Section 1

Question 1

What is biology?

Answer 1

Biology is the study of life

Question 2

What are the characteristics/unifying principles of life?

Answer 2

1. cells are the simplest unit of life
2. living things use energy- acquire energy from the environment
3. living organisms interact with their environment
4. living organisms have mechanisms that maintain homeostasis
5. living organisms grow, develop and reproduce
6. the genetic material, DNA, provides a dynamic plan for sustaining life
7. populations of organisms evolve from one generation to the next
8. all life is related by evolutionary history
9. organisms follow the laws of chemistry and physics, and structure determines function

Question 3

what are the 12 level of biological organization

Answer 3

atoms -> molecules and macromolecules -> cells -> tissues -> organs -> organ systems -> organisms -> species -> populations -> community -> ecosystem -> biosphere

Question 4

what are the 2 mechanisms of evolutionary change?

Answer 4

vertical descent with mutation:
-progression of changes in a series of ancestors (lineage)
-mutation: an inheritable change in the genetic material of organisms
horizontal gene transfer:
-when genes are transferred from one species to another

Question 5

what are the three domains of life?

Answer 5

bacteria \
archaea / prokaryotes
eukarya

Question 6

what are the 8 taxonomic groups?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what is genome?

Answer 7

• the evolutionary history and relatedness of all living organisms
• carries the results and evidence of millions of years of evolution
• prokaryotes usually contain a few thousand genes
• eukaryotes contain tens of thousands

Question 8

what is proteome

Answer 8

the complete complement of proteins that a cell or organism can make

Question 9

what is proteomics

Answer 9

• analysis of proteome of a single species
• comparison of proteomes between species
• comparison of different members of species under different living conditions

Question 10

what is a hypothesis

Answer 10

proposed explanation for a natural phenomenon

Question 11

theory

Answer 11

• broad explanation of some aspect of the natural world

- lots of evidence!!

Question 12

what are the steps of the scientific method?

Answer 12

observation, hypothesis, experimentation, data, conclusion