Bio Test #1 Flashcards
things i have studied
Biology
study of life
Biologist
study how living things work, interact with their environments, and change over time
How do we determine if something is living or not?
By the 7 characteristics: organization, homeostasis, metabolism, growth & development, reproduction, response to stimuli, change over time
organization
high degree of order within an organism
cell
basic structure of organization, smallest living thing
atom
smallest unit of matter
Homeostasis
equilibrium, “same stillness; how the body maintains its internal stability even if external conditions are constantly changing
negative feedback mechanism
trying to create a response that is opposite; when the body senses a change it activates a response that negates or reverses the change, Ex. if temperature goes down, the response pushes the temperature up
Receptor
structure that senses change
Control Center
processes the info & makes decision about what response to use
effector
structure that carries out the response and restores homeostasis
Positive Feedback Mechanism
generates a response that reinforces or continues the change; can be harmful or life threatening because of its self-amplifying nature; it brings the organism even further from the equilibrium. Ex: child birth- baby’s head pushes against the cervix triggering contractions, baby pushes even more, contractions get stronger, baby comes out, contractions stop
metabolism
complete set of chemical reactions that occur in living cells, push & fueled through energy
What are the differences between the 2 metabolic reactions: catabolic & anabolic?
catabolic- yield energy by breaking down compounds
Anabolic- use energy to build new compounds
metabolic pathways
series of chemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes
Enzymes
proteins that speed up the rate of the reaction
Metabolic Rate
speed of metabolism, different for each species & it influences how much food an organism is going to require
development
any change in form of function in the life time of an organism
growth
generally a change in size
differentiation
process in which cells that are not specialized (generalists/ stem cells) become specialized & start performing a specific task
reproduction
passing of genes onto offspring
What are the 2 ways to reproduce?
Asexual- uses mitosis, & only 1 organism needed, new organism is identical to parent organism
Sexual- meiosis, 2 organisms are needed for the formation of sex cells called Gametes, new organism is different from both parent organisms
Stimulus
change, can be external (environment) or internal (inside body cell)
What are the 3 main themes of biology?
Diversity & Unity of Life Interdependence of Organisms Evolution of Life
Genetic Code
all living things have DNA
DNA
made of the same molecules in all living things, has the same shape (double helix) in all living things; the foundation of genetic engineering
presence of organelles
not all the same one are present in all cells, but there are some
Carolous Linnaeus
created the binomial system in 1735
Rules of Binomial System
each species has 2 name (genus & species); Genus is always capitalized and species is always lower-cased; names must be in Latin; handwritten names must be underlines; when typed it must be in italics; when wanting to shorten the name after the first full out name, write the 1st initial of the genus, and the whole species name
What is the purpose of classification?
to avoid confusion between scientists all over the world by studying organisms & organizing them we can understand evolutionary relationship
can help us predict physiological responses or genetic characteristics of different species