Biology Unit 1
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GODSIGUARDIAN on August 25, 2010
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Biology Unit 1 Study Guide
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55 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Hypothesis | An explanation for a question or a problem that can be formally tested. |
| Experiment | An investigation that tests a hypothesis by the process of collecting data under controlled conditions. |
| Control Group | Part of the experiment that receives no Experimental Treatment. |
| Experimental Group | The test group that receives Experimental Treatment. |
| Independent Variable | Condition in an experiment that is tested because it is the only factor that affects the outcome of the experiment. |
| Dependent Variable | Condtion that results from changes in the independent Variable. It depends on the Independent Variable. |
| Safety Symbols | Symbol that warns about a danger that may exist from Chemical, Electricity, Temperature, or Experimental Procedure. |
| Theory | An explanation of a natural phenomenon that is supported by a large body of scientific evidence obtained from many different Investigators and Observations. |
| Law | A theory that is proven over and over again. it is universally accepted. |
| Ecology | The study of interactions that take place between organisms and their environment. Descriptive and Quantitative methods are used. |
| Biosphere | Portion of the earth that supports living things. Includes Climate, Soils, Plants, and Animals. |
| Abiotic Factors | The nonliving parts of an organism's environments. Includes Air, Temperature, Moisture, Climate, and Soil. |
| Biotic Factors | The living organisms that inhabit an environment. |
| Population | Group of organisms, all of the same species, which interbreed and live in the same area at the same time. May have to compete. |
| Biological Community | Made up of interacting populations in a certain area at a certain time. Several populations make up a biological community. |
| Ecosystem | Is made up of interacting populations in a biological community and the community's abiotic factors. There are two types: Terrestrial, which are those located on land, and Aquatic, which occur in both fresh and salt water. |
| Habitat | Place where an organism lives out its life. They can change or even disappear. |
| Niche | All strategies and adaptations a species uses in its environment, how it meets its specific needs for food and shelter, how and where it survives, and where it reproduces. |
| Symbiosis | Relationship in which there is a close and permanent association between organisms of different species. |
| Mutualism | Relationship in which both species benefits. |
| Commensalism | One species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor benefitted. |
| Parasitism | Relationshup in which a member of one species derives benefits at the expense of another species. |
| Exponential Growth | As a population gets larger, it also grows at a faster rate. Limiting factors to population growth include availability of food, disease, predators, or lack of space. A population can stabilize in a S-shaped growth curve. |
| Carrying Capacity | The number of organisms of one species that an environment can support. When deaths exceed births the population will fall below carrying capacity. When births exceed deaths the population will rise above the carrying capacity. |
| Life-History Pattern | An organism's pattern of reproduction. it can be rapid or slow. There are 3 patterns of dispersal: Random - wildflowers in a pasture, Clumped - Mushrooms growing out of a tree, and Uniform - Trees in a forest. There are two kinds of limiting factors that are related to dispersal: Density-Independent and Density-Dependent. |
| Population Density | Describes the number of individuals in a given area. |
| Density-Dependent Factors | Includes disease, competition, predators, parasites and food. As the population increases, so do these factors. The factors depend on the population. |
| Density-Independent Factors | Do not depend on how big the population is, its going to effect the population no matter what. Most of these are abiotic factors, such as volcanic eruptions, temperature, storms, floods, and droughts. |
| Predation | A limiting factor. An organism that preys on other organisms. Usually controlled in nature through cycles. |
| Competition | A density-dependent factor that can effect a population. |
| Stress | Can effect a population. As populations increase in size in environments that can't support increased numbers, animals can express this. These can include aggression, decrease of parental care, decreased fertility, and decreased resistance of disease. These are limiting factors and keep populations below carrying capacity. |
| Autotrophs | An organism that uses light energy and can make their own food. |
| Heterotrophs | An organism that can't make its own food and is a consumer. They are Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, and Scavengers. |
| Decomposers | Break down the complex compounds of dead and decaying plants and animals into simpler molecules that can easily be absorbed. |
| Food Chain | A simple model that scientists use to show how matter and energy move through an ecosystem. |
| Tropic Level | A feeding step in a food chain. |
| Food Web | Model that shows all possible feeding relationships at each tropic level in a community. |
| Ecological Pyramids | Shows how energy flows through an ecosystem. |
| Biomass | Total weight of living matter at each tropic level. |
| Water Cycle | Water is constantly moving between the atmosphere and the earth. |
| Carbon Cycle | The existing carbon molecules continually rotate. |
| Nitrogen Cycle | Process by which nitrogen is recycled in the ecosystem. |
| Phosphorus | The process by which phosphorous is recycled in the atmosphere. |
| Biomes | A large group of ecosystems that share the same type of climax community. |
| Photic Zone | Portion of the marine biome that is shallow enough for sunlight to penetrate. |
| Aphotic Zone | Deeper water that never receives sunlight. |
| Estuary | A coastal body of water where fresh water and salt water mix. |
| Intertidal Zone | The portion of the shoreline that lies between the high and low tide. Have high levels of sunlight, nutrients, and oxygen. |
| Plankton | Small organisms that drift and float in the water of the photic zones. They include autotrophs, diatoms, eggs, and the juvenile stages of many marine animals. |
| Tundra | A treeless land with long summer days and short periods of winter sunlight. Found around the north pole. Has a permanent frozen soil layer called permafrost. |
| Taiga | Around the north pole, just south of the tundra. Also called the northern coniferous forest. Still has long winters and short summers. |
| Desert | An arid region with sparse to almost nonexistent plant life. The driest biome, usually receives less than 25 cm of precipitation. |
| Grassland | Receives between 25 and 75 cm of precipitation. Contains rich soil, grasses, and similar small plants. |
| Temperate or Deciduous Forests | Receives 70 to 150 cm of precipitation. Composed of broad-leaf hardwood trees that lose their foliage annually. |
| Tropical Rainforest | Biome near the equator with warm temperatures, warm weather, and lush plant growth. receives at least 200 cm of rain annually. Contains more species than any other biome. |
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