Chapter One

Question 1

What is biology?

Answer 1

the scientific study of life

Question 2

What are some fields and subdisciplines of biology?

Answer 2

Fields: molecular biology, microbiology, neurobiology, paleontology, zoology, botany, marine biology

Subdisciplines: physiology, ecology, genetics

Question 3

What are the key traits of a living organism?

Answer 3

• order
• sensitivity (response to stimuli)
• reproduction
• adaptation
• growth and development
• regulation (homeostasis)
• energy processing

Question 4

What is order? [7 key traits]

Answer 4

Organisms are made up of various cell components, multicellular organisms with specialized cells and organ systems.

Question 5

What is sensitivity? [7 key traits]

Answer 5

the way an organism responds to stimuli (e.g., plants growing towards light or responding to touch)

Question 6

What is reproduction? [7 key traits]

Answer 6

the production of offspring by duplicating and dividing DNA (single-cellular), multicellular organisms with specialized cells and organs to mix genetic material in offspring

Question 7

What is adaptation? [7 key traits]

Answer 7

organisms adapting to their environment; includes mutations, evolution, and natural selection

Question 8

What is growth and development? [7 key traits]

Answer 8

organisms grow/develop over time according to their genes; ensures that a specific organism is similar to its parents

Question 9

What is regulation? [7 key traits]

Answer 9

homeostasis: maintaining constant internal condition (e.g., temperature, salinity, pH)

Question 10

What is energy processing? [7 key traits]

Answer 10

• organisms capture solar energy and convert to chemical energy (e.g., algae, plants, some symbiotic organisms)
• obtaining chemical energy from consuming or absorbing matter

Question 11

Why aren’t viruses considered to be living organisms?

Answer 11

they have to invade a living cell to reproduce

Question 12

What are the three domains of organisms?

Answer 12

archaea, bacteria, and eukarya

Question 13

What are the 8 taxonomic levels? (broadest to narrowest)

Answer 13

• domain
• kingdom
• phylum
• class
• order
• family
• genus
• species

Question 14

What is a binomial name and how is it formatted?

Answer 14

a Latin or scientific name; Genus species

Question 15

Why do we use binomial names?

Answer 15

reduce confusion from varying common names used by various groups of people

Question 16

What are evolution and natural selection?

Answer 16

species adapt to different environments over time through natural selection (survival) which causes evolution
- theory from Charles Darwin

Question 17

What were the 3 main observations made by Darwin?

Answer 17

• traits vary in a population and many of the traits are heritable
• populations produce more offspring than can survive to reproduce
• species generally suit their environment

Question 18

What is the scientific method?

Answer 18

steps in the research of scientific topic via experiments/observations

observation→question→research→hypothesis→experiment→analyze data→report results

Question 19

What is qualitative data?

Answer 19

descriptive or categorical data

Question 20

What is quantitative data?

Answer 20

numerically measured data

Question 21

What is a control in an experiment?

Answer 21

a component that does not change

Question 22

What is a variable in an experiment?

Answer 22

a component that is changed or manipulated

independent variable: manipulated
dependent variable: measured/studied; affected by independent variable