A | B |
Biosphere | All living things and all the places they are found on Earth |
Biodiversity | Biological diversity of life from bacteria to plants, animals, fungi, and protists |
Species | Group of living things that can reproduce among themselves and have fertile offspring |
Biology | The study of life |
Organism | individual living thing |
cell | basic unit of life |
Metabolism | all of the chemical reactions with an organism |
DNA and RNA | Genetic material or directions for an organism |
Characteristics of life | Made of one or more cells, needs energy, responds to the environment, has reproduction and development |
system | organized group of related parts that interact to form a whole, digestive system, nervous system |
ecosystem | physical environment with different species that interact with other living and non-living things. |
homeostasis | maintaing a constant internal environment in an organism: right oxygen level, temperature,or chemical balance. |
Evolution | a change in living things over time |
adaptation | inherited trait that gives individual organisms an advantage in survival and can be passed on to other generations. |
Themes in Biology | Systems of related parts, structure and function, maintaining homeostasis, evolution, unity and diversity |
Observation | using our senses and tool to study the world |
Data | quantitative and qualitative recordings of what one observes |
qualitative data | 5 senses: it smells, tastes, feels, sounds, looks good- but you can't apply a numerical amount to it. |
quantitative data | uses numbers: 5 gummi worms, 14 decibels of sound, 12.2 seconds of time |
hypothesis | an educated guess |
Steps of the scientific method | Observation, form hypothesis, test hypothesis, analyze data, conclusion evaluating results |
independent variable | what the experimenter changes in an experiment |
dependent variable | what the experimenter measures in an experiment |
constants | the conditions that do not change in an experiment |
theory | has a wide range of evidence supporting it (100's of experiments) with no data refuting its findings. |
Light microscope | enlarges objects 10-500X , light must be able to pass through the object |
SEM or scanning electron microscope | Shows the surface of an dead object can magnify 1000X or more |
TEM or transmission electron microscope | Shows the inside of an object. Magnifies 1000X or more |