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 metabolism | the process by which a living organism takes energy from its surroundings and uses it to sustain itself, develop, and grow |
| photosynthesis | the process by which an organism uses the energy from the sun to produce its own food |
| autotrophs | organisms that are ably to produce their own food |
| heterotrophs | organisms that connot make their own food and must obtain it from other organisms |
| respiration | the process by which food is converted into useable energy for life functions |
| homeostasis | the tendency of living orgainisms to control or regulate changes in their internal environment |
| diffusion | the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration |
| osmosis | the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane |
| osmoconformer | an organism that allows its internal concentration of salts to change in order to match the external concentration of salts in the surrounding water |
| osmoregulator | an organism that regulates its internal concentration of salts |
| poiklotherm | an organism whose body temperature changes with its surrounding environment |
| ectotherm | an organism whose body temperature is controlled by its surrounding environment |
| homeotherm | an animal that maintains a controlled internal body temperature using its own heating and cooling mechanisms |
| endotherm | an animal whose internal body temperature is a result of internal sources of heat |
| asexual reproduction | reproduction accomplished by a single organism |
| sexual reproduction | reproduction that involves that union of gametes from two organisms:a male and a female |
| binominal nomenclature | identifying an organism by its genus and species name |