Mid-Term 1 Prep Flashcards
What are the 7 characteristics that we can use to define life?
GO ERRRA!!!
Order/Organized (usually into cells)
Ability to process energy/metabolize
Growth and Development (increase in complexity)
Ability to reproduce
Response to environmental stimuli
Regulation – homeostasis
Adaptation (long-term)
What is the order of biological organization (from molecules to the biosphere)?
Chemical:
Molecule
Cellular:
Organelle
Cell
Tissue
Organ
Organ System
Ecological
Organism
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biosphere
What is the first level of organization where the properties of life emerge?
The level of the cell.
What happens to elements in the ecosystem? (cycle)
Matter is continuously recycled in ecosystems.
Producers (plants) create food, consumers eat food and produce waste, which returns some nutrients back to the environment. The rest are stored in the animal until the it dies, then decomposers release the nutrients back to the soil. Plants also decompose eventually.
What happens to energy in the ecosystem? (cycle)
It enters as sunlight and exits eventually has heat.
Sunlight energy, converted by plants to chemical energy, converted to kinetic energy by animals, eventually much is converted to heat through various metabolic processes.
What evidence do we have that shows that all life is unified?
The unity of life is based on DNA. There are fundamental similarities among very different kinds of living things.
All organisms use the exact same code (ATCG) to form DNA, the diversity of life arises from differences in DNA sequences.
Bacteria and humans are different because they have different genes, but the instructions on how to “make them” are written in the same language and use the same molecular building blocks.
What do we mean when we talk about the diversity of life?
There are tons of species that we can group according to similarities and relationships (Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya). The diversity of life arises from differences in DNA sequences.
How does the theory of evolution describe both the unity and diversity of life?
There are fundamental similarities among very different kinds of living things. Such basic similarities imply relatedness, therefore a “common ancestry”.
Unity = Descent from a common ancestor.
Diversity = species diverged from their ancestors over time.
What is a hypothesis?
A testable explanation for a set of observations based on available data. A logical prediction. IF…THEN
What do we mean by a controlled experiment?
A large number of samples/individuals.
Control groups give you something to compare the experimental groups to.
The experimental group has only one thing (variable) different than the control group.
Randomized (to control for potentially interfering variables) and blinded (to avoid bias)
Was mimicry helpful to non-poisonous King snakes in an environment where there were no poisonous coral snakes?
No. Mimicry made the king snakes more visible which was only helpful when predators knew to avoid those colour due to the poisonous coral snakes.
What is an atom?
An atom is the smallest unit of matter which still displays the characteristic properties of an element. Made of protons, neutrons and electrons.
What is an element?
An element is a substance that cannot be broken down to other substances by ordinary chemical means. All matter is made of elements.
What is a molecule?
Molecules are formed when 2 or more atoms (of the same element) combine together.
What is a compound?
A compound is a substance consisting of two or more elements combined in a fixed ratio. Compounds can have very different properties than its individual components.
Only _______(#) elements make up 96% of what is inside of life. What are they?
Four. Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen and Nitrogen. (from biggest to smallest)
What elements make up 98% of all living matter?
Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur! (from biggest to smallest)
CHNOPS!!
What goes into carbohydrates and proteins? (Related to: What elements make up 96% of what is inside of life?)
Carbohydrates = CHO (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen)
Proteins = primarily CHNO…and a bit
of S. (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen… and Sulfur)
What are the 3 subatomic particles?
Protons, neutrons and electrons.
What are the charges of the 3 subatomic particles?
Protons are positive.
Neutrons are neutral.
Electrons are negative.
What are the sizes of the 3 subatomic particles? Where are they located within the atom?
Protons and neutrons are bigger, approximately the same size, and occupy the nucleus.
Electrons are teeny tiny and occupy “orbitals” or “energy shells” around the nucleus.
Atoms are mostly empty space!
Which subatomic particle is responsible for defining the element?
Protons. All atoms of a particular element have the same number of
protons.
Which subatomic particle is responsible for an element’s reactivity?
The atom’s reactive properties are based on the electrons.
What is the atomic number?
The number of protons specific to an element.
For example, carbon has 6 and oxygen has 8.