Chapter 1 - Introduction to Biology

(A View of Life)

Characteristics of living things

• are highly organized
• require energy
• sense and respond to the environment
• contain hereditary information
• grow and reproduce
• are capable of changing over time

Biological Organization

• each level is more complex
• cell is the smallest living unit
• subatomic particles to biosphere

Acquiring and Consuming Energy and Nutrients

• definition of energy
• interdependency among organisms
  • producers, consumers, decomposers
  • one-way flow of energy, but nutrients cycle
• acquiring energy - photosynthesis
• consuming energy - cellular respiration

Sense and respond to the environment

• feedback systems
• homeostasis - def.
• negative feedback

Nature of inheritance

• DNA
• DNA to protein
• development
• mutations

Unity and Diversity

• levels of classification
• evolutionary view of diversity

Nature of biological inquiry

• it's a process
  1. make an observation
  2. make a testable, falsifiable hypothesis
  3. make a prediction
  4. test the prediction
  5. objectively examine results and make a conclusion
• theory - def.

© Carol L. Wymer, 2004