Biological Principles ch 1 Flashcards
General Properties of Living Systems
Chemical uniqueness
Complexity and hierarchical organization
Reproduction
Possession of a genetic program
Metabolism
Development
Environmental interaction
Movement
Chemical uniqueness
Atoms & inorganic molecules organize into macromolecules
Complexity and hierarchical organization
-Macromolecules, cells, tissues, organisms, populations, species
-Emergent properties
Emergent properties
properties that become apparent and result from various interacting components within a system but are properties that do not belong to the individual components themselves
Possession of genetic program
DNA is common to all living things; single origin of life
Metabolism
acquire & utilize energy for life
Development
-have a life cycle
-describes the characteristic changes that an organism undergoes from its origin
Environmental interaction (ecology)
Respond to stimuli
The study of organismal interaction with an environment is called
ecology
First Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Conservation of Energy)
Energy is neither created nor destroyed but can be transformed from one form to another.
Sun—> photosynthesis forms macromolecules —>metabolism —>energy for life
Second Law of Thermodynamics:
Physical systems tend toward a state of greater disorder or entropy.
* Organismal complexity is achieved and maintained by the perpetual use of energy from the sun and dissipation of that energy as heat
-states that the state of entropy of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over time
What are organisms whose cells contain membrane enclosed nuclei
Eukaryotes
what are organisms whose cells lack a nucleus and other organelles
Procaryotes
Heterotrophs
must rely on external food sources.
* Animal cells lack cell walls
-an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients
autotroph
an organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals.
What are some things an animal cell and plant cell have that are different to eachother?
Animal cell: Small vacuoles, lysosome
Plant cell: cell wall, chloroplast, large vacuole
What are principles of science?
-Science is based on rational explanations and natural laws
-Has to be explained by reference to natural law (not supernatural; not a belief)
-Conclusions are tentative; not ever proven
-Science is falsifiable (additional data can lead one to new or different conclusions)
-Not ‘wrong’; data support another conclusion
-Theory = Hypothesis that has consistently been supported by data; not falsified (yet).
The process of science is:
- It is guided by natural law.
- It has to be explanatory by reference to natural law.
- It is testable against the observable world.
- Its conclusions are tentative and therefore not necessarily the
final word. - It is falsifiable.
Scientific method: - Observation
- Question
- Hypothesis
- Empirical test
- Conclusions
- Publication
Hypothetico-deductive Method
- Generate hypotheses based on observations
- Hypotheses make predictions that may not be supported by data and are thus falsifiable
- This method requires us to generate hypotheses or potential answers to a question being asked
1. Identify the hypothesis to be tested.
2. Generate predications from the hypothesis.
3. Use experiments to check whether predictions are correct.
4. If the predictions are correct, then the hypothesis is confirmed. If not, then the hypothesis is disconfirmed.
what is an overarching assumption undergirding a general worldview? Like a pattern observed/ viewed
Paradigm
\The history of science shows that even major paradigms are subject to refutation and replacement when they fail to explain our observations of the natural world. They are then replaced by new paradigms in a process called a________.
Scientific Revolution
what is the basic theory of evolution on
which the others depend. It states that the living world is neither constant nor perpetually cycling, but is always changing, with continuity between past and present forms of life?
Perpetual change
states that all forms of life descend from a common
ancestor through a branching of lineages
Common descent
life’s history has the structure
of a branching evolutionary tree, called a ________.
Phylogeny
_________ ___ _________Darwin’s third theory states that
the evolutionary process produces new species by splitting and transforming older ones. Species are now generally viewed as reproductively distinct populations of organisms that usually but not always differ from each other in organismal form
Multiplication of species
__________ states that the large differences in
anatomical traits that characterize disparate species originate through the accumulation of
-many small incremental changes over very long periods of time
Gradualism
_________ __________rests on three propositions. First, there is variation among organisms (within populations) for anatomical, behavioral, and physiological traits. Second, the variation is at least partly heritable so that offspring tend to resemble their parents. Third, organisms with different variant forms are expected to leave different numbers of offspring to future generations.
-the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Natural selection
____________ is the expected result of a
process that accumulates the most favorable variants occurring in a population throughout long periods of evolutionary time
Adaptation
What is the term for sharing a common evolutionary origin?
homologous
Comparative research
Tests ultimate causes (evolution)
Based on comparative methods
Descriptive in nature
Not experimental, but may rely on
experimental results from other
studies
Experimental Research
Seek to explain proximate causes
Tests a hypothesis
Involves manipulation of a variable or
application of a treatment
Requires a control
Describes causation
What is darwinism
A theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.
what is Neo-darwinsim
a theory of evolution that is a synthesis of Darwin’s theory in terms of natural selection and modern population genetics.
-a modern version of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, incorporating the findings of genetics.
What is the difference of darwinism and neo darwinism?
Neo Darwinism is a modified theory of Darwinism explaining the origin of species on a genetic basis, hence the main driving force of Neo Darwinism is genetic variation. Consequently, the main difference lies in the variation type and type of natural selection.
