Chapter 1 - Characteristics of Living Flashcards
What are the 8 Properties of Life?
-order
-sensitivity or response to the environment
-reproduction
-adaption
-growth/development
-regulation/homeostasis
-evolution
-energy processing
What is the ORDER property?
organisms are highly organized have a coordinated structure
-consist of 1 or more cells
What is the SENSTIVITY/RESPONSE TO STIMULI property?
organisms respond to diverse stimuli
-EX) plants bend to source of light, climb up walls, respond to touch
-EX) bacteria move to food and away from chemicals
What is the difference b/w a positive response and negative response?
Positive - moving toward stimuli (bacteria - food)
Negative - moving away from stimuli (bacteria - chemicals)
What is the Reproduction property?
Single-celled organisms duplicate their DNA and divide it = as cells prepare to divide to two cells, same DNA; OR conjugation (exchanging cells)
Multicellular cells typically produce specialized cells for reproduction (gametes, oocyte, sperm cells) which creates new individual w/ fertilization
What is Heredity?
Genes containing DNA are passed to offspring, ensures that offspring will belong to same species and will have similar characteristics to their parents (like size and shape)
What is DNA?
Deoxyribonucleic Acid - genetic material, code of protein information (amino acid)
What is Spontaneous Generation?
People used to think that living things came from nonliving things - mice came from chess, maggots from meat, etc.
Explain Redi’s Experiment:
3 containers - one no lid, one lid, one with mesh so air can go through but nothing else. Each container had meat inside.
No Lid = flies attracted and maggots on meat
Lid = nothing!
Mesh = flies and maggots on top of mesh
Conclusion : maggots came from the flies that were attracted to the meat, not the meat itself
BIG IDEA = Spontaneous Generation not true, living things come from other living things!
Explain Pasteur’s Experiment:
beaker with medium of broth for living things, swan neck connected that was blocked off - only air inside
broth boiled to kill all living things - blank slate
when swan neck cut, air was allowed in and living things were again found in the medium.
What are the main differences between adaptation and reponse?
adaptation - long time, changes DNA
response - detectable change, instant
What is the Adaptation property?
all living things exhibit a “fit” to their environment
-consequence of evolution by natural selection
-operates in every lineage of reproducing organisms
-enhances reproduction potential, survive to reproduce
-EX) stickbug looks like stick to camoflage
What is the Growth/Development property?
Growth - become larger
Development - change, become more complex
-result of genes providing specific instructions that will direct cellular growth/development
-ensures that a species’ young grow up to exhibit similar characteristics as its parents
-EX) Living things can repair damaged parts
What is the Regulation/Homeostasis property?
organisms require multiple regulatory mechanisms to coordinate internal functions, respond to stimuli, and cope with environmental stresses
Homeostasis : relatively stable internal environment required to maintain life (nutrient transport, blood flow)
-Cells require appropriate conditions (proper temp, pH, concentration of chemicals) to function properly; but conditions may change (higher body temp = proteins not working)
-Organisms can maintain homeostatic internal conditions almost constantly despite environmental changes
What is the Energy Processing property?
all organisms use a source of energy for their metabolic activities (energy from sun, from food)
-occurs in all living things at cellular level
-EX) photosynthesis - energy from sun –> chemical energy
-EX) cellular respiration - chemical energy from molecules as food
