Chapter 1 - Themes in the Study of Life Flashcards
The levels in the Biological Hierarchy
The Biosphere → Ecosystems → Communities → Populations → Organisms → Organ systems → Organs → Tissues → Cells → Organelles → Molecules → Atoms
Emergent properties
New properties that arise with each step upward in the hierarchy of life, owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases. Result from the arrangement and interaction of parts within a system.
Reductionism
The reduction of complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to study.
Systems biology
An approach to studying biology that aims to model the dynamic behavior of whole biological systems on a study of the interactions among the system’s parts.
Eukaryotic cell
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.
Prokaryotic cell
A type of cell lacking a membrane-enclosed nubleus and membrane-enclosed organelles. Organisms with prokaryotic cells (bacteria and archaea) are called prokaryotes.
Gene expression
The process of converting information from gene to cellular product.
Genome
An organism’s entire set of genetic instructions.
Genomics
The study of sets of genes within and between species.
Bioinformatics
The use of computers, software, and mathematical models to process and integrate biological information from large data sets.
Feedback mechanisms
Allow biological processes to self-regulate.
Negative feedback
Feedback mechanism where as more of a product accumulates, the process that creates it slows and less of the product is produced.
Positive feedback
Feedback mechanism where as more of a product accumulates, the process that creates it speeds up and more of the product is produced.
Taxonomy
The branch of biology that names and classifies species into groups of increasing breadth. Domain → Kingdom → Phylum → Class → Order → Family → Genus → Species
Domain Bacteria and domain Archaea compose…
prokaryotes
The three domains
Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
Domain “Eukarya”
- All eukaryotic organisms
- Includes three multicellular kingdoms; plants, fungi, and animals
Darwin’s three broad observations about life…
The unity of life, the diversity of life, and the match between organisms and their environment.
Descent with modification
Darwin’s view that all organisms are related through descent from an ancestor that lived in the remote past.
Artificial selection
Selecting and breeding individuals with desired traits.
Darwin’s 2 observations:
Members of a population often vary in their inherited traits and all species can produce more offspring than the environment can support, and many of these offspring fail to survive and reproduce.
Darwin’s 2 inferences:
Individuals whose inherited traits give them a higher probability of surviving and reproducing in a given environment tend to leave more offspring than other individuals. This unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to the accumulation of favorable traits in the population over generations
The four types of data that document the pattern of evolution:
- Direct observations
- Homology
- The fossil record
- Biogeography
Scientific process
Includes making observations, forming logical hypotheses, and testing them.
Making Observations
Biologists describe natural structures and processes.
Qualitative data
Descriptions rather than measurements.
Quantitative data
Recorded measurements, which are sometimes organized into tables and graphs.
Inductive reasoning
A type of logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of specific observations.
Hypothesis
A tentative answer to a well framed question that leads to predictions that can be tested by observation or experimentation that must be testable and falsifiable. Hypothesis-based science often makes use of two or more alternative hypotheses. Failure to falsify a hypothesis does not prove that hypothesis.
Deductive reasoning
A type of logic in which specific results are predicted from a general premise.
Controlled experiment
An experiment in which an experimental group is compared with a control group that varies only in the factor being tested.
Theory
- Broader in scope than a hypothesis
- General, and can lead to new testable hypotheses
- Supported by a large body of evidence in comparison to a hypothesis
