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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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biosphere
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all the parts of the planet that are inhabited by living things; sum of all Earth's ecosystems
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ecosystem
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community of living things plus the nonliving features of the environment that support them
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organism:
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living thing
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cell:
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basic unit of living matter; separated from its environment by a plasma membrane
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deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA):
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molecule responsible for inheritance; nucleic acid that contains the sugar deoxyribose
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gene:
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unit of inherited information in DNA
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species:
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distinct form of life
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domain:
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broadest category used to classify life forms
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unicellular:
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consisting of a single cell
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prokaryotic cell:
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cell lacking a nucleus and most other organelles
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eukaryotic cell:
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cell with a nucleus (surrounded by its own membrane) and other internal organelles
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multicellular:
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consisting of many cells
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system:
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complex organization formed from a simpler combination of parts
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photosynthesis:
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process by which plants use the sun's energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars
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producer:
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organism that makes its own food (autotroph) and produces organic molecules that serve as food for other organisms in its ecosystem
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consumer:
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organism that obtains food by eating producers (autotrophs) or other consumers
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homeostasis:
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internal stability or "steady state" maintained by the body
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adaptation:
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inherited characteristic that improves an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
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population:
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group of individuals of the same species living in a particular area at the same time
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natural selection:
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process by which individuals with inherited characteristics well-suited to the environment leave more offspring than do other individuals
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evolution:
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generation-to-generation change in the proportion of different inherited genes in a population that account for all of the changes that have transformed life over an immense time
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