3rd Quarter Exam Science Reviewer

Population Density –
Population density is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but
sometimes to other living organisms too. Population density is the concentration of individuals within a
species in a specific geographic locale.

Carrying Capacity –
Carrying capacity can be defined as a species' average population size in a particular habitat. The species
population size is limited by environmental factors like adequate food, shelter, water, and mates. If these
needs are not met, the population will decrease until the resource rebounds.

Limiting Factor (LF) –

A limiting factor is anything that constrains a population's size and slows or stops it from growing. Some
examples of limiting factors are biotic, like food, mates, and competition with other organisms for resources.

Density- Independent LF –
Density-independent factors are not influenced by a species population size. All species populations in the
same ecosystem will be similarly affected, regardless of population size. Factors include: weather, climate
and natural disasters.

Density-Dependent LF –
Density-dependent limiting factors tend to be biotic—having to do with living organisms. Competition and
predation are two important examples of density-dependent factors.

Homologous Structure –
Homologous structures are similar physical features in organisms that share a common ancestor, but the
features serve completely different functions. An example of homologous structures are the limbs of
humans, cats, whales, and bats.

Analogous Structure –
Analogous structures are features of different species that are similar in function but not necessarily in
structure and which do not derive from a common ancestral feature and which evolved in response to a
similar environmental challenge.

Interbreeding –
(with reference to an animal) breed or cause to breed with another of a different race or species.
"wolves and dogs can interbreed"
GMO –
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an animal, plant, or microbe whose DNA has been altered using
genetic engineering techniques. For thousands of years, humans have used breeding methods to modify
organisms. Corn, cattle, and even dogs have been selectively bred over generations to have certain desired
traits.

Relative Dating –
Relative dating is the method scientists use to determine the approximate age of a structure based on its
physical relationship to surrounding geologic structures. Several principles must be considered when using
relative dating on geologic structures.

Carbon Dating –
Radiocarbon dating, or carbon-14 dating, is a scientific method that can accurately determine the age of
organic materials as old as approximately 60,000 years. First developed in the late 1940s at the University of
Chicago by Willard Libby, the technique is based on the decay of the carbon-14 isotope.

Theory of Natural Selection –

Natural selection is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change.
Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they are all different in some ways. This
variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others. Individuals
with adaptive traits—traits that give them some advantage—are more likely to survive and reproduce.
English naturalist Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection.

Theory of Use & Disuse –

Work of Jean Baptiste Lamarck. He enunciated the law of use and disuse, which states that when certain
organs become specially developed as a result of some environmental need, then that state of development is
hereditary and can be passed on to progeny. Conversely, the disuse of other parts leads to their decline.

Theory of Acquired Characteristic –

The inheritance of acquired characteristics is a theory that physiological changes acquired during an
organism's lifetime can be passed down to the offspring. It is also known as adaptation theory, and its
sometimes confused with Lamarckism, the evolutionary theory of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

Theory of Need –
According to Lamarck, new needs arise in animals as a result of a change in the environment. This leads to
new types of behaviour involving new uses of pre-existing organs. Their use leads to an increase in size or to
other methods of functioning. Conversely, the disuse of other parts leads to their decline. For example,
Lamarck believed that elephants all used to have short trunks. When there was no food or water that they
could reach with their short trunks, they stretched their trunks to reach the water and branches, and their
offspring inherited long trunks.
Genes –
A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes are made up of sequences of DNA and
are arranged, one after another, at specific locations on chromosomes in the nucleus of cells.

Mutations –
Any change in the DNA sequence of a cell. Mutations may be caused by mistakes during cell division, or
they may be caused by exposure to DNA-damaging agents in the environment.

Central Dogma of Life –

The central dogma of molecular biology is a theory stating that genetic information flows only in one
direction, from DNA, to RNA, to protein, or RNA directly to protein. The central dogma includes three main
steps; transcription, translation, and replication.

Transcription –
The process by which a cell makes an RNA copy of a piece of DNA. This RNA copy, called messenger
RNA (mRNA), carries the genetic information needed to make proteins in a cell. It carries the information
from the DNA in the nucleus of the cell to the cytoplasm, where proteins are made.

Translation –
Translation is the process in living cells in which proteins are produced using RNA molecules as templates.
The generated protein is a sequence of amino acids. This sequence is determined by the sequence of
nucleotides in the RNA.

Axon –
Portion of a nerve cell (neuron) that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body.

Dendrites –
Dendrites are the receiving or input portions of a neuron. They are usually short, narrow and highly
branched structures. In neurons, these dendrites resemble a tree or branches of a tree, extending from the cell
body of the nerve cell.
Lobes –

Progesterone –
The main function of progesterone is to prepare the endometrium (lining of your uterus) for a fertilized egg
to implant and grow. If a pregnancy doesn't occur, the endometrium sheds during your menstrual period. If
conception occurs, progesterone increases to support the pregnancy. It's also responsible for breast
development and preparing the body for breastfeeding. Progesterone keeps a balance with estrogen, the
other primary sex hormone in those assigned female at birth.

Estrogen –
Estrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female
reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics.

Flow of Menstrual Flow –

FSH & LH –
 FSH - It regulates the functions of both the ovaries and testes. Lack or low levels of it can cause
subfertility in both men and women.
 LH - LH is made by your pituitary gland. In women, the pituitary sends out LH during the ovulation
part of the menstrual cycle. This tells the ovaries to release a mature egg. In men, LH causes the
testes to make testosterone.
Male Vesicles –
The seminal vesicles are two small glands that store and produce the majority of the fluid that makes up
semen. During ejaculation, the fluid from the seminal vesicles is expelled into the ejaculatory duct where it
can then move on to mix with sperm and other reproductive fluids.
The paired bulbourethral (Cowper's) glands are small, about the size of a pea, and located near the base of
the penis. A short duct from each gland enters the proximal end of the penile urethra. In response to sexual
stimulation, the bulbourethral glands secrete an alkaline mucus-like fluid.

Parts of the Brain –