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.
Archaea
One of 2 prokaryotic domains of life, the other being Bacteria
Prokaryotes
An organism with prokaryotic cells
Eukaryores
An organism with eukaryotic cells
Eukarya
The domain of eukaryotes, organisms made of eukaryotic cells, includes all protists, plants, fungi, and animals.
theory
A widely accepted explanatory idea that is broad in scope and supported by a large body of evidence
natural selection
Differential success in reproduction by different phenotypes resulting from interactions with the environment. Evolution occurs when natural selection produces changes in the relative frequencies of alleles in a population’s gene pool.
Evolutinary adaptation
An inherited characteristic that enhances an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
Controlled experiment
E component of the process of science whereby a scientist carries out two parallel tests, an experimental test and a control test. The experimental test differs from the control by one factor, the variable.
tehcnology
The practical application of scientific knowledge
hypothesis
A tentative explanation a scientist proposes for a specific phenomenon that has been observed
scientific method
A process of inquiry that involves hypotheses, predictions, and tests of predictions
Inductive reasoning
A kind of reasoning that derives general principles from a large number of specific observations
Deductive reasoning
A kind of reasoning used in hypothesis-based science to come up with ways to test hypotheses. The reasoning flows from general to the specific.
Discovery science
A scientific approach which is mostly about explaining nature
Individual variation
Differences in population that ensure many varied traits for future generations to inherit
Overproduction and competition
The fact that a species produces a superfluous amount of offspring and that inevitably because there are not enough resources, the species will compete for resources
Unequal Reproductive Success
Darwin inferred from his observations that individuals are unequal in their likelihood of surviving and reproducing. Individuals with traits best suited to environment will survive longer to have more offspring
