Variation and Inheritance Cards

What is a characteristic?

A characteristic is a feature that a human has.

3 Examples:

- Eye colour

- Hair colour

- Blood group

What is variation?

Variation is the difference between members of the same species.

What is continuous variation?

Variations between individuals in which the differences are slight and occur as a continuous series. i.e - height

What is discontinuous variation?

Discontinuous variation is where the differences can be sorted into two distinct categories. i.e - Eye Colour

What is a genetic factor?

A genetic factor is a variation that occurs within a family.

What is an environmental factor?

Where a characteristic is affected by factors around us, like how much food we eat.

Why do characteristics depend on both environmental and genetic factors?

So that organisms can have the same genes, only one may grow better is it gets better environmental genes. For example, two of the same types of trees may be the same because they have the same genetic factors, but one may be in a better position, and get more sunlight, meaning that it has had more environmental factors.

What is selective breeding?

Selective breeding is where organisms with desired characteristics, are bred to give offspring with the same desired characteristics.

Why is this useful?

It is useful because something could be bred or developed that is useful, or better for the organism say it was a horse, it could be bred to be faster, which is more useful.

What does normal distribution mean?

A distribution for a set of variable data, usually represented by a bell-shaped curve symmetrical about the mean.