Biology key terms

A chemical used to kill unwanted plants, such as weeds.

An animal that eats plants.

The reduction in pathogen spread that occurs when a large proportion of a population is immune, indirectly protecting some people who are not immune.

Mendel’s name for a discrete unit of inheritance passed from a parent to its offspring, rather than permanently blending with another unit.

The passing of genetic information from parents to offspring.

Able to be passed genetically from parents to offspring.

A characteristic that can be passed from parents to offspring through genetic material.

Having two different alleles of a gene.

A graph of grouped continuous data in which adjoining class intervals are represented by touching bars.

Human immunodeficiency virus; a virus that attacks the body's immune cells and may eventually lead to AIDS if it is not successfully controlled.

The regulation of the internal conditions of a cell or organism to maintain optimum conditions for function in response to internal and external changes.

A member of the human evolutionary lineage; in this lesson, the term refers to humans and their extinct relatives.

A matched pair of chromosomes, one inherited from each parent, that carry the same genes in the same positions.

Body structures in different species that share an underlying pattern because they were inherited from a common ancestor.

Having two identical alleles of a gene.

A method of preventing pregnancy that uses hormones to alter reproductive processes.

A chemical messenger released by a gland and carried in the blood to produce an effect at a target organ.

An organism in or on which a pathogen lives and reproduces.

A living cell used by a virus to produce its genetic material and proteins.

The organism in or on which another organism or pathogen lives; during a human infection, the patient is the host organism.

A hormone that can be detected in urine by a pregnancy test.

A group of viruses, some types of which can infect cervical cells and increase the risk of cervical cancer.

The amount of water vapour present in the air.

A cell formed by combining an antibody-producing lymphocyte with a tumour cell; it can both produce the antibody and divide repeatedly.

A weak bond that forms between complementary bases on opposite DNA strands.

A reaction in which water is added to break chemical bonds in a molecule.

A method of growing plants without soil, using water containing dissolved mineral ions.