Biology Unit 1: Characteristics of Living Things

What are the five characteristics of life?

1. Life is organized

2. Life requires energy

3. Life maintains homeostasis

4. Life reproduces, grows, and develops

5. Life evolves

Growth

an increase in an organism’s size, usually by way of cell division

Development

changes that occur as an organism matures, including growth, cell specialization, and other processes

Emergent properties

components interact and create new functions (whole is greater than the sum of the parts)

Primary producers

extract energy and nutrients from the nonliving environment

Consumers

obtain energy and nutrients by eating other organisms

Decomposers

consumers that obtain nutrients from dead organisms and organic wastes

Homeostasis

the process by which a cell or organism maintains internal equilibrium

asexual reproduction

one parent, offspring are genetically identical to parent

sexual reproduction

two parents, genetically different offspring

Domain Bacteria characteristics

prokaryotic, most are unicellular

Domain Archaea characteristics

prokaryotic, most are unicellular

Domain Eukarya characteristics

Larger, more complex cells with nuclei

Protista

Part of Domain Eukarya, the most diverse group of eukaryotes, auto or heterotrophs, include amoebas and algae

Eukarya, kingdom Animalia

multicellular heterotrophs

Autotroph

Self-sustaining, produce their own food

Heterotroph

an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients

Eukarya, kingdom Fungi

multicellular heterotrophs

Eukarya, kingdom Plantae

multicellular autotrophs

What is Carolus Linnaeus’s scheme for naming species?

name is in the format genus species.

Biological species concept

Defines species based on their potential to interbreed and produce fertile offspring

DNA analysis

It helps to compare nucleotide sequences of genes that organisms have in common

The biological species concept cannot be applied to…

extinct animals

Taxonomy

the science of describing, naming, and classifying species

Phylogenetics

The study of evolutionary relationships among species

Cladistics

Distinguishes between ancestral and derived traits (inherited vs. not inherited)

Cladogram

A type of phylogenetic tree

Clade/monophyletic group

A group of organisms consisting of a common ancestor and all of its descendants

Paraphyletic group

Share a common ancestor, but excludes some descendants of an ancestor

Polyphyletic group

excludes the most recent common ancestor of its members