Biology junior cert Flashcards
What were the characteristics of living things?
● Movement - walking, running, flying
● Respiration - the releases of energy from food
● Sensitivity - the way living things respond to their environment
● Nutrition - the way a living thing gets its food
● Excretion - the removal of metabolic waste from the body
● Reproduction - the formation of new individuals
● Growth - organisms get bigger as cells divide
What are the characteristics of animal cells?
● Cell membrane - holds in the contents of the cell and controls what substances enter and leave the cell
● Cytoplasm - a watery fluid in which many cell reactions take place
● Nucleus - controls the activities of the cell and contains genetic information
(chromosomes)
What are the characteristics plant cells?
● Cell wall - provides support and structure to plant cells
● Cell membrane
● Cytoplasm
● Chloroplasts - these contain chlorophyll which makes food for plant cells in
photosynthesis
● Vacuole - stores food, water and fat
Organization in living things
● A cell is the smallest part of a human being e.g red blood cells
● Tissue refers to a group of similar cells working together to carry out the same function
e.g blood, phloem
● Organ refers to two or more tissues working together e.g heart
● System refers to a number of organs working together to carry out a function e.g
digestive system
● Organism refers to a living thing
What are the different types of digestion?
● Digestion refers to the breakdown of food
● Digestion is necessary to break down large, insoluble food into smaller, soluble particles
so that the nutrients can be carried around the body and used
● Physical digestion involves teeth breaking down food
● Chemical digestion i nvolves the use of enzymes to break down food
What are the characteristics of the mouth?
Physical digestion - teeth break down food into smaller pieces by chewing
● Chemical digestion - salivary glands makes saliva which contains the enzyme amalyse,
which digests starch to produce the sugar maltose
What are the characteristics of the Oesophagus?
● Passes food to your stomach
● A muscular tube that forces food down to the stomach by using a wave of muscular
action known as peristalsis
What are the characteristics of the stomach?
● Muscular bag that holds two litres of food
● Physical digestion - muscular walls churn and mix the food into chyme
● Chemical digestion - secretes hydrochloric acid to kill and soften food
What are the characteristics of the small intestine?
● 6m long
● Digested food passes into the bloodstream
● Produces many enzymes to complete the digestion
● Two important liquids are added here:
1. Pancreatic juice (produced in the pancreas)
2. Bile (produced in the liver)
What are the characteristics of the Pancreas?
● Produces amalyse and pancreatic juice
● Produces enzymes that pass into the small intestine to help with digestion
What are the characteristics of the liver?
● Produces bile which helps to digest and break down fat
What are the characteristics of the large intestine?
● Mainly fibre, dead cells and water reach here
● Most of the water is absorbed into the bloodstream
● Too much liquid content will result in diarrhea
● Too much liquid taken back causes constipation
● Faeces are stored in the rectum
● Eventually excreted out of the anus, roughly 24-48hrs after eating
What are enzymes and list examples
● Catalysts are chemicals that speeds up a reaction without getting used up in the reaction itself
● Enzymes are biological catalysts and proteins
● The substance that an enzyme acts on is the substrate a nd the substance formed by
the reaction is the product
● Amalyse is an enzyme found in s aliva
● Amalyse breaks down starch to form a sugar called m altose
● Therefore, starch is the substrate a nd maltose is the product
What are genetics?
● Genetics refers to the study of how traits/characteristics are inherited
List Human Characteristics
Human Characteristics ● One nose ● Two eyes ● Fingernails Variations ● Height ● Accent ● Interests Inherited Characteristics ● Controlled by genes ● Passed on from parents to children ● Eye colour, shape of face, ability to produce substances such as saliva Non Inherited Characteristics ● Not controlled by genes ● Learned throughout life ● Reading, musical instrument Chromosomes ● Thread like structures ● Found in the nucleus ● Made of DNA and protein ● Contain genes (a section of DNA that can produce protein) Chromosome numbers ● 46 chromosomes in the body ● 23 pairs (sperm and eggs only have 23 chromosomes altogether) ● At fertilisation, the number doubles to 46
List the function of the blood
Functions of blood
● Transports substances around the body
● Defence against diseases
● Keeps body temperature constant
Plasma
● Liquid
● Pale, yellow colour
● Mostly consists of water and dissolved substances
● Carries chemicals around the body (such as food and waste)
Red blood cells
● Formed in bone marrow
● Contains a red, iron based pigment called haemoglobin, which transports oxygen
White blood cells
● Formed in bone marrow
● Produces antibodies to fight infections and diseases
Platelets
● Formed in bone marrow
● Tiny fragments of larger cells
● Helps clot blood to prevent blood loss and pathogens from entering the body
What is the circulatory system?
