Order

Reproduction

Growth and development

Energy processing

Response to the environment

Regulation

The ability of organisms to reproduce their own kind.

Energy Processing

The use of chemical energy to power an organism’s activities and chemical reactions.

Food is fuel!

An ability to respond to environmental stimuli.

An ability to control an organism’s internal environment within limits that sustain life.

Lemur is “sunbathing” to raise body temperature on cold mornings.

Adaptations evolve over many generations as individuals with traits best suited to their environments have greater reproductive success and pass their traits to offspring.

This katydid looks like a “leaf” and is well camouflaged in its environment.

Biosphere: all of the environments on Earth that support life (e.g. most regions of land, bodies of water)

Ecosystem: all the organisms living in a particular area and the physical components with which the organisms interact (soil, water, sunlight, etc.)

Community: the entire array of organisms living in a particular ecosystem (animals, plants, insects, etc.)

Population: all the individuals of a species living in a specific area

Species: unique form of life

several organs that cooperate in a specific function

Nervous system: brain, spinal cord, nerves

a membrane-bound structure that performs a specific function in a cell

Nucleus, golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum

a cluster of small chemical units called atoms held together by chemical bonds.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): molecule of inheritance

New properties that arise in each step upward in the hierarchy of life

Results from the arrangement and interactions among component parts

Example: 

Numerous organelles make up a cell – life emerges at the level of a cell

But if you throw a bunch of organelles in a test tube with some water – it is not alive!

are the level at which the properties of life emerge.

It is the lowest level of structure that can perform all activities for life

cells.

Muscle cells cause movement

Regulate its internal environment

Take in and use energy

Respond to its environment 

Develop and maintain its complex organization

Give rise to new cells (essential for reproduction and growth and repair of multi-cellular organisms)

Are enclosed by a membrane that regulates the passage of materials between the cell and its surroundings.

Use DNA as their genetic information.

Were the first to evolve 

Are simpler 

Are usually smaller than eukaryotic cells

Bacteria are prokaryotic cells

Eukaryotic cells

Contain membrane-enclosed organelles, including a nucleus containing DNA

Plants, animals, fungi, and protists are composed of eukaryotic cells

interact with their environments which include:

Other organisms

Physical factors

Recycling of chemical nutrients 

Carbon dioxide, oxygen, water and various minerals cycle from the air and soil through producers (plants), to consumers (animals) and decomposers (fungi, bacteria) back to the environment (air and soil).

Energy is neither created or destroyed – it just changes form!

Enters ecosystem as light energy (sunlight) 

Converted to chemical energy stored in sugars and other complex molecules made by producers (plants) 

Passed on to consumers (eat the plants and powers them to do activities) and decomposers

Exits as heat energy. 

One-way flow of energy 

is made up of:

Double helix: two long chains coiled together

4 kinds of chemical building blocks (nucleotides)

Genes

Are made up of DNA

Are the unit of inheritance that transmits information from parents to offspring

Controls activities of cells

is the hallmark of life.

Biologists have identified about 1.8 million species.

Estimates of the actual number of species ranges from 10 to 100 million

Bacteria

Archaea

Eukarya

Domain Bacteria

Prokaryotes

- Most are microscopic and single-celled

- Most diverse and widespread

Domain Archaea

Prokaryotes

- Most are microscopic and single-celled

- Live in extreme environments on Earth like salty lakes and boiling hot springs!

Domain Eukarya

Contains eukaryotic cells (contains nucleus and organelles)

 Protists are mostly single-celled

- Plants, fungi, and animals are multi-cellular 

This type of data is qualitative

Example:  Jane Goodall spent years studying chimpanzees in Africa and observed that some chimps strip twigs and then poke them into termite holes. 

This type of data is quantitative

Example:  Test a new weight loss drug and record how many pounds your test subjects lose over a period of time

makes a generalization or conclusion based on a large number of specific observations. 

“Humans are not the only animals to make tools”. Jane Goodall concluded this based on her many observations with chimpanzees.

“All organisms are made up of cells.”  This conclusion is based on every biological specimen observed over two hundred years is made up of cells.

A process of describing nature without any preconceived expectations.

Testable: must be some way to check its validity

Falsifiable: there must be some observation or experiment that could show it is not true

A scientific theory is

Much broader in scope than a hypothesis

Usually general enough to generate many new, specific hypotheses, which can then be tested

Supported by a large and usually growing body of evidence

Example: theory of evolution