| A | B |
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| Animalia | Multicellular eukaryotic group characterized by heterotrophic nutritional mode, usually organ and tissue development, and motility sometime during the organism's life history. |
| binominal nomenclature | A system of taxonomy developed by Linnaeus in the early eighteenth century. Each species of plant and animal receives a two-term name; the first term is the genus, and the second is the species. |
| cardiovascular system | The human circulatory system consisting of the heart and the vessels that transport blood to and from the heart. |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid A nucleic acid composed of two polynucleotide strands wound around a central axis to form a double helix; the repository of genetic information. Nucleic acid that functions as the physical carrier of inheritance for 99% of all species. The molecule is double-stranded and composed of two strands in an antiparallel and complementary arrangement. The basic unit, the nucleotide, consists of a molecule of deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases. |
| eukaryotic | A type of cell found in many organisms including single-celled protists and multicellular fungi, plants, and animals; characterized by a membrane-bounded nucleus and other membraneous organelles; an organism composed of such cells. The first eukaryotes are encountered in rocks approximately 1.2-1.5 billion years old |
| heart | The multicellular, chambered, muscular structure that pumps blood through the circulatory system by alternately contracting and relaxing. |
| hypothesis | An idea that can be experimentally tested; an idea with the lowest level of confidence. |
| multicellular | Organisms composed of multiple cells and exhibiting some division of labor and specialization of cell structure and function. |
| organ system | Groups of organs that perform related functions. |
| producers | The Þrst level in a food pyramid; consist of organisms that generate the food used by all other organisms in the ecosystem; usually consist of plants making food by photosynthesis. |
| RNA | ribonucleic acid Nucleic acid containing ribose sugar and the base Uracil; RNA functions in protein synthesis. The single starnded molecule transcribed from one strand of the DNA. There are three types of RNA, each is involved in protein synthesis. RNA is made up nucleotides containing the sugar ribose, a phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases (adenine, uracil, cytosine or guanine). |
| theory | A hypothesis that has withstood extensive testing by a variety of methods, and in which a higher degree of certainty may be placed. A theory is NEVER a fact, but instead is an attempt to explain one or more facts. |
| adaptation | Tendency of an organism to suit its environment; one of the major points of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: organisms adapt to their environment. Those organisms best adapted will have a greater chance of surviving and passing their genes on to the next generation |
| biochemistry | Chemical processes associated with living things. |
| catastrophism | Once-popular belief that events in earth history had occurred in the past a sudden events and by processes unlike those operating today. Periods of catastrophic change were followed by long periods of little change. A subgroup, the Diluvialists, contended that Noah's Flood was the last of many floods which had occurred throughout earth history. |
| ecosystem | The community living in an area and its physical environment. |
| family | In taxonomy, term applied to subcategories within orders. 2. Term applied to a group of similar things, such as languages, chromosomes, etc |
| heart muscle tissue | The type of muscle that is found in the walls of the heart. Cardiac muscle is striated but branched, unlike the straight-shaped striated skeletal muscle cells. |
| inheritance of acquired characteristics | inheritance of acquired characteristics Lamarck's view that features acquired during an organism's lifetime would be passed on to succeeding generations, leading to inheritable change in species over time. |
| multinucleate | Cells having more than one nucleus per cell. |
| parasites | Organisms that live in, with, or on another organism. The parasites beneÞt from the association without contributing to the host, usually they cause some harm to the host. |
| prokaryotes | Type of cell that lacks a membrane-bound nucleus and has no membrane organelles; a bacterium. Prokaryotes are more primitive than eukaryotes. Cells lacking membrane-bound organelles and having a single circular chromosome, and ribosomes surrounded by a cell membrane. Prokaryotes were the first forms of life on earth, evolving over 3.5 billion years ago. |
| ribsomes | Small organelles made of rRNA and protein in the cytoplasm of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells; aid in the production of proteins on the rough endoplasmic reticulum and ribosome complexes. The site of protein synthesis. The ribosome is composed of two subunits that attach to the mRNA at the beginning of protein synthesis and detach when the polypeptide has been translated. |
| tissue | Groups of similar cells organized to carry out one or more speciÞc functions. Groups of cells performing a function in a multicellular organism. |
| ATP | adenosine triphosphate - A common form in which energy is stored in living systems; consists of a nucleotide (with ribose sugar) with three phosphate groups. The energy coin of the cell. |
| biosphere | All ecosystems on Earth as well as the Earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere on and in which organisms exist; also, the sum of all living matter on Earth. |
| energy | First law of thermodynamics (conservation) Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it changes from one form to another. |
| food webs | A complex network of feeding interrelations among species in a natural ecosystem; more accurate and more complex depiction of energy þow than a food chain. |
| heterotrophic | Refers to organisms, such as animals, that depend on preformed organic molecules from the environment (or another organism) as a source of nutrients/energy. |
| kingdom | Five broad taxonomic categories (Monera, Protista, Plantae, Fungi, Animalia) into which organisms are grouped, based on common characteristics |
| natural selection | The process of differential survival and reproduction of Þtter genotypes; can be stabilizing, directional, or disruptive. Better adapted individuals are more likely to survive to reproductive age and thus leave more offspring and make a larger contribution to the gene pool than do less Þt individuals. The differential survival and reproductive successes of individuals in a variable population that powers the evolutionary process. When all individuals survive and reproduce (except for chance occurrences) natural selection works at a lower rate, if at all. |
| photosynthesis | The process by which plant cells use solar energy to produce ATP. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, associated with the actions of chlorophyll |
| proteins | Polymers made up of amino acids that perform a wide variety of cellular functions. One of the classes of organic macromolecules that function as structural and control elements in living systems. Proteins are polymers of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. |
| scientific method | Systematic apporach of observation, hypothesis formation, hypothesis testing and hypothesis evaluation that forms the basis for modern science. |
| unicellular | Single-celled. |
| antibiotics | Substances produced by some microorganisms, plants, and vertebrates that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. |
| cells | The smallest structural units of living matter capable of functioning independently |
| conservation of matter and energy | First law of thermodynamics (conservation) Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it changes from one form to another. |
| entropy | The degree of disorder in a system. As energy is transferred from one form to another, some is lost as heat; as the energy decreases, the disorder in the system&emdash;and thus the entropy&emdash;increases. |
| fossils | The remains or traces of prehistoric life preserved in rocks of the Earth's crust. 2. Any evidence of past life. |
