Themes in Biology

Question 1

Biology

Answer 1

is the scientific study of life.

Question 2

Properties of life include the following (7) things

Answer 2

Order (organization)
Reproduction
Growth and development
Energy processing
Response to the environment
Regulation
Evolutionary adaptation

Question 3

Order (organization)

Answer 3

the highly ordered structure that typifies life

Question 4

Reproduction

Answer 4

the ability of organisms to reproduce their own kind

Question 5

Growth and development

Answer 5

consistent growth and development controlled by inherited DNA

Question 6

Energy processing

Answer 6

the use of chemical energy to power an organism’s activities and chemical reactions,

Question 7

Response to the environment

Answer 7

an ability to respond to environmental stimuli

Question 8

Regulation

Answer 8

an ability to control an organism’s internal environment within limits that sustain life

Question 9

Evolutionary adaptation

Answer 9

adaptations evolve over many generations as individuals with traits best suited to their environments have greater reproductive success and pass their traits to offspring

Question 10

Biological organization unfolds as follows:

Answer 10

Biosphere
Ecosystem
Community
Population
Organism
Organ system
Organ
Tissues
Cells
Organelle
Molecule
Atoms

Question 11

Biosphere

Answer 11

all of the environments on Earth that support life

Question 12

Ecosystem

Answer 12

all the organisms living in a particular area and the physical components with which the organisms interact

Question 13

Community

Answer 13

the entire array of organisms living in a particular ecosystem

Question 14

Population

Answer 14

all the individuals of a species living in a specific area

Question 15

Organism

Answer 15

an individual living thing

Question 16

Organ system

Answer 16

several organs that cooperate in a specific function

Question 17

Organ

Answer 17

a structure that is composed of tissues and that provides a specific function for the organism

Question 18

Tissues

Answer 18

a group of similar cells that perform a specific function

Question 19

Cells

Answer 19

the fundamental unit of life

Question 20

Organelle

Answer 20

a structure that performs a specific function in a cell

Question 21

Molecule

Answer 21

atoms held together by chemical bonds

Question 22

Atoms

Answer 22

are made up subatomic particles (protons, electrons, neutrons)

Question 23

All cells

Answer 23

are enclosed by a membrane that regulates the passage of materials between the cell and its surroundings and …….
use DNA as their genetic information.
Cells are the level at which the properties of life emerge.

Question 24

A cell can

Answer 24

regulate its internal environment
take in and use energy
respond to its environment 
develop and maintain its complex organization, and
give rise to new cells.

Question 25

There are two basic types of cells.

Answer 25

Prokaryotic cells

Eukaryotic cells

Question 26

Prokaryotic cells

Answer 26

were the first to evolve
are simpler
are usually smaller than eukaryotic cells

Question 27

Eukaryotic cells

Answer 27

contain membrane-enclosed organelles, including a nucleus with DNA
are found in plants, animals, and fungi.
Cells illustrate another theme in biology: the correlation of structure and function.
Structure is related to function at all levels of biological organization.

Question 28

Living organisms interact with their environments

Answer 28

which include

other organisms and physical factors.

Question 29

In most ecosystems

Answer 29

plants are the producers that provide the food,
consumers eat plants and other animals, and
decomposers act as recyclers, changing complex matter into simpler nutrients.

Question 30

The dynamics of ecosystems include two major processes:

Answer 30

The recycling of chemical nutrients from the atmosphere and soil through producers, consumers, and decomposers back to the environment.
There is a one-way flow of energy through an ecosystem, entering as sunlight, converted to chemical energy by producers, passed on to consumers, and exiting as heat.

Question 31

Genes

Answer 31

are the unit of inheritance that transmits information from parents to offspring,
are grouped into very long DNA molecules called chromosomes, and
control the activities of a cell.
A species’ genes are coded in the sequences of the four building blocks making up DNA’s double helix.
All forms of life use essentially the same code to translate the information stored in DNA into proteins.
The diversity of life arises from differences in DNA sequences.

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Question 32

Diversity is the hallmark of life.

Answer 32

Biologists have identified about 1.8 million species.
Estimates of the actual number of species ranges from 10 to 100 million.
Taxonomy names species and classifies them into a system of broader groups.

Question 33

The diversity of life can be arranged into three domains.

Answer 33

Bacteria
Archaea
Eukarya

Question 34

Bacteria

Answer 34

are the most diverse and widespread prokaryotes

Question 35

Archaea

Answer 35

are prokaryotes that often live in Earth’s extreme environments.

Question 36

Eukarya

Answer 36

have eukaryotic cells and include
single-celled protists
multicellular fungi, animals, and plants.

Question 37

The history of life, as documented by fossils

Answer 37

is a saga of a changing Earth
billions of years old and
inhabited by an evolving cast of life forms.

Question 38

Evolution accounts for life’s dual nature of

Answer 38

kinship and

diversity.

Question 39

In 1859, Charles Darwin published the book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which articulated two main points.

Answer 39

1. A large amount of evidence supports the idea of evolution, that species living today are descendants of ancestral species in what Darwin called “descent with modification.”
2. Natural selection is a mechanism for evolution.

Question 40

Natural selection

Answer 40

Natural selection is a mechanism for evolution.
Natural selection was inferred by connecting two observations.
Individuals in a population vary in their traits, many of which are passed on from parents to offspring.
A population can produce far more offspring than the environment can support.

Question 41

Darwin inferred that

Answer 41

those individuals with heritable traits best suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than less well-suited individuals,
as a result of this unequal reproductive success over many generations, an increasing proportion of individuals will have the advantageous traits, and
the result will be evolutionary adaptation, the accumulation of favorable traits in a population over time.

Question 42

Human-caused environmental changes

Answer 42

are powerful selective forces that affect the evolution of many species, including
antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
pesticide-resistant pests

Question 43

The word science is derived from

Answer 43

from a Latin verb meaning “to know.” Science is a way of knowing.

Question 44

inductive reasoning

Answer 44

Scientists

use inductive reasoning to draw general conclusions from many observations

Question 45

deductive reasoning

Answer 45

to come up with ways to test a hypothesis, a proposed explanation for a set of observations. The logic flows from general premises to the specific results we should expect if the premises are true.

Question 46

How is a theory different from a hypothesis?

Answer 46

A scientific theory is
much broader in scope than a hypothesis,
usually general enough to generate many new, specific hypotheses, which can then be tested, and
supported by a large and usually growing body of evidence.