Biology's Four Big Ideas

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core biological concepts, key terms, and visual diagrams covered in the Biology's Four Big Ideas lecture.

Evolution

The process by which living things change over time, or the change in genetic information carried within a population's gene pool.

Gala

A cultivated variety of a wild undomesticated apple that first evolved in Central Asia and has been cultivated for about a hundred years through selective breeding.

Selective Breeding

The process through which humans create varieties of organisms with different appearances and tastes over time.

Phylogenetic Tree

A diagram used to represent the evolutionary history of an organism or group of organisms.

Flowering Plants

An enormous group of plant species—including apples, crab apples, and pears—that first emerged over a hundred million years ago in the time of the dinosaurs.

Plantae

The Plant Kingdom, the biological kingdom to which apples belong.

Animalia

The Animal Kingdom, the biological kingdom to which humans belong.

Domain

The largest classification category for living things based on cell type, comprising Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota.

Adaptation

A structure with specific functions that help an organism survive and reproduce.

Natural Selection

The process through which traits that fail to promote survival and reproduction are removed from a population's gene pool over time, shaping adaptations.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

Life's key information storage molecule in the cell's nucleus that stores instructions for building an organism.

Ribosomes

Cellular particles that take genetic information sent by DNA and translate it into proteins.

Information Flow Within Cells

The cellular process where DNA sends an RNA message to ribosomes, which translate the instructions into proteins that determine cellular characteristics.

Photosynthesis

An energy-capturing process where photosynthetic cells use free energy from sunlight to combine carbon dioxide and water, producing energy-rich carbohydrates and oxygen.

Free Energy

Available energy that can be harvested to do work.

Cellular Respiration

An energy-releasing process in organisms that combines stored chemical energy with oxygen to release energy for life processes, releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor as exhaust.

Carbon Cycle

The biogeochemical process by which carbon atoms cycle continuously through carbon dioxide in the air, plants, animals, decomposers, and the atmosphere.

System

A group of connected things that form a larger whole.

Plant Cell

A complex eukaryotic cell containing specialized organelles that interconnects to form plant tissues and organs.

Open System

A system that continuously exchanges inputs (like fuel food and oxygen) and outputs (like carbon dioxide, water, and other wastes) with its environment.

Ecosystem

A system composed of interacting populations together with the nonliving matter and energy that sustain them.

Biosphere

The overarching living system that includes all life on Earth.