Biology: 1

• There are 8 basic characteristics to living things
• Cells are the unit of life; all living things are made up of them
• Movement is an action by an organism or part of an organism, causing it to change it's position or place
• Respiration is the breakdown of nutrient molecules in cells to release energy for metabolism
• Sensitivity is the ability of an organism to detect and react to small change in the external or internal environment
• Growth is the permanent increase in dry mass and size of an organism
• Development makes an organism become more complex and change form
• Reproduction is the process that makes more of the same organism
• Excretion is the removal of metabolic waste products and substances in excess of the body's requirements
• Nutrition is the taking in of materials for energy, growth, and development
• Cells are responsible for carrying out all activities for a living organism to stay alive
• Organisms are classified in a hierarchy:

  1. Kingdom
  2. Phylum
  3. Class
  4. Order
  5. Family
  6. Genus
  7. Species
• Things under the same species are able to reproduce with each other and produce fertile offspring
• The hierarchy system is useful as it provides information on evolutionary relationships among organisms
• We name species with 'Genus species' underlined
• There are 5 kingdoms:

  1. Animal
  2. Plants
  3. Prokaryotes
  4. Fungi
  5. Prototisca
• Animals and plants are multicellular
• Prokaryotes, protoctisa are unicellular
• Fungi have unicellular and multicellular forms
• Animals are the only ones without cell walls
• The cell wall of a plant is made of cellulose
• The cell walls of prokaryotes are made of murein
• The cell walls of fungi are made of chitin
• The cell walls of protoctisa are either made of cellulose or sugars
• Animals obtain energy by feeding on others
• Plants have chlorophyll, so they make their own food through photosynthesis
• Prokaryote cells have no nucleus and membrane
• Plant cells have a large central nucleus
• Fungi feed on decaying matter or live matter (parasites)
• Protoctisa are mostly aquatic
• Protoctisa also contain chlorophyll, so they make food by photosynthesis
• Animals have 2 classifications:

  1. Vertebrates: have backbones
  2. Invertebrates: don't have backbones
• Vertebrates consist of:

  1. Fish
  2. Amphibians
  3. Reptiles
  4. Birds
  5. Mammals
• Mammals are the only ones who give birth to their youth and feed them milk
• Birds are warm-blooded and have toothless jaws
• Mammals are warm-blooded
• Reptiles, amphibians, and fish are cold-blooded
• Reptiles lay eggs with leathery shells
• Mammals have sweat glands and red blood cells without nucleus
• Invertebrates share 3 main features:

  1. Segmented bodies
  2. Jointed limbs
  3. Exoskeletons (as they don't have skeletons)