Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Module 1 Vocab
Biology Notes
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Cell | Basic unit of life |
| Organism | Living individual consisting of 1 or more cells |
| Atoms | small particles |
| Molecules | atoms bonded together |
| Organelles | compartments that carry out specialized features in cells; not all cells contain organelles |
| Tissues | cells organized into specialized functioning units |
| Organs | made up of tissues |
| Organ Syste | made up of organs |
| Population | includes members of the same species living in the same place at the same time |
| Community | Includes populations of different species in a region |
| Ecosystem | includes both living and non-living components of an area |
| Biosphere | all parts of the planet that can support life |
| Emergent Properties | when components of an organism interact, they create new complex functions; "the whole is greater than the some of its parts" |
| Producers (Autotrophs) | make their own food by extracting energy and nutrients from non-living sources |
| Consumers (Heterotrophs) | obtain energy and nutrients by eating other organisms (living or dead) |
| Decomposers (Heterotrophs) | obtain energy and nutrients from wastes or other dead organisms |
| Homeostasis | Process by which a cell or organism maintains a state of internal consistency/equilibrium |
| Asexual Reproduction | genetic info comes from only 1 parent; offspring are identical |
| Sexual Reproduction | Genetic material from two parent individuals unites to form an offspring, which has a combination of inherited traits |
| Adaption | inherited characteristic or behavior that enables an organism to survive and reproduce successfully |
| Natural Selection | enhanced reproductive success of certain individuals from a population based on inherited characteristics over time; individuals with the best combination of genes survive and reproduce, while those that do not, fail. |
| Evolution | Change in the genetic makeup of a population over multiple generations |
| Taxonomy | Biological Science of naming and classifying organisms |
| Species | Basic unit of classification, designates distinctive "type" of organism |
| Genus | closely related species |
| Domains | the broadest, most inclusive taxonomic category |
| Kingdoms | next category in domain Eukarya |
| Scientific Method | using evidence to answer questions and test ideas |
| Hypothesis | Tentative explanation for one or more observations |
| Peer Review | scientists individually evaluate the validity of the methods, data, and conclusions |
| Experiment | an investigation carried out in controlled conditions |
| Sample Size | the number of individuals that one will study during an experiment |
| Variable | a changeable element o an experiment |
| Independent Variable | The variable the investigator manipulates |
| Dependent Variable | the response the investigator measures |
| Standardized Variable | anything the investigators holds constant for all subjects |
| Control | the normal group |
| Placebo | an inert substance that resembles the actual test |
| Double-blind | neither researcher or participant know what is the placebo and what is real |
| Statistical Significance | the probability that the results arose purely by chance |
| Theory | explanation for a natural phenomenon |
| Evolution | descent with modification |
| Population | consists of interbreeding members of the same species |
| Uniformitarianism | suggests that the processes of erosion and sedimentation that act in modern times have also occurred in the past, producing profound changes in Earth over time |
| Catastrophism | The theory that a series of brief, violent, global upheavals, such as enormous floods, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes were responsible for most geological formations |
| Principle of Superposition | idea that lower layers or rock and their fossils are older than those above them |
| Convergent Evolution | two species that live on opposite sides of the planet may still share characteristics because they evolved in similar environmental conditions |
| Descent with Modification | gradual changes from an ancestral type - coined by Darwin |
| Artificial Selection | a human chooses 1 or a few desired traits and then allows only individuals that best express those qualities to reproduce |
| Modern Evolutionary Synthesis | suggests that genetic mutations create heritable variation which is the raw material upon which natural selection acts |
| Adaptations | features that provide a selective advantage because they improve an organisms ability to survive and reproduce |
| Fitness | an organisms genetic contribution to the next generation, depends on number of offsprings and number that reaches reproductive age |
| Directional Selection | one extreme phenotype is fittest and the environment selects against the others (long beak vs. short beak) |
| Disruptive Selection (Diversifying Selection) | two or more extreme phenotypes are fitter than the intermediate phenotype (white and tan snails vs. black snails) |
| Stabilizing Selection (Normalizing Selection) | Extreme phenotypes are less fit than the optimal intermediate phenotype (normal babies vs. small or large babies) |
| Balanced Polymorphism | multiple alleles of a gene persist indefinitely in the population at more or less constant frequencies |
| Heterozygous Advantage | occurs when an individual with 2 different alleles for a gene has greater fitness than those whose 2 alleles are identical (sickle cell) |
| Paleontology | the study of fossil remains or other clues to past life |
| Geological timescale | divides earths history into a series of eras defined by major geological or biological events (mass extinctions) |
| Fossil | any evidence of an organism more than 10,000 years ago |
| Relative Dating | places a fossil into a sequence of events with no specific age |
| Absolute Dating | type of absolute dating that uses radioactive isotopes as a clock |
| Half-Life | time it takes for half of the atoms in a radioactive substance to decay |
| Biogeography | the study of the distribution of species across the planet |
| Plate Tectonics | theory stating earths surface consists of several rigid layers called tectonic plates that move in response to forces acting deep within the planet |
| Homologous | similarities between structures that reflect common ancestry (forelimbs in animals) |
| Vestigial | structure that has no apparent function in one species, yet it is homologous to a functional structure in another species (legs in snakes, arm hairs in humans) |
| Analogous | structures evolved independently; they have similar functions and appear similar, but different origins (butterflies and birds) |
| Convergent evolutions | produces similar adaptions in organisms that don't share evolutionary lineage (cave animals) |
| Molecular Clock | rate at which DNA mutates to estimate when two types of organisms diverged from a shared ancestor |
| Homeotic | general term describing any gene that when mutated, leads to organisms with structures in abnormal or unusual places |
Created by:
ebeneda
Popular Biology sets