Chapter 1 Biology – Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key biology terms from the lecture notes (Chapter 1 and related concepts).

Biology

The study of life.

Cell

The basic unit of life; highly organized structure that regulates its internal environment.

Stimulus(Stimuli)

A signal in the environment to which organisms respond.

Reproduction

The production of offspring; a key process in passing on genetic information.

Growth

Increase in size and development of an organism.

Repair

Restoration of damaged tissues or organisms.

DNA

Heritable information encoded in DNA that controls growth and development.

Inheritance/Heredity

Transmission of genetic information from parents to offspring.

Evolutionary adaptation

A heritable trait that increases an organism’s fitness in a given environment.

Species

A group of organisms with a common gene pool and a scientific name.

Scientific name

Binomial nomenclature used to uniquely name a species (genus + species).

Unicellular

Describing organisms that consist of a single cell.

Multicellular

Describing organisms made up of many specialized cells.

Domain Bacteria

A domain of unicellular prokaryotes; bacteria.

Domain Archaea

A domain of prokaryotes often found in extreme environments.

Domain Eukarya

A domain that includes all organisms with eukaryotic cells.

Kingdom Plantae

Plants; produce their own food through photosynthesis.

Kingdom Animalia

Animals; obtain food by consuming other organisms.

Photosynthesis

Process by which plants convert light energy to chemical energy (food).

Hierarchy (genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom)

Taxonomic levels used to classify organisms from broad to narrow.

Molecular evidence

Using DNA sequences to determine evolutionary relationships.

DNA sequences

Order of nucleotides used to compare relatedness among species.

Descent with modification

Darwin’s idea that species arise from ancestors with changes over time.

Natural selection

Mechanism by which evolution occurs through differential survival and reproduction.

Emergent properties

New properties that arise at higher levels of organization due to interactions at lower levels.

System biology

Study of complex interactions within biological systems.

Energy flow

Transfer of energy through an ecosystem.

Cycling of matter

Movement and recycling of matter (biogeochemical cycles) in ecosystems.

Independent variable

The variable deliberately changed in an experiment.

Dependent variable

The variable measured to assess the effect of the independent variable.

Control group

The baseline group not exposed to the experimental treatment.

Observational study

A study that observes subjects without manipulating variables.

Prospective study

A study that follows subjects forward in time to collect data.

Retrospective study

A study that looks backward to identify factors associated with outcomes.

Hypothesis

A testable explanation or educated guess guiding an experiment.

Nerve cells

Cells with long extensions that transmit electrical signals.

X-ray crystallography

Technique used to determine the three-dimensional structure of molecules, including DNA.

Watson and Crick DNA structure

Discovery of the DNA double helix (aided by X-ray crystallography and other data).