| A | B |
|---|
| cell | Smallest unit of life; smallest structure that can do all the things that it needs to do to survive on its own |
| Dichotomous or taxonomic key | Chart with a series of paired statements used to identify a specific organism |
| homeostasis | Keeping a stable internal (inside) body environment; temperature, energy level |
| DNA | Deoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic material that controls cells and passes down traits from one generation to the next |
| sexual reproduction | Where two parents make an offspring that have the characteristics, or traits, of both parents because they get DNA from both parents |
| asexual reproduction | Where a single parent makes an offspring with identical DNA to it |
| producer | Organism that makes it’s own food, usually through photosynthesis; ex: green plants, some bacteria and protists |
| consumer | Organisms that must get food from other organism, either by eating or absorbing it, because they can’t make their own energy |
| evolution | Process where population change over time |
| artificial selection | Process where humans select plants or animals to breed based on their specific traits; also known as selective breeding |
| natural selection | Process where organisms that inherit traits better suited for their environment reproduce more and pass down those helpful traits to their offspring |
| variation | Natural differences in a trait; ex dimples or no dimples, great eyesight, good eyesight, poor eyesight |
| mutation | Change in the DNA or genetic material of an organism; over time this can become part of the natural variations |
| adaptation | An inherited trait that helps the organism to survive and reproduce in its environment |
| Extinction | Process that occurs when all individuals in a species have died off and none are left, this species was not able to adapt to their environment and died out |
| Endangered species | There are very few members of this species alive on the planet, it is close to becoming extinct |
| Charles Darwin | Scientist that came up with the idea of evolution and how species change over time to fit into their specific environment |
| Inherited trait | Trait that is passed down from parent to offspring in their DNA |
| Acquired trait | Trait, or characteristic that an individual had done to them and is not in their DNA; ex: scar, broken bone, short hair cut, dyed green hair |
| Survival of the fittest | Idea that individual organisms that are best suited for living in their environment are more likely to survive and pass on their DNA to their offspring |
| Fossil | Remains or imprints of animals or plants that lived a very long time ago |
| Fossil record | Record of all the fossils that have been found so far; it provides evidence about how species have changed over time |
| Sedimentary rock | Type of rock created when layers and layers of soil pile on top one another, trapping dead organisms, footprints, or other things in between the layers; this is the only type of rock fossils are found in |
| Homologous structure | The common structure of bones, muscles, ligaments, etc that some animals have that show they have a common ancestor; ex: front limbs of a bat and cat |
| Vestigial structure | Small body part that is still in the body that doesn’t have any use but it had a use in the past; evidence used to show a common ancestor; ex: appendix on human shows we used to eat uncooked grass, leaves, etc like most other herbivores alive today |
| Embryology | Study of how embryos, or unborn babies develop; the similar ways the organs form and the order they form in shows evidence of a common ancestor |
| Geologic time scale | Way to divide up Earth’s past into smaller parts that we can look at and talk about |
| Relative dating | Process where two fossils are compared to each other in the rock layers to figure out which is older than the other because it is further down in the rock layer; does not give an exact age of the fossil |
| Radioactive dating | Process that uses the radioactivity of elements to figure out how long ago the rock was created and give the age of the fossil found in it |
| Half-life | The time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to become nonradioactive; used to help date the age of fossils |
| Species | Group of organisms that are very closely related and can mate with each other and make fertile offspring (their babies can have babies); last word in an organism’s scientific name |
| Genus | Level of classification that include similar species; first word in an organism’s scientific name |
| Domain | Largest level of classification that represents the largest differences between living things; ex: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya |
| Bacteria | Domain that includes all modern day bacteria; made up of prokaryotes (single celled & no nucleus) that usually have a cell wall and reproduce by cell division; can live in every day environments, some get you sick |
| Archaea | Domain that includes all bacteria that live only in very harsh environments, like in extremely hot or cold, acidic or basic, without oxygen, etc; made up of prokaryotes (single celled & no nucleus) and have a cell wall different from regular bacteria |
| Eukarya | Domain that includes all the eukaryotes (has a nucleus); includes all protists, fungi, plants, & animals |
| Protista | Kingdom that has unicellular or multicellular organisms that are either autotrophs or heterotrophs and have a cell wall, all are mobile (can move); three main group, plant-like, animal-like, & fungus-like; ex: stentor, algae, amoeba, volvox |
| Fungi | Kingdom that is mostly multicellular (except yeast), heterotrophs that have a cell wall, they absorb their food and many reproduce using spores; ex: mushroom, yeast, mold, mildew |
| Plantae | Kingdom that is multicellular, autotrophic, and has a cell wall made of cellulose, can reproduce sexually or asexually; ex: pine tree, grass, rosebush, |
| Animalia | Kingdom that is multicellular, heterotrophic, no cell wall and most are mobile, most reproduce sexually but a few reproduce asexually; ex: dog, sponge, starfish, worm, human, bird |
| Binominal nomenclature | Naming system for organisms that give each species its own name; also called scientific name; made up of the genus and species |
| Charles Linnaeus | Scientists that created the classification system we base our current classification system off of today; he created the levels within levels and binominal nomenclature |
| Scientific name | Two word name that has the organism’s genus and species; no other organism has that same name; also called binomial nomenclature; name is always in Latin |
| Taxonomy | Study of classifying organisms and naming them |
| Kingdom | Second largest level of organization, found in the Eukarya domain; ex: protist, plant, fungi, animal |
| Autotroph | Organism that can make its own energy/food, usually through the process of photosynthesis; also known as producers |
| Heterotroph | Organism that can’t make its own food and has to either eat it or absorb it for the energy needed to survive; also known as consumers |
| Unicellular | Single celled organisms |
| Multicellular | Organisms that are made up of more than one cell working together |
| Prokaryote | Unicellular (single-celled) organism that does not have a nucleus, the chromosomes are floating around freely inside the cell |
| Eukaryote | Organisms that has a nucleus to protect the chromosomes |
| Mobile | Organism that is able to move on its own |
| Sessile | Organism that lives attached in one place and can’t pick up and move to a new location; ex: tree, sponge, mushroom, sea anemone |
| Aristotle | Scientist that created the first classification system, it was used for 2000 years before getting changed |
| Cladogram | Diagram that shows relationships among different species and a common ancestor |
| stimulus | Any change that affects an organism and makes it do something different; ex: gravity, light, sound, a chemical |
