General Biology I - BSC 1010C - Cumulative Final Exam Study Guide (A+ GUARANTEED)

Identify and describe the steps of the scientific method. correct answers 1) Observe the situation. 2) Ask a question related to your observations. 3) Turn that question into a testable hypothesis and predict the outcome of your experiment. 4) Test the hypothesis by designing and performing an experiment. 5) Analyze the results. 6) Evaluate your hypothesis; does the data support it? What is a hypothesis? correct answers A tentative answer to a scientific question. Describe descent with modification. Why are cells, DNA, mutations, and reproductive success important to this concept? correct answers - Descent with modification: Passing traits from parent to offspring, a line of ancestry that means change. As living organisms live and evolve they slowly change over time. - Cells: Carry the DNA - DNA: Genetic makeup; includes instructions to make proteins. Small modifications occur in DNA every time an offspring descends from its parents. These modifications happen because of replication and recombination of the parents' DNA and because of random mutations in the resulting DNA of the offspring. - Mutations: Changes in DNA. Random mutations occur when parents reproduce resulting in the DNA of the offspring changing. - Sexual reproduction: Small modifications occur in DNA every time an offspring descends from its parents. - Reproductive success: To evolve and change over time, you need to be able to reproduce. This allows the mixing of DNA and mutations to both further the existence of an organism. What is natural selection? How does it relate to the theory of evolution? correct answers - Natural selection is a process in which individuals with certain heritable traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other individuals because of those traits. - This relates to evolution because the inherited traits are passed on through sexual reproduction until only those favorable traits exist. The traits are evolving with time through natural selection and inherited traits that allow the organism to survive and reproduce successfully. Natural selection describes how the living and nonliving components of the natural environment influence the success (or lack thereof) of a population of organisms. Describe how an environment can dictate the success of a population of organisms and describe the random changes the organisms can undergo to improve their ability to survive and reproduce. correct answers - In a certain environment, some organisms have variations that benefit their survival over other organisms with different traits. - For example, if there are 5 black beetles and 2 blue beetles and the birds only eat the black ones, the blue ones have a better chance of surviving and passing on their genes. This is a mutation that occurred that helped the beetles survive. This is natural selection because the environment unconsciously decides what beetles are eaten and which ones are not.