Chapter 1: Studying Life - Key Concepts & Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards created from lecture notes covering fundamental biological principles, evolution, hierarchy of life, genetics, and scientific methodology.

Biology

The scientific study of organisms, both living and fossil, aimed at understanding the diversity and complex processes of life.

Prokaryotes

Single-celled organisms, including Bacteria and Archaea, that lack membrane-enclosed organelles.

Eukarya

A major group of organisms whose cells contain membrane-enclosed organelles, including a nucleus containing genetic information.

Photosynthesis

A biological process that evolved about $2.5\,\text{billion}$ years ago, transforming sunlight energy into chemical energy to provide food and atmospheric oxygen.

Aerobic metabolism

A set of metabolic reactions requiring oxygen to extract energy from nutrient molecules, offering higher energy efficiency than anaerobic metabolism.

Homeostasis

The internal regulation maintained by living organisms to keep physiological conditions within a narrow, stable range.

Community

An ecological unit consisting of populations of different species living and interacting in a defined area.

Ecosystem

A system formed by communities of organisms interacting together with their non-living physical environment.

Biomes

Major ecosystems covering broad geographic regions characterized by distinctive physical features and communities, such as Arctic tundra or coral reefs.

Biosphere

The global sum of all ecosystem biomes and living organisms on Earth.

Hierarchy of biological organization

The structural organization of life extending from atoms, small molecules, and large molecules to cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere.

Evolution

The unifying principle of biology defined as the change in the genetic composition of populations over time.

Natural selection

The evolutionary mechanism where differential survival and reproduction among individuals in a population lead to adaptive genetic changes over generations.

Artificial selection

The selective breeding of plants and animals by humans to favor the inheritance of desired traits.

Adaptations

Structural, physiological, or behavioral traits that enhance an organism's chances of survival and reproduction in its environment.

Genomics

The field of biology focused on studying and comparing DNA sequences across different organisms.

Bioinformatics

The field that manages, stores, and analyzes large-scale biological sequence data.

Binomial

The formal two-part scientific naming system for species, consisting of the genus name followed by the species epithet.

Genus

A taxonomic group of closely related species that share a recent common ancestor.

Phylogenetic tree

A diagram depicting the evolutionary history and relationships among groups of organisms.

Node (Phylogenetic tree)

A branching point on a phylogenetic tree that represents a speciation event dividing one lineage into two.

Root (Phylogenetic tree)

The ancestral node at the base or far left of a phylogenetic tree representing the common ancestor of all depicted groups.

Scientific methodology

An investigation process traditionally comprising five steps: making observations, asking questions, forming hypotheses, making predictions, and testing predictions.

Inductive logic

A form of logical reasoning that uses specific observations or facts to construct a general hypothesis.

Deductive logic

A form of reasoning that applies general hypotheses to predict specific facts or outcomes that must be true.

Controlled experiment

An experiment that manipulates a single variable factor while keeping all other conditions constant.

Comparative experiment

An experiment that collects and compares data from different sample populations that naturally vary in multiple un-controlled ways.

Stromatolite

A layered sedimentary structure formed by sediment grains trapped and cemented together by microbial communities, particularly cyanobacteria.