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95 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

Acquired characteristic

A characteristic that is changed by the environment rather than inherited from your parents.

Adaptation

Organisms have certain characteristics that allow them to survive in particular places. These characteristics are called adaptations.

Addicted

When the body is dependent on a drug and doesn't work properly without it.

Algae [higher]

A group of organisms that can make food using photosynthesis but do not have leaves or roots, like plants.


These organisms include seaweeds and some single-celled organisms (singular: alga).

Allele

Every gene comes in different types, called alleles. So a gene for eye colour may come in a 'blue type' allele and a 'brown type' allele.

Amphibians

Vertebrates that have moist, permeable skin and lay jelly-coated eggs.

Antibacterial

Antibiotic that kills or slows the growth of bacteria.

Antibiotic

Substance that can kill or slow the growth of bacteria.

Antifungal

Substance that can kill or slow the growth of fungi.

Antiseptic

Substance that is used to stop the spread of pathogens.

Autotrophic feeding

Make food from small molecules using an energy source, such as light in photosynthesis.



Plants are autotrophs.



Auto - by yourself


Trophic - to do with food or nutrients

Auxin

Plant hormone that affects the growth and elongation of cells in plants.



Plant growth hormone.

Axon

The long extension of a neurone that carries an impulse away from the cell body towards other neurones.

Bacteria

Simple organisms consisting of one cell that does not contain a nucleus.


(singular: bacterium)

Bacterium

Microscopic organism (microbe). Some kinds are pathogens, such as Salmonella.


(plural: bacteria)

Binomial system

System of naming organisms using two Latin words.

Biodegradeable

A substance that can be broken down by microorganisms.

Biodiversity

A variety of species of plants and animals.



An area with high biodiversity contains many different species of plants and animals.

Biomass

The total mass in living organisms, usually shown as the mass after drying.

Birds

Vertebrates that have lungs, feathers and beaks, and lay hard-shelled eggs.

Blackspot fungus

Fungus that damages roses and is killed by sulphur dioxide in the air.

Blood glucose regulation

The control of the concentration of glucose in the blood by the body.

Blood worm

Aquatic species that is an indicator of polluted water.



An example of a bio indicator or indicator species.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Estimate of how healthy a person's mass is for their height.

Carbon cycle

A sequence of processes by which carbon moves from the atmosphere, through living and dead organisms, into sediments and into the atmosphere again.

Carbon monoxide

A toxic gas (CO), it is found in tobacco smoke. It replaces oxygen in the blood, and so reduces the amount of oxygen carried around the body.

Carcinogen

Something that causes cancer, such as tar in tobacco smoke.

Cell membrane

Thin layer around a cell that controls what goes into and out of the cell.

Cell wall

Outer stiff part of some cells that helps to support a cell. Plant cell walls are made out of cellulose.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

The spinal cord and brain. These two organs form the main part of the nervous system, processing and controlling the transmission of electrical impulses.

Characteristics

The features of an organism.



E.g. physical characteristics include eye colour, height, fur and having a tail.

Chemical defence

Preventing attack by the use of chemicals. For example, many plants produce chemicals that taste unpleasant and this puts herbivores off eating them.

Chemosynthetic bacteria (higher)

Bacteria that get the energy they need to make their food from breaking down chemicals; they are producers.

Consumer

An animal, because it consumes (eats) other organisms.

Continuous variation

When a variable can have any numerical value. Human height is a continuous variable.

Control

An experiment that uses the same apparatus as the main part of the experiment but the variable that is being changed is not applied.



This is done to test if the independent variable is actually causing an observed change.

Criterion

Rule or test that can be used to judge how to make a fair decision (plural: criteria).

Cutting (higher)

Part of a plant (normally a leaf or stem) from which a new plant can be grown.

Cystic fibrosis (CF)

A genetic disorder caused by inheriting two copies of a recessive allele. It causes thick mucus to collect in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.



It also stops food from being digested effectively.

Cytoplasm

Jelly-like part inside a cell where the cell's activities happen.

Decay

Process in which complex substances in dead plant and animal biomass are broken down by decomposers into simpler substances.

Decompose

To break down larger molecules into smaller ones.

Decomposer

Organism that feeds on dead material, causing decay.

Chloroplast

Green disc found in plant cells, which is used to make food for the plant using photosynthesis.

Deforestation

The destruction of the world's trees and forests.

Dendrite

Many fine extensions of a dendron of a neurone. These collect impulses from other neurones or receptors.

Dendron

Extension of a neurone that carries the impulse to the cell body. It ends in many dendrites and is usually shorter than an axon.

