biology

• Themes of biology


  • Organization
  • Information
  • Energy and matter
  • Interactions
  • Evolution
• Life on Earth is simply amazing diverse, resilient, powerful, intelligent, and complex
• Eukaryotic cell


  Contains DNA in the nucleus
• Prokaryotic cell


  Characterized by the absence of membrane-enclosed organelles
• Organ


  Composed of tissues
• Atom


  Basic building block of molecules
• The structure and function of biological components are interrelated
• Hummingbirds


  • Able to fly backward or hover in place due to the structure of their wings
• Cell


  Considered the basic unit of structure and function
• Eukaryotic cell


  Contains membrane-enclosed organelles, including DNA in the nucleus
• Tissue


  Composed of a group of similar cells that perform a specific function
• DNA


  Transmits heritable information from parents to offspring
• Gene


  DNA sequences
• Gene expression


  DNA is transcribed into mRNA
• Transcription


  The process where DNA is transcribed into mRNA
• All organisms require energy for their life
• Producers


  Convert energy from sunlight to chemical energy
• Producers obtain energy from sunlight
• Plants


  Take up nutrients from the soil and chemicals from the air and use energy from the sun
• Negative feedback


  Accumulation of the product slows its production
• Positive feedback


  A product speeds up its own production
• Feedback is a type of regulation common to life at all levels, from molecules to ecosystems
• Evolution


  The process that accounts for the unity and diversity of life on Earth
• Domains of life


  • Bacteria
  • Archaea
  • Eukarya

  
• Domains Bacteria and Archaea

  Consist of prokaryotes

  
• Domain Eukarya


  Includes fungi, plants, and animals

  
• Charles Darwin


  Proposed natural selection as the mechanism for evolutionary adaptation
• Natural selection


  The evolutionary process that occurs when a population is exposed to environmental factors that consistently cause individuals with certain heritable traits to have greater reproductive success than do individuals with other heritable traits
• Genetics and evolution primarily provide insight into the past and future
• Biology, being the study of living things, helps us to understand every organism
• Advances in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and many other areas of biology have brought improvements in the quality of life