Term | Definition |
Biology | Study of life |
Organization | Atom, Molecule, Organelle, Cell, Tissue, Organ, Organ System. The high degree of order within an organism's internal and external parts |
Cell | Smallest unit that can perform all life's processes |
Unicellular | Made up of one cell (bacteria) |
Multicellular | Made up of multiple cells (humans/trees) |
Organs | Structures that carry out specialized jobs within an organ system |
Tissues | Groups of cells that have similar abilities and that allow the organ to function |
Organelles | Tiny structures that carry out functions necessary for the cell to stay alive |
Biological Molecules | Chemicals compounds that provide physical structure and that bring about movement, energy use, and other cellular functions |
Homeostasis | The maintenance of a stable level of internal conditions even though environmental conditions are constantly changing |
Metabolism | The sum of all the chemical reactions that take in and transform energy and materials from the environment |
Cell Division | The formation of two new cells from an existing cell |
Development | The process by which an organism becomes a mature adult |
Reproduction | Essential for continuation of species. Where organisms produce new organisms like themselves |
Gene | A short segment of DNA that contains the instructions for a single trait of an organism |
Domains | Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya |
Kingdoms | Eukarya-animal, plant, fungus, protist / Archaea / Bacteria |
Ecology | The branch of biology that studies organisms interacting with each other and the enviroment |
Ecosystems | Communities of living species and their physical environment |
Evolution | Descent with modification |
Natural Selection | Theory which organisms that have certain favorable traits are better able to survive and reproduce successfully than organisms that lack these traits |
Adaptions | Traits that improve an individuals ability to survive and reproduce |
Observation | The act of perceiving a natural occurrence that causes someone to pose a question |
Hypothesis | A proposed explanation for the way a particular aspect the natural world functions |
Prediction | Forecasts what would happen in a test situation |
Experiment | Used to test a hypothesis and its predictions |
Control Group | Provides a normal standard against which the biologist can compare results of the experimental group |
Experimental Group | Identical to the control group except for the IV |
IV | The experimenter manipulates it, affect the DV |
DV | Responding variable, affected by the IV |
Theory | When a set of related hypothesis is confirmed to true of many times and can explain a great amount of data |
Peer Review | Where scientists read and critique a research paper |
Compound Light Microscope | Microscope that shines light through a specimen and has two lenses to magnify an image |
Eyepiece | Magnifies image (10x) |
Obj. Lens | Enlarges the image |
Stage | Supports a slide holding a specimen |
Light source | Provides light for viewing an image |
Magnification | The increase of an objects apparent size |
Nosepiece | Structure that holds the set of obj. lens |
SEM | Passes beams over surface of specimen. 3 dimensional images (100,000x) |
TEM | Transmits a beam of electrons through a very thinly sliced specime (200,00x) |
Metric System | Standard system of measurement |
Base Units | Describe length, mass, time, and other quantities |