Chapter 1

Question 1

Archaea

Answer 1

One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Bacteria

Question 2

Bacteria

Answer 2

One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Archaea

Question 3

bioinformatics

Answer 3

The use of computers, software, and mathematical models to process and integrate biological information from large data sets

Question 4

biology

Answer 4

The scientific study of life

Question 5

biosphere

Answer 5

The entire portion of Earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems

Question 6

cell

Answer 6

Life’s fundamental unit of structure and function; the smallest unit of organization that can perform all activities required for life

Question 7

climate change

Answer 7

A directional change in temperature, precipitation, or other aspect of the global climate that lasts for three decades or more

Question 8

community

Answer 8

All the organisms that inhabit a particular area; an assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction

Question 9

consumer

Answer 9

An organism that feeds on producers, other consumers, or nonliving organic material

Question 10

control group

Answer 10

In a controlled experiment, a set of subjects that lacks (or does not receive) the specific factor being tested. Ideally, the control group should be identical to the experimental group in other respects

Question 11

controlled experiment

Answer 11

An experiment designed to compare an experimental group with a control group; ideally, the two groups differ only in the factor being tested

Question 12

data

Answer 12

Recorded observations

Question 13

deductive reasoning

Answer 13

A type of logic in which specific results are predicted from a general premise

Question 14

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Answer 14

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

Question 15

dependent variable

Answer 15

A factor whose value is measured during an experiment or other test to see whether it is influenced by changes in another factor (the independent variable)

Question 16

ecosystem

Answer 16

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

Question 17

emergent properties

Answer 17

New properties that arise with each step upward in the hierarchy of life, owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases

Question 18

Eukarya

Answer 18

The domain that includes all eukaryotic organisms

Question 19

eukaryotic cell

Answer 19

A type of cell with a membrane-enclosed nucleus and membrane-enclosed organelles. Organisms with eukaryotic cells (protists, plants, fungi, and animals) are called eukaryotes

Question 20

evolution

Answer 20

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