Biology Final 🧬

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants make their own food (glucose) using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

Light-Dependent Reactions

Reactions that occur in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts, requiring sunlight and water to produce ATP, NADPH, and oxygen.

Calvin Cycle

Light-Independent Reactions that occur in the stroma of chloroplasts, using ATP, NADPH, and CO₂ to produce glucose.

Cellular Respiration

The process of converting glucose into ATP, the energy currency of cells.

Glycolysis

The first step of cellular respiration that breaks down glucose into 2 pyruvate molecules, occurring in the cytoplasm.

Krebs Cycle

The second step of cellular respiration where pyruvate is further broken down, occurring in the mitochondria, producing ATP, NADH, and FADH₂.

Electron Transport Chain (ETC)

The final step of cellular respiration that occurs in the inner mitochondrial membrane, generating ~32 ATP and consuming oxygen.

Passive Transport

Movement of substances across a cell membrane without the use of energy, including diffusion and osmosis.

Active Transport

Movement of substances against their concentration gradient, requiring energy, typically involving ATP.

DNA

A double helix molecule that stores genetic information, with bases A-T and C-G.

RNA

A single-stranded molecule that is involved in protein synthesis, with bases A-U and C-G.

Mitosis

A process of cell division that results in two identical daughter cells, involving stages like prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis.

Natural Selection

The process where organisms with advantageous traits survive and reproduce, leading to those traits becoming more common.

Mechanisms of Microevolution

Processes that contribute to evolutionary change: mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, natural selection, and non-random mating.

Evidence of Evolution

Various sources of information such as fossils, homologous structures, and DNA similarity that support the theory of evolution.

Food Chain

A linear sequence of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

Trophic Levels

The hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, including producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers.