Science of Biology, Biodiversity, Cell, Cell Cycle, and Tissues

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory chapters of Biology, including subdivisions of the field, biodiversity, cellular structures, the cell cycle, and biological organization.

Biology

The study of living organisms, derived from the Greek words "bios" meaning life and "logos" meaning thought, reasoning, and study.

Botany

The major division of biology that focuses on the study of plants.

Zoology

The major division of biology that focuses on the study of animals.

Microbiology

The major division of biology that focuses on the study of micro-organisms such as viruses and bacteria.

Morphology

The study of the size, shape, and structure of animals, plants, and microorganisms.

Anatomy

The study of the internal structure of organisms, also referred to as internal morphology.

Physiology

The study of the functions of various organs of the organisms, such as digestion, respiration, and photosynthesis.

Histology

The microscopic study of the tissues of organisms.

Cytology

The study of the structure and functions of the cell, also known as cell biology.

Genetics

The study of genes and heredity in organisms.

Molecular biology

The study of biology at the molecular level.

Embryology

The study of the development of an organism from a fertilized egg.

Paleontology

The study of the history of life on Earth based on fossils, which are remains of living things preserved by natural processes.

Taxonomy

The classification and naming of organisms.

Ecology

The study of the interrelationship of organisms and their environment, also known as environmental biology.

Marine biology

The study of organisms that live in the sea, such as fish, whales, and sponges.

Pathology

A branch of science which deals with the study and diagnosis of diseases.

Immunology

The study of the body's ability to protect itself from foreign substances and infectious microbes.

Pharmacology

The science that deals with the study of drugs, derived from the Greek word "pharmakon" meaning drug or poison.

Biophysics

The study of biological phenomena according to the principles and laws of physics.

Biochemistry

The study of chemical constituents found in an organism and chemical reactions, such as digestion or photosynthesis, taking place in living organisms.

Biostatistics

The collection of biological data through observations and experiments and analyzing them according to statistical rules; also called biometry.

Computational biology

The use of data analysis, mathematical modeling, and computational simulations to understand biological systems.

Biogeography

The study of the distribution of plants and animals in different geographical regions of the world.

Biotechnology

The study of the use of different techniques to manipulate living organisms for the benefit of mankind.

Bio-economics

The study of biology from an economic point of view, such as studying the export value of wheat, fish, or rice.

Scientific method

The approach for solving scientific problems, involving steps such as Recognition, Observation, Hypothesis, Deduction, Experiments, and Results.

Hypothesis

A tentative explanation of observations that might be true; it should be a testable and potentially falsifiable general statement.

Deductions

The logical consequences of the hypothesis, typically involving "if" and "then" logic.

Scientific theory

An explanation of some aspect of the natural world based on facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiments.

Scientific law

A statement that describes an observable occurrence in nature that appears to always be true, such as Mendel's law of inheritance.

Incubation period

The time between the entry of a parasite in the host and the appearance of the symptoms of a disease.

Vector

Any organism which carries a parasite and transfers it from one organism to another, such as the mosquito spreading malaria.

Biodiversity

The variety of living organisms on Earth.

Classification

To put organisms into separate groups on the basis of similarities and differences.

Systematics

The scientific study of the diversity of organisms and their evolutionary relationships.

Domain

The largest of all groups in the classification of life, representing a taxonomic category above the kingdom.

Peptidoglycan

A polysaccharide consisting of sugar and amino acids that forms a layer outside a cell wall; also called murein.

Methanogens

Microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic byproduct.

Halophiles

Microorganisms that live in high salt concentrations.

Thermoacidophiles

Microorganisms that can live in high temperature and high acidity.

Autotrophs

Organisms that are capable of producing their own food through a photosynthetic mode of nutrition.

Heterotrophs

Organisms which eat other things as food through an ingestive mode of nutrition.

Saprotrophs

Decomposers that depend on dead, decaying matter for an absorptive mode of nutrition.

Species

A group of similar organisms capable of interbreeding among themselves and producing fertile offspring.

Binomial nomenclature

A naming system introduced by Carolus Linnaeus giving each organism a two-part name consisting of a capitalized genus name and a lowercase species name.

Prions

Acellular particles composed of proteins only that cause infectious diseases.

Viroids

Acellular particles composed of circular $RNA$ only that cause infectious diseases.

Cell

The basic unit of structure and function of all living organisms.

Fluid mosaic model

A model stating that the cell membrane consists of a double layer of phospholipids in which proteins are incorporated in a mosaic fashion.

Middle lamella

A sticky layer made up of magnesium and calcium salts of pectin that holds neighboring cell walls together.

Cisternae

Flattened sacs that make up the network of the endoplasmic reticulum and stacks of the Golgi apparatus.

Autophagy

The process by which lysosomes engulf and digest unwanted cell organelles.

Mitochondria

Double membrane-bound organelles with an inner membrane folded into cristae; they are the site of aerobic respiration and produce power in the form of $ATP$.

Plastids

Double membrane-bound organelles found in plants and algae, categorized into chloroplasts, chromoplasts, and leucoplasts.

Tonoplast

The membrane surrounding the large central vacuole in a plant cell.

Centrioles

Hollow open-ended cylinders found in pairs in animal cells, consisting of nine triplets of microtubules and involved in forming the spindle apparatus.

Cytoskeleton

A system of variety of fibrous proteins such as microtubules, microfilaments, and intermediate filaments throughout the cytoplasm.

Chromatin

Hereditary material in the nucleus in the form of $DNA$ fibers coiled on histone proteins.

Stem cell

A cell which is unspecialized but has the capacity to give rise to cells of other specialized types.

Cell cycle

The sequence of events involving the growth of a newly formed cell, the replication of its genome, and its ultimate division into daughter cells.

Interphase

The period in the cell cycle between two consecutive divisions, divided into $G_1$, $S$, and $G_2$ phases.

Metastasis

The spread of cancer cells beyond their original site to other distant parts of the body.

Mitosis

A type of cell division in which a parent cell produces two daughter cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent.

Meiosis

A type of cell division that gives rise to four haploid daughter cells, each having half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell.

Synapsis

The pairing process of homologous chromosomes during prophase I of meiosis.

Crossing over

The exchange of segments of non-sister chromatids of homologous chromosomes during prophase I.

Tissue

A group of similar cells that work together on a specific task.

Organ

A structure made up of two or more types of tissues organized to carry out a particular function.

Homeostasis

The tendency to maintain a stable, relatively constant internal environment, such as temperature, pH, and glucose concentration.