General Biology

Question 1

biology

Answer 1

the study of life

Question 2

evolution

Answer 2

change in genetic information of a species over time

Question 3

emergent properties

Answer 3

properties that emerge at a higher level of organization due to interactions and arrangement of parts as complexity increases that were not present at the lower level

Question 4

systems biology

Answer 4

modeling the dynamic behavior of whole biological systems based on the interactions of the components of the system

Question 5

the biosphere

Answer 5

all life and environments on Earth; highest level of organization

Question 6

ecosystem

Answer 6

all living things in a particular area, and all non living components of the environment with which life interacts; below biosphere and above community

Question 7

community

Answer 7

all living things inhabiting a particular ecosystem; a set of populations within a particular area; below ecosystem and above population

Question 8

population

Answer 8

all the individuals of a species living within the bounds of a specified area; below community and above organism

Question 9

organism

Answer 9

an individual living thing; below population and above organ system

Question 10

organ system

Answer 10

a team of organs that cooperate in a larger function within an organism; below oranism and above organ

Question 11

organ

Answer 11

a collection of tissues in an organism that carries our a particular function; below organ system and above tissues

Question 12

tissue

Answer 12

a group of cells working together to perform a specialized function; below organ and above cell

Question 13

cell

Answer 13

life’s fundamental unit of structure and function; below tissue and above organelle

Question 14

organelle

Answer 14

membrane-bound functional components present in eukaryotic cells; below cell and above molecule

Question 15

molecule

Answer 15

a chemical structure consisting of two or more atoms; below organelle and above atom

Question 16

atom

Answer 16

smallest part of an element that retains the properties of that element; lowest level of organization

Question 17

eukaryotic cell

Answer 17

a cell with membrane-bound organelles

Question 18

prokaryotic cell

Answer 18

a cell without membrane-bound organelles

Question 19

bioinformatics

Answer 19

the use of computational tools to store, organize and analyze genetic data

Question 20

Bacteria

Answer 20

a domain of life; organisms are prokaryotic

Question 21

Archaea

Answer 21

a domain of life; organisms are prokaryotic

Question 22

Eukarya

Answer 22

a domain of life; organisms are eukaryotic

Question 23

natural selection

Answer 23

a process by which the environment “naturally” selects organisms to pass on their genes; the organisms that are most successful at reproducing in an environment will pass on their genes most successfully; over generations the genes in a population will reflect the traits that have been selected for by the environment

Question 24

data

Answer 24

recorded observations

Question 25

inductive reasoning

Answer 25

deriving generalizations based on a large number of specific observations; ex: based on our data about cheating we conclude that most kids cheat on homework

Question 26

deductive reasoning

Answer 26

extrapolating from a general premise to a specific instance; ex: since most kids cheat on their homework, and Dani is a kid, she cheats on homework

Question 27

hypothesis

Answer 27

a tentative answer (based on prior observation) to a well-framed question; a hypothesis can be disproven but it cannot be proven

Question 28

controlled experiment

Answer 28

a experiment that compares an experimental group to a control group, hopefully eliminating lurking variables

Question 29

theory

Answer 29

a idea or ideas that explain a wide range of phenomena; it is supported by a lot of scientific evidence and is widely accepted and is unlikely to be disproven; it produces many testable hypotheses

Question 30

law

Answer 30

a generalized rule to explain a body of observations in the form of a verbal or mathematical statement; unlike a theory, a law doens’t address why something happens

Question 31

electron microscope (EM)

Answer 31

a microscope that uses a beam of electrons, through the specimen (TEM) or onto its surface (SEM), 100 microns to nms, this reaches the diffraction limit, specimen must be dead :(

Question 32

light microscope (LM)

Answer 32

a microscope that uses visible light, the light is passed through the specimen, range is mm to sub-micron, specimen can be alive :)

Question 33

transmission electron microscope (TEM)

Answer 33

electron microscope that is used to study the internal structures of cells, electrons travel though a very thin slice stained with heavy metal atoms

Question 34

scanning electron microscope (SEM)

Answer 34

electron microscope that is used to study the surface of a specimen, scans the surface usually coated with a thin gold film

Question 35

cell fractionation

Answer 35

a technique for studying cell structure and fuction which takes cells apart and separates major organelles and other subcellular structure by using a centrifuge, different speeds will seperate out different structures

Question 36

structures present in all cells

Answer 36

plasma membrane, cytosol, chromosomes, ribosomes

Question 37

major differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells

Answer 37

location of DNA (nucleus vs nucleoid), shape of DNA (linear vs circular chromosomes), membrane vs non-membrane-bound organelles, size (euk generally larger)

Question 38

cell size

Answer 38

0.1-1micron (mycoplasmas) to 10-100 microns (euk)