Biology Chapter on Living Organisms

Characteristics of Living vs. Non-Living Things

• Living Organisms: Possess cellular structure, process energy (metabolism), increase in size (growth), adapt to their environment, react to stimuli, produce offspring, maintain internal stability (homeostasis).
• Non-Living Organisms: Do not have a cellular structure, do not process energy, may increase in size but not through growth, do not adapt or react to stimuli, cannot reproduce, cannot maintain internal stability.

Biology, Cells, and Metabolism

• Biology: The scientific study of life and living organisms.
• Cell: The basic unit of structure and function in all living organisms.
• Metabolism: The sum of all chemical processes (anabolism and catabolism) within an organism to sustain life.

Homeostasis and Growth

• Homeostasis: The ability of an organism to maintain a stable internal environment despite external changes.
• Growth: An increase in size and mass of an organism.

Development, Reproduction, and Stimuli

• Development: The process of change and maturation an organism undergoes throughout its life.
• Reproduction: The biological process of creating new organisms from parent organisms (sexual or asexual).
• Stimulus: A detectable change in the internal or external environment that evokes a response in an organism.

Adaptation and Natural Selection

• Adaptation: The evolutionary process by which organisms become better suited to their environment over time.
• Natural Selection: The mechanism of evolution where organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass those traits to their offspring.

Ecosystems

• Ecosystem: A community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Biological Disciplines for Further Study

• Botany: The scientific study of plants.
• Zoology: The scientific study of animals.
• Microbiology: The scientific study of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi).
• Genetics: The scientific study of heredity and genes.
• Ecology: The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment, including evolutionary processes and patterns.
• Cellular Biology: Focuses on the individual cells.
• Tissue, Organ, and Organism: Structures comprised of cells, tissues, organs, and organisms working together.

Biological Processes

• Anabolic Processes: Construct complex molecules e.g. protein synthesis.
• Catabolic Processes: Break down molecules e.g. cellular respiration

Photosynthesis and Homeostasis

• Photosynthesis: An anabolic process converting sunlight into sugars for growth.
• Homeostasis: Regulating internal conditions (temperature etc.) keeping them stable despite environmental changes.

Adaptation, Variation and Processes

• Adaptation: enabling organisms to survive in their environment.
• Natural Selection: Favors organisms that have advantageous traits.
• Physiological Adaptation: Internal Processes like Hibernation in response to the environment.
• Sexual Reproduction: Combining genetic material from two parents.
• Asexual Reproduction: Involves only one parent.
• Scientific Theories: Utilize empirical research, and testable hypotheses, creating evidence-based claims.
• Spontaneous Generation: Life arises from non-living matter.
• Creationism: Proposes that life was created by a divinity.
• Panspermia: Life originated elsewhere in the universe.
• Chemical Evolution: Life arose from non-life through gradual chemical changes forming complex organic molecules from simple inorganic ones.

Unifying Themes in Biology:

• Energy Collection and Use: How organisms obtain and utilize energy.
• Nutrition: How organisms acquire and process nutrients.

Key Biological Processes (Further detail)

• Metabolism: Chemical reactions involving the breakdown and building of molecules.
• Excretion: The removal of metabolic waste.
• Growth and Development: Increased size and complexity of organisms through cell division and differentiation.
• Evolution: Changes in traits of a group over time due to genetic variation and adaptation through natural selection.
• Variation: Differences among individuals in their traits.
• Inheritance: The transmission of traits from parents to offspring.
• Selection: Beneficial traits increase chances of survival and reproduction.
• Time: Evolution takes place over extended periods.

Energy, Nutrition and Organism Characteristics

• Energy: Required for all living processes.
• Nutrition: How organisms obtain and use nutrients to survive.
• Autotrophs: Organisms that make their own food (plants).
• Heterotrophs: Organisms that obtain their food from other sources (animals, fungi).

RNA and DNA

• RNA: Versatile, acts as a catalyst, evolves, stores genetic info, not stable.
• DNA: A double-helix structure, blueprint of genetic information, stable.
• ATP: Energy carrier.
• Photosynthesis (no ATP): Harnessing energy from the sun.