Term | Definition |
Emergent properties | features of a complex thing that cannot be understood by looking at each part of that complex thing separately in isolation |
phenotype | What an individual acts like or look likes (on their insides or outsides) |
genotype | The set of alleles that determine a particular trait of an individual is that individual’ |
”staysis” (really spelled stasis) | idea of no change, that things, e.g., organisms, pH, etc., stay the same |
evolution | The proportion of different genotypes changing over time or generations |
taxon | A named classification level, e.g., Chordata |
phylogeny | A diagram of how different taxa are related |
biodiversity | The variation among organisms is remarkable, e.g., number of species and variation even within populations, |
prokaryote | An organism that consists of cell(s) that all lack a nucleus. the domain its in is Bacteria or Archaea |
morphospecies | A species defined as members looking pretty similar |
a biological species, often just called a species | one defined as members being able to interbreed and produce somewhat fertile offspring |
unicellular | An organism that can lives independently as a single cell |
protist | A eukaryotic organism that is not a fungus, animal or plant |
heterotroph | An organism that gets its carbon from another organism |
absorption | Digesting outside one’s body and having molecules then move into the body |
abiotic | An organism’s environment includes nonliving |
biotic | An organism’s environment includes living aspects |
ecology | The study of interactions of organisms with their biotic and abiotic environment |
ecosystem | A community along with its abiotic environment |
pathogen | Something, especially a microorganism, that can cause disease |
vector | An organism that transmits a pathogen or parasite |
feral | An animal that normally lives with and is cared for by humans, but now lives outside without human care |
bioprospecting | Trying to find species from which to extract commercially valuable compounds |
pollination | The transfer of plant male sex cells to a plant, which may then trigger fertilization and the production of seeds |