● Blood ● Heart ● Blood vessels ➢ Arteries ➢ Veins ➢ Capillaries
List the different types of blood vessels and their function
Artery ● Thick walls ● Small lumen ● Blood carried under high pressure away from heart ● No valves ● Oxygen-rich blood
Vein ● Thin walls ● Large lumen ● No pressure in blood flow ● Has valves to protect backflow of blood ● Oxygen-rich blood ● Carries blood to the heart Capillaries ● Very thin walls ● Tiny lumen ● Blood flow under low pressure ● No valves ● Connects arteries and veins ● Materials exit and leave the blood through capillaries
What is the word equation for photosynthesize
Sunlight
Carbon dioxide + Water ————> Glucose + Oxygen
Chlorophyll
What is the chemical equation
Sunlight
6CO2 + 6H2O —————> C6H2O6 + 6O2
Chlorophyll
What are the products of photosynthesize
● Glucose
➢ Provides energy for respiration
➢ Type of sugar used by plant for energy
➢ Excess glucose stored in the form of starch ➢ Forms cellulose for new cell walls
Sunlight
Carbon dioxide + Water ————> Glucose + Oxygen
Chlorophyll
Sunlight
6CO2 + 6H2O —————> C6H2O6 + 6O2
Chlorophyll
● Oxygen
➢ Waste product
➢ Recycled through respiration to get chemical energy out of food
What are the types of sexual reproduction in plants
Asexual Reproduction
● One parent plant
● Gametes (sex cells) are not involved
● The offspring are genetically identical to parent plant
● Example is when strawberry plants form runners
Sexual Reproduction
● Two parents needed
● A male and a female gamete is needed to fuse together to form a zygote
● New organism is not genetically identical to either parent
● Example is flowering plants
What is the structure of a flower
Petal
● Protects inside the flower - reproductive parts
● Brightly coloured petals attracts insects - imported for pollination
Carpel
● Female reproductive part of the flower
Stamen
● Male reproductive part of the flower
Sepal
● Protects flower before blooming (when flower is just a bud)
What is Ecology?
● Ecology refers to the study of the relationships between plants, animals and their environment
What are ecosystems?
Ecosystems ● All the plants and animals in an area interacting with each other and their environment ● Deserts ● Tropical rainforests ● Grasslands ● Seashores
What is a habitat?
Habitat ● The area where a plant or an animal lives ● Grassland ● Rocky seashore ● Hedgerow ● Woodland ● Local park ● School field ● Pond
What is a producer?
Producer
● Plants that make their own food
What is a consumer?
Consumer
● Animals and cannot and make their own food
● Get food by eating plants or other animals
What is a herbivore?
● An animal that eats plants only
What a carnivore?
Carnivore
● An animal that eats other animals (meat) only
What is a Omnivore?
Omnivore
● An animal that eats both plants and animals
What is the food chain?
Food chain
● A list of living things in which each one is eaten by the next one in the chain
● Producer → Consumer 1 → Consumer 2
● Always begin a food chain with the producer e.g grass, algae, buttercups
● Use arrows to show the direction in which the food passes
● Food chains usually consist of 3 or 4 organisms because less and less energy is passed on from each organism throughout the food chain
What is adaptation?
Refers to when an organism has characteristics that make it well suited to its environment
● Caterpillars are the same colour as their food is an example of adaptation
What is interdependence?
● When two different organisms need each other in order to survive
What is microbiology?
● Refers to the study of very small organisms
● Micro-organisms are bacteria, viruses and fungi
What is bacteria?
● Only one cell big - single celled ● No proper nucleus ● Aerobic (needs oxygen to respire) ● Some are anaerobic (doesn’t need oxygen to respire and produce energy) ● Reproduce asexually and very quickly ● Present everywhere ● Many different species ● Most are harmless to humans ● Most are saprophytes (takes food from dead sources)
What are viruses?
Viruses ● Smallest micro-organism ● Living organism? Or not? ➢ Not made up of cells ➢ Not capable of reproducing on its own ➢ Have small piece of genetic material - DNA surrounded by a protein coat ● Do not reproduce but they replicate by entering a host cell, makes 1000s of copies of themselves, burst the host cell to release the new viruses ● Cannot use antibiotics to kill them
What are fungi?
Useful fungi ● Food source e.g some mushrooms ● Yeast - baking industry and brewing industry ● Antibiotics - penicillin ● Decomposers - recycle minerals
What is biotechnology?
● Refers to the use of living things or parts of living things to make useful products
