Properties and Unifying Themes of Biology

Vocabulary practice flashcards based on the lecture covering the properties of life, biological hierarchy, and the five unifying themes of biology.

Properties of Life

The seven characteristics shared by living organisms: Order, Energy Processing, Response to Stimuli, Regulation, Growth and Development, Reproduction, and Evolutionary Adaptation.

Five Unifying Themes of Biology

The central concepts that organize biological study: Organization, Information, Energy and Matter, Interactions, and Evolution.

Levels of Biological Organization

The hierarchy of life ranging across atoms, molecules, organelles, cells, tissues, organs and organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere.

Emergent Properties

Novel properties that emerge at successive levels of biological organization, resulting from the arrangement and interaction of parts within a system.

Organelles

Functional components within cells, such as chloroplasts, where emergent properties like photosynthesis are first observed.

Chromosomes

Structures located within cells that contain genetic material in the form of DNA.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

The genetic material housed within chromosomes that directs the development of an organism.

Genes

The units of inheritance that encode information necessary for building the molecules synthesized within the cell.

Producers

Plants and other photosynthetic organisms that generate chemical energy using sunlight.

Consumers

Organisms that obtain energy by feeding on other organisms or their remains.

Energy Flow

The movement of energy through an ecosystem, beginning as sunlight, being transformed into chemical energy by plants to do work, and ultimately being lost as heat.

Chemical Cycling

The circular movement of chemicals absorbed by plants from soil and air, transferred through consumers, and returned to the soil by decomposers.

Feedback

A mechanism by which biological processes self-regulate through interactions among organs, tissues, cells, and molecules.

Negative Feedback

A regulatory loop in which a response counteracts the initial stimulus, such as elevated blood glucose stimulating insulin secretion until glucose levels drop and halt secretion.

Evolution

The core theme of biology that accounts for both the unity and the diversity of life.

Unity of Life

The observation that all living organisms share a common chemistry and cellular structure.

Diversity of Life

The variety of living forms that arises from evolutionary adaptations to particular environments.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

The biologist noted for stating, 'Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.'

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living and interacting within a specified area.

Ecosystem

A biological system composed of all living organisms in an area along with the nonliving physical environment with which they interact.