Biology Chp 1 Flashcards
The Themes of Biology and Scientific Inquiry
The five unifying themes of biology
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Organization, information, energy and matter, interactions, and evolution
Reductionism
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An approach to biology that reduces complex systems to simpler components
Biosphere
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Consists of all life on earth
Ecosystems
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All the living things in a particular area along with all the non-living components that life interacts with
Communities
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The array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem
Populations
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All the individuals of a species living within the bounds of a specified area that interbreed with each other
Organisms
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Individual living things
Organs
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A body part that is made up of multiple tissues and has specific functions in the body
Tissues
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A group of cells that work together, performing specialized function
Cells
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life’s fundamental unit of structure
Organelles
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the various functional components present in cells
Molecules
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a chemical structure consisting of two or more units called atoms
Emergent Properties
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result from arrangement and interaction of parts within a system
Systems biology
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the exploration of a biological system by analyzing the interactions among its parts
Structure and function are…
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correlated
Cell Theory (developed in the 1800s)
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All living organisms are made of cells, which are the basic unit of life
Prokaryotic cells
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- found in two groups of single-celled microorganisms, bacteria and archaea.
- lacks nucleus or other membrane-enclosed organelles
- generally smaller than eukaryotic cells
Eukaryotic cells
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- contains membrane-enclosed organelles
- some organelles are found in cells of all eukaryotes, while others are specific to particular cell types
Microbiome
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hundreds to thousands to millions of microorganisms living on one specific host
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
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- genetic material housed in structures called chromosomes
- made up of two long chains called strands, arranged in a double helix
- can have mutations
Genes
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units of inheritance that encode the information necessary to build all the molecules synthesized within a cell
Strands
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- the chains that comprise a DNA molecule
- made up of four kinds of nucleotides (A, T, C, G)
mRNA
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messenger RNA which is translated into amino acids
Amino acids
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protein building blocks