Bio Chapter 3

• Environment: the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates
• Biotic: living things that affect the population of a species
• Abiotic: Non-living factors that affect the environment
• Ecosystem: An area where both abiotic and biotic factors interact
• Population: A group of the same species
• Community: More than one population
• Organism: an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form
• Taxonomy: the practice of classifying organisms
• Most communities are dynamic - they adapt to changing abiotic factors
• the naming system we use is called binomial nomenclature
• Aristotle was the first known attempt to classify organisms
• Linnaeus developed the modern classification system
• Early classifications were solely based on physical appearance
• The 6 kingdoms are: protista, plantae, fungi, animalia, bacteria, and archaea
• The Prokaryotic kingdoms are archaea and bacteria. This means that they have no nucleus
• Protista organisms are single-celled with a nucleus. They can be multicellular or uni-cellular. They can also photosynthesize, ingest food, or decompose.
• An example of a Protista organism is algae
• Fungi are decomposers, which means that they secrete enzymes that breakdown food and absorb nutrients. They are sessile and can be unicellular or multicellular.
• An example of a fungi is mushrooms
• Plantae are multicellular organisms that produce through photosynthesis. They are sessile and are very complex/specialized cells.
• An example of a Plantae is moss
• Animalia are multicellular organisms that consume or decompose. They are complex/specialized and mobile.
• An example of an animalia is an insect
• There are 3 domains: Eukarya, Bacteria, Archaea
• Archaea and Bacteria both reproduce asexually and lack a membrane-bounded nucleus. Otherwise they are extremely different
• Eukaryotes have a membrane-bounded nucleus and can reproduce sexually (except bacteria)
• domains are based on the cellular composition of organisms.
• The biggest difference between archaea and bacteria is their RNA base sequences and their cell membrane structures
• There are 8 categories of classification for naming organisms
• 8 naming categories: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
• Latin is used to name organisms since it is a dead (unchanging) language.
• dichotomous key: a key that divides organisms into two groups based on a single characteristic
• Life is not uniformly distributed throughout the Earth
• Abiotic factors such as temperature and precipitation heavily influence the distribution of plants and animals.
• Climate refers to the average weather condition in a region over a period of time. (~30 years)
• As precipitation increases, soil quality will also increase, which allows for more producers
• biome: a large area of the same type of ecosystem, e.g. a forest
• habitat: the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
• "Each species is found in the specific habitat that its physical, behavioural, and physiological adaptations allow it to survive and reproduce on."
• Range: the geographical extent to which a population or species can be found