Chapter 1 Vocabulary Flashcards
Biosphere
All the environments, or the entire portion of Earth inhabited by life, the sum of all of the planet’s ecosystems
Community
Entire array of organisms inhabiting an ecosystem, assemblage of all organisms potentially living and interacting together in a particular area
Ecosystem
All the organisms in a given area along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment
Population
A group of interacting individuals belonging to one species and living in the same geographic area
Organism
An individual living thing, such as a bacterium, fungus, protist, plant, or animal
Organ system
A group of organs that work together in performing vital body functions
Organ
A structure consisting of several tissues adapted as a group to perform specific functions
Tissue
A cooperative unit of many similar cells that perform a specific function within a multicellular organism
Cell
A basic unit of living matter separated from its environment by a plasma membrane; the fundamental structural unit of a life.
organelle
A structure with a specialized function within a cell
Molecule
A group of 2 or more atoms held together by covalent bonds
Atom
The smallest unit of mater that retains the properties of an element
Producers
Organisms that make organic food molecules from CO2, H2O, and other inorganic raw materials; a plant, alga, or autotrophic bacterium
Consumers
Organisms that obtain their food by eating plants or by eating animals that have eaten plants
Decomposers
An organism that derives its energy from organic wastes and dead organisms.
Emergent Properties
New Properties that emerge with each step upward in the hierarchy of life, owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases
System
A more complex organization formed from a combination of components
Prokaryotic cell
A type of cell lacking a membrane-enclosed nucleus and other membrane-enclosed organelles, found only in the domains Bacteria and Archaea
Eukaryotic cell
A type of cell that has a membrane-enclosed nucleus and other membrane-enclosed organelles. All organisms except bacteria and archaea are composed of eukaryotic cells.
species
A group whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have the ability to interbreed
Taxonomy
The branch of biology concerned with identifying, naming, and classifying species
Kingdoms
In classification, the broad taxonomic category above phylum or division
domains
A taxonomic category above the kingdom level, the three domains of life are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.
Bacteria
One of two prokaryotic domains of life, the other being Archawa.