Chapter 1 Flashcards
One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Bacteria.
Archaea
One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Archaea.
Bacteria
The use of computers, software, and mathematical models to process and integrate biological information from large data sets.
bioinformatics
The scientific study of life.
Biology
The entire portion of Earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems.
Biosphere
Life’s fundamental unit of structure and function; the smallest unit of organization that can perform all activities required for life.
Cell
A directional change in temperature, precipitation, or other aspect of the global climate that lasts for three decades or more.
Climate change
All the organisms that inhabit a particular area; an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction.
Community
An organism that feeds on producers, other consumers, or nonliving organic material.
Consumer
In a controlled experiment, a set of subjects that lacks (or does not receive) the specific factor being tested. Ideally.
Control group
An experiment designed to compare an experimental group with a control group; ideally, the two groups differ only in the factor being tested.
Controlled experiment
Recorded observations.
Data
A type of logic in which specific results are predicted from a general premise.
Deductive reasoning
A nucleic acid molecule, usually a double-stranded helix, in which each polynucleotide strand consists of nucleotide monomers with a deoxyribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T); capable of being replicated and determining the inherited structure of a cell’s proteins.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; one or more communities and the physical environment around them.
Ecosystem
New properties that arise with each step upward in the hierarchy of life, owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases.
Emergent properties
The domain that includes all eukaryotic organisms.
Eukarya
A type of cell with a membrane-enclosed nucleus and membrane-enclosed organelles.
Eukaryotic cell
Descent with modification; the idea that living species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the present-day ones; also defined more narrowly as the change in the genetic composition of a population from generation to generation.
Evolution
A scientific test. Often carried out under controlled conditions that involve manipulating one factor in a system in order to see the effects of changing that factor.
Experiment
A set of subjects that has (or receives) the specific factor being tested in a controlled experiment. Ideally, the experimental group should be identical to the control group for all other factors.
Experimental group
The regulation of a process by its output or end product.
Feedback regulation
A discrete unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in DNA (or RNA, in some viruses).
Gene
The process by which information encoded in DNA directs the synthesis of proteins or, in some cases, RNAs that are not translated into proteins and instead function as RNAs.
Gene expression
The genetic material of an organism or virus; the complete complement of an organism’s or virus’s genes along with its noncoding nucleic acid sequences.
Genome
The systematic study of whole sets of genes (or other DNA) and their interactions within a species, as well as genome comparisons between species.
Genomics
A testable explanation for a set of observations based on the available data and guided by inductive reasoning.
Hypothesis
A factor whose value is manipulated or changed during an experiment to reveal possible effects on another factor
Independent variable
A type of logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of specific observations.
Inductive reasoning
The search for information and explanation, often focusing on specific questions.
Inquiry
A particular species chosen for research into broad biological principles because it is representative of a larger group and usually easy to grow in a lab.
Model organism
Two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds.
Molecule
A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
Natural selection
A specialized center of body function composed of several different types of tissues.
Organ
Any of several membrane-enclosed structures with specialized functions, suspended in the cytosol of eukaryotic cells.
Organelle
An individual living thing, consisting of one or more cells.
Organism
A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed, producing fertile offspring.
Population
An organism that produces organic compounds from CO2 by harnessing light energy (in photosynthesis) or by oxidizing inorganic chemicals (in chemosynthetic reactions carried out by some prokaryotes).
Producer
The entire set of proteins expressed by a given cell, tissue, or organism.
Proteome
The systematic study of sets of proteins and their properties, including their abundance, chemical modifications, and interactions.
Proteomics
An approach to understanding the natural world.
Science
An approach to studying biology that aims to model the dynamic behavior of whole biological systems based on a study of the interactions among the system’s parts.
Systems biology
The application of scientific knowledge for a specific purpose, often involving industry or commerce but also including uses in basic research.
Technology
An explanation that is broader in scope than a hypothesis, generates new hypotheses, and is supported by a large body of evidence.
Theory
An integrated group of cells with a common structure, function, or both.
Tissue
A factor that varies in an experiment.
Variable
A factor whose value is measured during an experiment or other test to see whether it is influenced by changes in another factor
Dependent variable
