BIO 112 Chapter 1: Exploring Life Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental biological concepts, levels of organization, cellular features, and central themes from Chapter 1.

Biology

The scientific study of life.

Cell

The structural and functional unit of life, and the fundamental level at which all properties of life emerge.

Order

A property of life characterized by highly ordered structures, such as organized cells forming structured plant tissues.

Reproduction

The ability of organisms to reproduce their own kind.

Growth and Development

Consistent growth and developmental changes in an organism controlled by inherited DNA.

Response to the Environment

An organism's ability to respond to environmental stimuli, such as a Venus flytrap closing rapidly when an insect lands in it.

Energy Processing

The use of chemical energy to power an organism's activities and chemical reactions.

Regulation

An ability to control an organism's internal environment within limits that sustain life.

Evolutionary Adaptation

The process by which traits evolve over many generations as individuals with characteristics best suited to their environments achieve greater reproductive success.

Emergent Properties

New properties that result from the specific arrangement and interactions among component parts at higher levels of biological organization.

Biosphere

All of the environments on Earth that support life.

Ecosystem

All the organisms living in a particular area along with the physical components with which they interact.

Community

The entire array of organisms living in a particular ecosystem.

Population

All the individuals of a single species living in a specific area.

Organism

An individual living thing.

Organ and Organ System

Structures composed of tissues and several organs that cooperate to perform specific functions.

Tissue

A group of similar cells that perform a specific function.

Organelle

A membrane-enclosed structure that performs a specific function within a cell.

Molecule

A cluster of small chemical units called atoms held together by chemical bonds.

Prokaryotic Cells

Cells that are smaller than eukaryotic cells, lack a nucleus, and lack other membrane-enclosed organelles.

Eukaryotic Cells

More complex cells that contain a nucleus and other membrane-enclosed organelles.

Nucleotides

The four types of chemical building blocks that make up two coiled strands in a DNA double helix.

Gene

A specific sequence of DNA nucleotides that serves as a unit of inheritance and contains the blueprint for making a protein.

Gene Expression

The process of making a protein from the instructions contained in a gene via transcription, translation, and protein folding.

Biological Evolution

Descent with modification; the process of change that has transformed life on Earth from its earliest forms to today's diverse array of organisms.

Natural Selection

The mechanism of evolution in which environmental factors favor the survival and reproduction of individuals with beneficial inherited traits.

Pseudopodia

False feet used by single-celled organisms like amoebas to move and change location.