Unit 01 Bio 1001

Vocabulary flashcards covering the unifying themes of biology, levels of biological organization, cellular structures, gene expression, feedback regulation, evolution, and scientific inquiry.

The scientific study of life.

Biology

An approach that reduces complex systems to simpler, more manageable units for study.

Reductionism

Novel properties that emerge at each higher level of biological organization due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases.

Emergent Properties

An approach to studying biology that models the dynamic behavior of an entire biological system by analyzing interactions among the system's parts.

Systems Biology

All life on Earth and all the places where life exists, including most regions of land, bodies of water, the atmosphere to an altitude of several kilometers, and sediments far below the ocean floor.

Biosphere

All the living organisms in a particular area, along with all the nonliving components of the environment with which life interacts, such as soil, water, atmospheric gases, and light.

Ecosystem

The entire array of organisms of different species that inhabit a particular ecosystem.

Biological Community

All the individuals of a single species living within the bounds of a specified area.

Population

An individual living entity, such as a plant, animal, fungus, or bacterium.

Organism

A body part made up of multiple tissues that has specific functions in an organism.

Organ

A group of specialized cells within an organ that work together to perform a specialized function.

Tissue

Life's fundamental unit of structure and function, and the smallest unit of organization capable of performing all required activities for life.

Cell

The foundational principle stating that all living organisms are made of cells and that the processes of living organisms are based on the functioning of cells.

Cell Theory

A type of cell containing membrane-enclosed organelles and a membrane-enclosed nucleus containing DNA.

Eukaryotic Cell

A simpler, typically smaller cell type that lacks a nucleus or other membrane-enclosed organelles.

Prokaryotic Cell

A unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence along a DNA molecule in a chromosome.

Gene

The cellular process by which information encoded in a gene directs the synthesis of a functional protein or RNA molecule.

Gene Expression

The process by which the sequence of nucleotides in a gene is copied to make a specific RNA molecule, such as messenger RNA (mRNA).

Transcription

The process where a cell translates the sequence of mRNA nucleotides into a specific sequence of linked amino acids to make a protein.

Translation

The entire library of genetic material and inherited instructions that an organism possesses.

Genome

The entire set of proteins expressed by a given cell, tissue, or organism.

Proteome

The application of computational tools to store, organize, and analyze large volumes of biological data, including DNA, RNA, and protein sequences.

Bioinformatics

A primary form of biological regulation in which a response reduces or opposes the initial stimulus, such as insulin lowering blood glucose levels.

Negative Feedback

A form of biological regulation in which the response reinforces the initial stimulus to increase the response, such as platelet accumulation during blood clotting.

Positive Feedback

An ecological interaction between two species in which one species benefits while the other species remains unharmed.

Commensalism

A directional change to the global climate lasting for $30$ years or more.

Climate Change

Charles Darwin's concept that contemporary species arose from a succession of ancestors that differed from them, explaining both the unity and diversity of life.

Descent with Modification

The primary evolutionary mechanism where the natural environment selects individuals with advantageous inherited traits for greater reproductive success, leading to adaptation.

Natural Selection

A type of logic in which broad generalizations are derived from a large collection of specific observations.

Inductive Reasoning

A type of logic in which specific results are predicted from a general premise or hypothesis using "if… then" logic.

Deductive Reasoning

An explanation based on observations and assumptions that leads to a testable prediction.

Hypothesis

An experiment designed to compare an experimental group with a control group to cancel out unwanted environmental variables.

Controlled Experiment

The factor that is intentionally manipulated or changed by researchers in an experiment.

Independent Variable

The factor that is measured in an experiment and predicted to be affected by the independent variable.

Dependent Variable

A broad, overarching explanation of a natural phenomenon that generates new hypotheses and is supported by a large, comprehensive body of evidence.

Theory