BIOL 101 > Chapter 1 > Flashcards

Chapter 1 Flashcards

The Science of Biology (55 cards)

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1
Q

What is biology?

A

The study of life.

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2
Q

What are the six kingdoms of life?

A

Bacteria, Archaea, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.

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3
Q

What are the five basic properties shared by all living organisms?

A

Cellular organization, metabolism, homeostasis, growth and reproduction, and heredity.

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4
Q

What is cellular organization?

A

All living organisms are composed of cells.

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5
Q

What is metabolism?

A

All living organisms use energy. It refers to all chemical reactions within cells involving the transfer of energy.

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6
Q

What is homeostasis?

A

All living organisms maintain stable internal conditions.

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7
Q

What is the property of growth and reproduction?

A

All living organisms grow in size and reproduce.

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8
Q

What is heredity?

A

All living organisms possess genetic information in DNA that determines how each organism looks and functions and is passed on to future generations.

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9
Q

What is a cell?

A

A tiny compartment with a thin covering called a membrane that can grow and reproduce.

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10
Q

How does a human body obtain energy?

A

It extracts energy from plants or from animals that eat plants or plant-eating animals.

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11
Q

What is photosynthesis?

A

The process by which plants, algae, and certain bacteria capture energy from the sun to synthesize sugars.

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12
Q

What are the three levels of complexity in the organization of life?

A

Cellular level, organismal level, and populational level.

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13
Q

What are the 13 hierarchical levels of organization of life in order?

A

Atoms, molecules, macromolecules, organelles, cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, species, communities, and ecosystems.

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14
Q

What is the smallest level of organization considered to be alive?

A

The cell.

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15
Q

What are organelles?

A

Tiny compartments within cells assembled from complex biological molecules — for example the nucleus which stores DNA.

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16
Q

What are tissues?

A

Groups of similar cells that act as a functional unit.

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17
Q

What are organs?

A

Body structures composed of several different tissues that form a structural and functional unit.

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18
Q

What is an organ system?

A

A group of organs working together — for example the nervous system.

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19
Q

What is a population?

A

A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place.

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20
Q

What is a species?

A

All populations of a particular kind of organism whose members are similar in appearance and able to interbreed.

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21
Q

What is a community?

A

All populations of different species living together in one place.

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22
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A biological community together with the soil and water in which it lives.

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23
Q

What are emergent properties?

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A

Novel properties that arise at each higher level of the living hierarchy as a natural consequence of more complex structural organization.

24
Q

Give an example of an emergent property.

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A

Metabolism is an emergent property of cells; consciousness is an emergent property of the brain.

25
What are the five themes of biology?
Evolution, the flow of energy, cooperation, structure determines function, and homeostasis.
26
What is evolution?
Genetic change in a species over time driven by natural selection.
27
What is natural selection?
The process by which organisms whose characteristics help them survive are more likely to reproduce and pass on those traits.
28
What is the flow of energy in ecosystems?
Energy from the sun is captured by plants via photosynthesis and passed through ecosystems; some is used at each stage and much is lost as heat.
29
What is symbiosis?
A relationship in which organisms of two different species live in direct contact with each other.
30
What does "structure determines function" mean in biology?
Biological structures are precisely suited to their functions, shaped by over 2 billion years of evolution.
31
What are the stages of the scientific process?
Observations, forming hypotheses, making predictions, testing, establishing controls, and drawing conclusions.
32
What is a hypothesis?
A suggested explanation that accounts for observations — an educated guess that can be tested and potentially disproven.
33
What is an experiment?
The test of a hypothesis designed to eliminate one or more alternative hypotheses.
34
What is a variable?
Any factor that might influence a process being studied.
35
What is a control experiment?
An experiment run in parallel where the variable being tested is not altered so results can be compared.
36
What is a theory?
A unifying explanation for a broad range of observations formed from hypotheses that have withstood repeated testing.
37
How does a scientist's use of the word "theory" differ from everyday use?
To a scientist a theory represents the highest degree of certainty; in everyday language "theory" implies a guess or lack of knowledge.
38
What makes a hypothesis scientifically valid?
It must be testable and potentially able to be disproven.
39
What are the limitations of science?
Science can only study what can be observed and measured; supernatural and religious hypotheses are beyond scientific analysis.
40
What was the CFC hypothesis regarding the ozone hole?
That chlorine from the breakdown of CFCs was reacting with ozone over Antarctica converting it to oxygen gas and depleting the ozone shield.
41
What evidence supported the CFC-ozone hypothesis?
Atmospheric samples from the stratosphere confirmed the presence of CFCs and free chlorine and fluorine from CFC breakdown.
42
What are the four theories that unify biology?
Cell theory, gene theory, the theory of heredity, and the theory of evolution.
43
What does the cell theory state?
All living organisms are composed of cells which grow and reproduce to form other cells.
44
What does the gene theory state?
The proteins encoded by an organism's genes determine what it will be like.
45
What is DNA?
A long double-stranded molecule made of nucleotides that encodes hereditary information in the sequence of its subunits.
46
What is a gene?
A specific sequence of several hundred to many thousand nucleotides that encodes a discrete unit of hereditary information.
47
What are the four nucleotides in DNA?
A, T, C, and G.
48
What does the theory of heredity state?
The genes of an organism are inherited as discrete units from parent to offspring.
49
What is the chromosomal theory of inheritance?
That genes are physically located on chromosomes and that chromosomes being parceled out regularly during reproduction produces Mendel's patterns of inheritance.
50
What does the theory of evolution state?
Natural selection causes those organisms best suited to their environment to leave more offspring so their traits become more common — producing the diversity of life.
51
What are the three domains of life?
Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
52
What types of organisms make up the domains Bacteria and Archaea?
Each consists of one kingdom of prokaryotes — single-celled organisms with little internal structure.
53
What kingdoms are in the domain Eukarya?
Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia — all composed of eukaryotes with more complexly organized cells.
54
What is the difference between prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
Prokaryotes are simple cells without a nucleus; eukaryotes have cells with a nucleus and more complex internal structure.
55
Why do different cells in the same organism have different characteristics if they all share the same DNA?
Different cells use different genes, or the same genes at different times.
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