Chapter 1 Flashcards
Characteristic that depends on the level of organization of matter, but does not exist at lower levels of organization
Example:Communities can be described in terms of their diversity-the number and types of different populations they contain- and their stability-the degree to which the populations within the communities remain the same through time.
Life is thus an ____ of the organization of matter into cells
Emergent Properties
hierarchy of life
Cell__Multicellular organism__Population__Community__Ecosystem__ Biosphere
Individuals consisting of single cells
Example: bacteria and protozoans
Unicellular Organisms
Individuals consisting of interdependent cells
Example: plants and animals
Multicellular organisms
All the individuals of a single species that live together in the same place and time
Population
Populations of all species that occupy the same area
Community
Group of biological communities interacting with their shared physical environment
Ecosystem
All regions of Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere that sustain life
Biosphere
Large, double-stranded, helical molecule that contains the genetic material of all living organisms
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
A polymer assembled form repeating nucleotide monomers in which the five-carbon sugar is ribose. Cellular ___ include mRNA (which is translated to produce a polypeptide), tRNA (which brings an amino acid to the ribosome for assembly into a polypeptide during translation), and rRNA (which is a structural component of ribosomes). The genetic material of some viruses is__
Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
Molecules that carry out most of the activities of life, including the synthesis of all other biological molecules. Consists of one or more polypeptides depending on it
Protein
The biochemical reactions that allow a cell or organism to extract energy from its surroundings and use that energy to maintain itself, grown, and reproduce
Metabolism
The conversion of light energy to chemical energy in the form of sugar and other organic molecules
Photosynthesis
The process by which energy-rich molecules are broken down to produce energy in the form of ATP
Cellular Respiration
Smallest unit with the capacity to live and reproduce
An organized chemical system that includes many specialized molecules surrounded by a membrane
Cell
An autotroph usually a photosynthetic organism, a member of the first trophic level
Primary Producers
An organism that consumes other organisms in a community or ecosystem
Consumers
A small organism, such as a bacterium or fungus, that feeds on the remains of dead organisms, breaking down complex biological molecules or structures into simpler raw material
Decomposers
A steady internal condition maintained by responses that compensate for changes in the external environment
Homeostasis
The process in which parents produce offspring
Reproduction
The transmission of DNA (genetic info) from one generation to the next
inheritance
A series of programmed changes encoded in DNA, through which a fertilized egg divides into many cells that ultimately are transformed into an adult, which is itself capable of reproduction
development
The sequential stages through which individuals develop, grow, maintain themselves, and reproduce
life cycle
The process by which some individuals in a population experience changes in their DNA and pass those modified instructions to their offspring
Biological Evolution
Selective breeding of organisms to ensure that certain desirable traits appear at higher frequency in successive generations
artificial selection
The evolutionary process by which alleles that increase the likelihood of survival and the reproductive output of the individuals that carry them become more common in subsequent generation
natural selection
A unit containing the code for a protein molecule or one of its parts or for functioning RNA molecules such as tRNA and rRNA
genes
A spontaneous and heritable change in DNA
mutations
Characteristic that helps an organism survive longer or reproduce more under a particular set of environmental conditions
adaptations
The collective effort of individuals who worked to understand how living systems function
biological research
research conducted to search for explanations about natural phenomena in order to satisfy curiosity and to advance collective knowledge of living system
basic research
research conducted with the goal of solving specific practical problems
applied research
