Biology Chapter 1 Vocabulary

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adaptive trait

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Any aspect of form, function, or behavior that helps the individual survive and reproduce under prevailing conditions.

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Animaila

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Kingdom of animals.

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antibiotic

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Metabolic product of soil microbes that kills bacterial competitors for nutrients.

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Archaebacteria

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Prokaryotic domain; closer to Eukaryotic cells than to Eubacteria; includes methanogens, halophiles, and thermophiles; also called a kingdom.

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artificial selection

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Selection of traits among a population under contrived conditions.

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biology

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The scientific study of life.

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biosphere

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All regions of the Earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere in which organisms live.

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cell

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Smallest living unit, it can survive and reproduce on its own, given its DNA, raw materials, and an energy source.

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community

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All populations in a habitat. Also, a group of organisms with similar life-styles.

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consumers

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A heterotroph that feeds on cells tissues of other organisms (e.g., herbivores, carnivores.)

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control group

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Group used as a standard for comparison with an experimental group and, ideally, identical with it in all respects except for the one variable being studied.

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decomposer

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Prokaryotic or fungal heterotroph; gets carbon and energy from products, remains, of organisms. Helps cycle nutrients to producers in ecosystems.

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deductive logic

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Pattern of thinking; making inferences about specific consequences or predictions that must follow from a hypothesis.

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development

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The series of genetically guided embryonic and post-embryonic stages by which morphologically distinct, specializes body parts emerge in a new multicelled individual.

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DNA

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Of cells and many viruses, the molecule of inheritance. H bonds join its two helically twisted nucleotide strands, one of which has instructions (in its base sequence) for synthesizing all of the enzymes and other proteins required to build and maintain cells.

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ecosystem

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Array of organisms, together with their environment, interacting through a flow of energy and a cycling of materials.

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energy

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Capacity to do work.

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Eubacteria

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Domain of all prokaryotic cells except Archaebacteria; also called a kingdom.

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evolution

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Genetic change in a line of descent. Outcome of microevolutionary events: gene mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow.

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experiment

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Test that simplifies observation in a nature or in the laboratory by manipulating and controlling the conditions under which the observations are made.

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Fungi

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Kingdom of fungi which includes major decomposers plus pathogens and parasites.

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genus

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A grouping of species that are more closely related to one another in their morphology, ecology, and history than to other species at the same taxonomic level.

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homeostasis

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State in which physical and chemical aspects of internal environment (blood, interstitial fluid) are being maintained within ranges suitable for cell activities.

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hypothesis

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In science, a possible explanation of a phenomenon, one that has the potential to be proved false by experimental tests.

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inductive logic

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Pattern of thinking; deriving a general statement from specific observations.

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inheritance

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The transmission, from parents to offspring, of genes that specify structures and functions characteristic of the species.

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metabolism

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All the controlled, enzyme-mediated chemical reactions by which cells acquire and use energy to synthesize, store, degrade, and eliminate substances in ways that contribute to growth, survival, and reproduction.

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model

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Theoretical, detailed description or analogy that helps people visualize something that has not yet been directly observed.

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multicelled organism

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Organism composed of many cells with coordinated metabolic activity; most show extensive cell differentiation into tissues, organs, and organ systems.

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mutation

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Heritable change in DNA's molecular structure. Original source of all new alleles and, intimately, the diversity of life.

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natural selection

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Microevolutionary process; the outcome of differences in survival and reproduction among individuals that differ in details of heritable traits.

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Plantae

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Kingdom of plants.

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population

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All individuals of the same species that are occupying a specified area.

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prediction

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Statement about what you should observe in nature if you were to go looking for a particular phenomenon the if-then process.

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producer

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Autotroph; it nourishes itself using sources of energy and carbon from the physical environment. Photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophs are examples.

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Protista

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Kingdom of protistans; may soon be split into multiple kingdoms.

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receptor

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Sensory cell or specialized structure that can detect a stimulus.

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reproduction

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Any process by which a parental cell or organism produces an offspring. Among eukaryotes, asexual (e.g. binary fission, budding, vegetation propagation) and sexual modes. Prokaryotes use prokaryotic fission only. Viruses cannot reproduce themselves, host organisms execute their replication cycle.

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sampling error

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Use of a sample or subset of a popular, an event, or some other aspect of nature for an experimental group that is not large enough to representative of the whole.

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scientific test

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A means to determine the accuracy of a prediction, as by conduction experimental or observational test and by developing models. Scientific tests are conducted under controlled condition in nature or the laboratory.

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scientific theory

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An explanation of the cause or causes of range of related phenomena. It has been rigorously tested but is still open to tests, revision, and tentative acceptance or rejection.

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species

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One kind of organism. Of sexually reproduction organisms, one or more natural populations in which individuals are interbreeding and are reproductively isolated from other such group.

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stimulus

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A specific form of energy (e.g. pressure, light, and heat) that activates a sensory receptor able to detect it.

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variable

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Of an experimental test, a specific aspect of an object or event that may differ over time and among individuals. A single variable is directly manipulated in an attempt to support or disprove a prediction.