. Homozygous: Having two identical alleles of a particular gene.
9. Heterozygous: Having two different alleles of a particular gene.
10. Genotype: The genetic makeup of an organism in terms of the alleles present
11. Phenotype: The features of an organism.
12. Dominant: An allele that is expressed if it is present.
13. Recessive: An allele that is only expressed when there is no dominant allele of the
gene present.
14. Test cross: Cross an individual with dominant phenotype for a particular gene by
crossing with the known to have homozygous recessive genotype fro same gene.
15. Sex linkage: Genes that are found only on the non-homologous parts of the X or Y
chromosome.

Chapter 19: Variation and Natural Selection

1. Variation: Differences between individuals of the same species.
2. Discontinuous variation: A characteristic of any species with only a limited number
of possible values.
3. Continuous variation: A characteristic that change gradually over a range of values.
4. Gene mutation: A change in the base sequence of DNA.
5. Adaptive feature: An inherited feature that helps an organism to survive and
reproduce in its environment or the inherited features of an organism that increases its
fitness.
6. Fitness: The probability of an organism surviving and reproducing in the
environment in which it is found.
7. Natural selection: Process where organism with best adaptions for their
environment survive reproduce.

Chapter 20: Organisms and their environment

1. Population: A group of organisms of one species, living in the same area at the
same time
2. Ecosystem: A unit containing all of the organism and their environment,
interacting together in a given area
3. Community: All the population of different species in an ecosystem
4. Niche: The way in which an organism lives its life in an ecosystem
5. Food chain: A diagram showing flow of energy from one organism to the next
beginning with a producer
6. Food web: A network of interconnected food chains
7. Producer: An organism that makes its own organism nutrients, usually energy from
sunlight, through photosynthesis
8. Consumer: An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
9. Herbivore: An animal that gets its energy by eating plants
10.Carnivore: An animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
11.Tropical level: The position of an organism in a food chain, food web or pyramid
of biomass or numbers
12.Pyramid of biomass: Size of boxes represent dry mass of organisms in each
tropical level of a food chain
13.Decomposer: An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic matter

Chapter 22 Humans and the environment

1. Enhanced greenhouse effect: The increase in greenhouse effect caused by the
radiation of more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
2. Global warming: Enhanced greenhouse effect on the earth temperature
3. Sustainable resources: one which can be removed from the environment without it
running out
4. Biomagnification: the process in which chemical substances become more
concentrated at each tropical level.
5. Bioaccumulation: the build up of a chemical substance in the tissue of a single
organism.

Option C.3 Impacts of human on ecosystems

1. Endemic species: native species
2. Alien species: species that have been transferred from their natural habitat to a new
environment
3. Invasive species: alien species that proliferates and spreads rapidly, have a
detrimental effect on the pre-existing food chains, threaten the biodiversity of the
ecosystem.