Denitrifying bacteria

Bacteria that break down more complex nitrogen compounds into simpler ones, such as nitrates to nitrites, or nitrites to ammonia.

Depressant

Substance that slows down the activity of neurones in the brain.

Dermis

The layer of skin below the surface epidermis, where nerve endings, blood vessels and other structures are found.

Diabetes

Disease in which the body cannot control blood glucose concentration at the correct level.

Digest

Break down, as when our digestive system breaks up food into simpler substances.

Discontinuous variation

When a variable cannot have a continuous range of options, for example days of the week, show sizes.



These usually have labels or names, not numbers.

DNA

Deoxyribose nucleus acid. Chemical that makes up genes and chromosomes; the instructions for a cell's growth and activity.

Chordata

Animals that have a supporting rod along the length of their body. All vertebrates belong to this group. (Also known as chordates).

Dominant allele

Version of a gene (allele) that will always have an effect (as opposed to a recessive allele, whose effect will not be seen if a dominant allele is present).

Donor

Person who gives, such as the person who gives an organ for transplant into another person.

Drug

A substance that changes the way the body works.

Effector

Muscle or gland in the body that performs an action when an impulse from the nervous system is received.

Egg cell

Another term for ovum. The female sex cell, which is fertilised by the sperm.



This is a gamete.

Endocrine gland

A gland that makes and releases hormones.

Environmental variation

Differences between the characteristics of organisms caused by their environment.

Erector muscle

Muscle in the dermis of the skin that raises a body hair.

Ethical decision

A decision about what is right or wrong.



E.g.


Deciding whether or not to transplant a healthy liver into somebody who has damaged their own by being an alcoholic.

Eutrophication

The addition of chemicals to water, such as nitrates and phosphates, which encourages plant growth.

Chromosome

A long thread of a molecule called DNA. Each chromosome contains a series of genes along its length.

Evolution

Gradual change of a period of time.

External fertilisation

When fertilisation happens outside the body of an animal.



E.g. Male fish fertilise eggs after they have been laid. This is external fertilisation.

Extinction

The dying out of a species so that it no longer exists.

Faeces

Waste material from food which has not been absorbed by the body.

Family

A classification group that contains genera with similar characteristics.

Family pedigree chart

A chart showing which members of a family suffer from a genetic disorder.

Feeding relationship

The relationship between two organisms where one eats the other.

Fertile

Able to produce offspring.

Fertiliser

Chemical compounds added by farmers to soil to increase the rate of growth of crops.

Fish

Vertebrates that have wet scales, fills and lay jelly-coated eggs.

Cirrhosis

Damage to the liver caused by drinking large amounts of alcohol over a long time.

Food chain

A diagram that shows with arrows the flow of food and energy from a producer to the animal that eats that producer, the animal that eats that animal, and so on.

Food web

A diagram of interlinked food chains that show how the feeding relationships in one habitat are interdependent.

Fossil

The remains of trace evidence of prehistoric living organisms.

Freshwater shrimp

Aquatic species that is an indicator of clean water.



They cannot survive in polluted water, so finding them in a sample means that the water is clean.

Fungus

Organism that feeds on dead or decaying material, such as athlete's foot fungus (plural: fungi).

Gamete

Cell that contains only half the normal number of chromosomes. It joins with another sex cell during fertilisation, to produce a fertilised egg cell, which contains a full set of chromosomes.

Gene

A section of DNA that carries the instructions for a characteristic.

Genetic cross diagram

Diagram showing how the alleles in two parents may form different combinations in the offspring, when the parents reproduce.

Genetic disorder

A disease caused by alleles.

Genetic variation

Variation in characteristics caused by the DNA in cells.

Classification

The process of sorting organisms into groups based on their characteristics.

Genotype

The alleles for a certain characteristic that are found in an organism.



E.g. For blue eyes, the genotype is (bb).

Genus

A classification group that contains species with similar characteristics (plural: genera).

Geotropism

Tropism (growing) in response to the pull of gravity.



Positive geotropism - growing downwards.


Negative geotropism - growing upwards.

Cleaner fish

Fish that feed on dead skin and parasites from the skin of other fish.



They are an example of mutualists.

Clinically obese

When someone is very overweight for their height to an extent that has been shown by doctors to cause health problems. For adults this is defined as having a BMI of over 30.

CNS

An abbreviation for Central Nervous System.

Competition

When organisms need the same resources as each other, they struggle against each other to get this resources.



Organisms often compete for food, mates and territory.