| A | B |
|---|
| Metabolism | The process by which a living organism takes energy from its surroundings and uses it to sustain itself, develop, and grow |
| Photosynthesis | The process by which a plant uses the energy of sunlight and certain chemicals to produce its own food. Oxygen is often a by-product of photosynthesis. |
| Herbivores | Organisms that eat plants exclusively |
| Carnivores | Organisms that eat only organisms other than plants |
| Omnivores | Organisms that eat both plants and other organisms |
| Producers | Organisms that produce their own food |
| Consumers | Organisms that eat living producers and/or other consumers for food |
| Decomposers | Organisms that break down the dead remains of other organisms |
| Autotrophs | Organisms that are able to make their own food |
| Heterotrophs | Organisms that depend on other organisms for food |
| Receptors | Special structures or chemicals that allow living organisms to sense the conditions of their surroundings |
| Asexual reproduction | Reproduction accomplished by a single organism |
| Sexual reproduction | Reproduction that requires two organisms, a male and a female |
| Inheritance | The process by which physical and biological characteristics are transmitted from the parent (or parents) to the offspring |
| Mutation | An abrupt and marked difference between offspring and parent |
| Hypothesis | An educated guess that attempts to explain an observation or answer a question |
| Theory | A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data |
| Scientific law | A theory that has been tested by and is consistent with generations of data |
| Microorganisms | Living creatures that are too small to see with the naked eye |
| Abiogenesis | The theory that, long ago, very simple life forms spontaneously appeared through random chemical reactions |
| Prokaryotic cell | A cell that has no distinct, membrane-bound organelles |
| Eukaryotic cell | A cell with distinct, membrane-bound organelles |
| Species | A unit of one or more populations of individuals that can reproduce under normal conditions, produce fertile offspring, and are reproductively isolated from other such units |
| Binomial nomenclature | Naming an organism with its genus and species name |
| Taxonomy | The science of classifying organisms |
