Chapter 1 Flashcards
(21 cards)
Community of living things plus the non-living features of the environment that support them
Ecosystem
Living things
Organisms
Basic unit of living matter
Cell
Chemical responsible for inheritance; contains instructions for a cell to make all molecules it needs to function
DNA
Unit of inherited information in DNA
Gene
Distinct form of life
Species
Broadest category for classifying life forms
Domain
Organisms that carry on all of life’s processes with only one cell
Unicellular
Organisms that are many cells
Multicellular
Cells without a nucleus but still contains DNA
Prokaryotic cell
Cells that have a true nucleus that holds DNA
Eukaryotic cell
All the parts of the planet that are inhabited by living things; sum of all earths ecosystems
Biosphere
Complex organization formed from a simpler combination of parts
System
Process by which plants use the Sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars
Photosynthesis
Organisms that makes its own food (autotroph) and produces organic molecules that serve as food for other organisms in its ecosystem
Producer
Organisms that obtains food by eating producers (autotrophs) or other consumers
Consumer
Internal stability or “steady state” maintained by the body
Homeostasis
Inherited characteristics that improves an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
Adaptation
Group of individuals of the same species living in a particular area at the same time
Population
Process by which individuals with inherited characteristics well-suited to the environment leave more offspring than do other individuals
Natural selection
Generation to generation change in the proportion of different inherited genes in a population that accounts for all of the changes that have transformed life over an immense time
Evolution
