Biology key terms

The organ that monitors blood glucose concentration and releases insulin when it is too high.

An error caused when a scale or pointer is viewed from an angle rather than from the correct line of sight.

Loss of the ability to move some or all muscles, often because communication through part of the nervous system has been disrupted.

An organism that lives in or on an organism of another species and gains resources from it, harming that organism.

An interaction between two different species in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed.

The development of a fruit without fertilisation, producing a seedless fruit.

Describes a membrane that allows some substances to pass through but not others.

A membrane that allows some small dissolved substances and water to pass through but prevents blood cells and large proteins from crossing.

A transport process that does not require energy from respiration.

A microorganism, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus or protist, that causes disease.

A laboratory technique that makes many copies of a chosen DNA sequence so it can be detected.

Partly decayed plant material that builds up slowly in waterlogged, low-oxygen conditions.

A waterlogged habitat in which partly decayed plant material accumulates as peat.

A family-tree diagram used to follow the inheritance of a characteristic through generations.

The checking of research methods, results and conclusions by other scientists with relevant expertise before publication.

A limb with the basic five-digit pattern inherited by many four-limbed vertebrates, even where the digits have since been modified.

The chemical bond that joins one amino acid to another in a polypeptide.

How likely a person believes harm to be; this may differ from a statistical estimate.

A proportion expressed out of 100.

The change in a quantity expressed as a percentage of its initial value.

The mass gained or lost, divided by the initial mass and multiplied by 100.

The mass of one substance or part expressed as a percentage of the total mass of a sample.

A value below which a stated percentage of the reference population falls.

A graph that compares a child's measurement at a particular age with measurements from a reference population.

A line joining measurements that occupy the same relative position in the reference population at different ages.

Effectiveness when a contraceptive is used correctly and consistently every time.

How well a method prevents pregnancy when it is used correctly every time.