Biology Midterm

Living thing

Living thing

an organism that has all 7 characteristics of life

7 characteristics of life

made of cells, processes energy, Reproduces, response to environment (stimuli), grows and develops, evolves, maintains homeostasis.

Testable Question

a question that can be answered by conducting an experiment

Prediction

A statement, which tells or estimates something that will occur at the end of an experiment

Hypothesis

prediction that always has an explanation or reason behind it and can never be proven, only supported or rejected

variable

a varied element in an experiment

independent variable

variable that is altered in the experiement

dependent variable

variable that depends on independent variable and is the result of the independent variable

control variable

variable that is constant throughout the experiement

control group

whole group used for comparison to experimental group (usually doesn’t use the material in the independent variable)

trials

number of times experiment is repeated( minimum 3)

qualitative data

data representing information and concepts that are not represented by numbers

quantitative data

data that can be counted or measured in numerical values

ecology

study of how living things interact with each other and their environment

taxonomy

a method of classifying groups of organisms based on shared characteristics

taxa

groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a more inclusive group of higher rank creating a hierarchy

Linnaean taxonomy

used for categorizing organisms and binomial nomenclature is used for naming

Scientific names

are an organism’s genus followed by the species

Formatting

the genus is capitalized and the species is lowercase; either italicized or unlined

habitat

the natural home or environment of all abiotic and biotic things

Individual

a single organism

Population

group of the same organisms

Community

A group of many different organisms

ecosystem

All the biotic and abiotic factors in a given area

cells

smallest living things and are what makes up every organism

Intraspecific

a competition between individuals from the same species

Interspecific

competition between 2 different species

Mutualism

relationship between 2 organisms of different species in which both benefit

Example of Mutualism

Oxpeckers clean mammals of food on their body and the mammals get cleaning and oxpeckers get food

Competition

niches of two populations overlap and both populations need a resource that is in short supply where both organisms are disadvantaged

niche

a subset of a habitat where only a particular species lives

example of competition

Two grizzly bears fighting over control of a stream of salmon

Commensalism

when one organism benefits off another but the other organism is not affected

Example of commensalism

Barnacles on a blue whale

Predation

When one organism hunts the other for food. The hunter is called the predator and the one that is hunted is the prey.

Example of predation

Cheetah eating a gazelle

Herbivory

When one organism eats a plant resulting in the organism benefiting and the plant being harmed

Example of herbivory

Panda eating bamboo

Parasitism

when the parasite lives off of the host’s health which affects the host negatively

Example of parasitism

Heartworms live off the dogs to survive

Ecological niche

the sum of an organism’s use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment (everything an organism needs to survive: ecosystem, food, water, sunlight, location, etc)

Nonnative

not native to a specific area

trophic levels

the hierarchical levels in a food chain or food web, representing the transfer of energy and nutrients from one organism to another

primary producer

an autotroph that uses photosynthesis to produce food from the sunlight

consumers

heterotroph meaning they rely on other organisms to get food

primary consumer

The consumer that consumes the primary producer receiving around 10% of the energy that the primary producer originally had

chemosynthesis

the way bacteria and other deep sea creatures use chemicals to produce food(chemicals from deep in the ocean that fissure that release chemicals that bacteria can use to make glucose and other necessary things)

detritivores

organisms that derive energy from dead or decaying matter

Examples of detrivores

vultures, crows, bacteria, fungi

What happens if a secondary consumer population decreases

the primary consumer population will increase resulting in a decrease in the primary producer population

food web

a much more realistic picture of what's happening in an ecosystem

Rule of 10

states that as the energy is transferred from one organism to the other, there is only about 10% of the energy left for the consumer than the one before it

An example of the rule of 10

If a primary consumer consumes 2000 kcals of energy, the secondary consumer will receive 200 kcals of energy when it consumes the primary consumer

Why are food chains limited to 3-5 trophic levels

Because there is not enough energy to sustain the highest consumers of the food web

How is energy released

by heat, waste, breathing, growth, moving, cellular metabolism, etc

Law of Entropy

As energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, the amount of high quality energy decreases and the amount of low quality energy increases

Energy flowing meaning

energy moves between organisms

matter is cyclical meaning

matter moves in a cycle and cannot dissappear

Carbon cycle

the process in which carbon atoms continually travel from the atmosphere to the Earth and then back into the atmosphere

Step 1

Plants take in CO2 into atmosphere via photosynthesis

Step 2

Plants are consumed by consumers allowing organisms to take in the plants carbon which continues to transfer up until the final consumer

Step 3

The dead consumers decompose and the carbon is stored underground until it is used as fossil fuels by factories where the carbon is released back into the atmosphere

What does carbon do in the atmosphere?

It retains heat from the sun

What is the result of too much carbon in the atmosphere?

There is too much heat being retained raising temperatures

action that remove carbon from the atmosphere

plants using photosynthesis to receive carbon dioxide from the sun

actions that add carbon to the atmosphere

Combustion of Fossil Fuels, Cellular Respiration, fires

What stores carbon

Detritus storing dead organisms’ carbon in soil and organisms consuming other organisms

What is causing global warming

Rising concentrations in green house gasses (resulting from human activity) are changing global climate patterns

Greenhouse gases

Gases like carbon dioxide that retain heat in the atmosphere like a greenhouse

The 3 domains

Eukarya, Archaea, Bacteria

Kingdom Protist

usually single-celled organisms having a nucleus but lacking other features specific to plants, animals, or fungi

Kingdom Animalia

multi-cellular organisms that are heterotrophs

Kingdom Plantae

multi-cellular organism that are autotrophs

Kingdom Fungi

multi-cellular organisms that mostly decompose organic wastes and absorb the nutrients into their cells.

organelle

a sub-cellular structure that has one or more specific jobs to perform in the cell

organ

a part of an organism that has a specific vital function

organ system

a group of organs that work together to perform a certain function in an organism's body

phyla

ranking below kingdom and above class

biogeochemical

the movement and transformation of chemical elements (carbon cycle)