Biology Fundamentals Quiz

Biology Fundamentals

• Biology: The study of life.
• Properties of Living Things:
  • Reproduction
  • Growth & Development
  • Energy Use
  • Ordered Structure
  • Cells
  • Response to Environment
  • Evolution
• Unicellular: An organism consisting of a single cell.
• Multicellular: An organism composed of many cells (often trillions).
• Cell: The fundamental unit of life.
• Organism Responses to Environment: Internal regulation to maintain homeostasis.
• Evolution's Importance: To eliminate traits that hinder survival and reproduction, ensuring advantageous traits are passed on.
• NASA's Definition of Life: A self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution.
• Exponential Growth: A species' potential for rapid population increase (e.g., rabbits).
• Limited Resources: Food, shelter, and sunlight are finite for all organisms.
• Variation: Differences among individuals within a species (e.g., ladybug colors).
• Natural Selection: Favors traits enhancing survival and reproduction.
• Evolution's Dual Nature: Explains both the unity and diversity of life.
• Artificial Selection: Humans purposefully selecting desirable traits in organisms.
• Antibiotic Resistance: Natural selection leads to bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
• Structure and Function: The shape and role of things in biology.
• Ecosystem: Interconnected living organisms and non-living factors (e.g., animals and wind), characterized by energy flow and chemical recycling.
• Energy Flow: Movement of energy through an ecosystem's components.
• Chemical Recycling: Reuse of Earth's nutrients, chemicals, and metals.
• Information Transmission: Receiving, transmitting, and utilizing information is essential for life.
• Genes: Units of hereditary information, made of DNA.
• Emergent Properties: Results from complex interactions of parts in a system.
• Domains of Life: Three groups classifying life on Earth based on cell type.
• Domains: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya.
• Domain Bacteria: Unicellular, widespread, some cause disease.
• Domain Archaea: Unicellular, often in extreme environments.
• Domain Eukarya: Unicellular or multicellular, larger cells; divided into kingdoms by energy acquisition.
• Eukarya Kingdoms: Plantae, Fungi, Animalia, Protists.
• Scientific Method: A scientist's approach to understanding observations.
• Discovery Science: Provides descriptive data about the natural world.
• Hypothesis: A testable explanation for an observation.
• Theory: A comprehensive explanation supported by a large body of evidence.
• Controlled Experiment: Manipulates one variable to test a hypothesis.
• Independent Variable: The manipulated variable (cause).
• Dependent Variable: The measured response (effect).
• Control Groups: Negative (no change expected), positive (change expected).
• Alternative Hypothesis (Ha): Shows change in an experimental setting.
• Null Hypothesis (H0): No effect or change.
• Experimental Design Components: Independent & dependent variables, treatments; controlled variables; replication; null and alternative hypotheses.
• Blind Experiments (Types): Single-blind (participants unaware) and double-blind (participants and experimenters unaware).
• Placebo: A medically ineffective treatment.
• Placebo Effect: Perceived improvement from a non-medicinal treatment.
• Pseudoscience: Incorrectly presented as scientific.
• Primary Source Information: Original material (peer-reviewed journals, reports).
• Secondary Source Information: Descriptions or reviews (newspapers, books).
• Data Presentation Methods: Tables, graphs (line, bar, pie charts).
• Confidence Interval: Displays the likely range of a true value.
• P-values: Measure the significance of differences between groups.
• Pseudoscience Hallmarks: Vague claims, lack of peer review, absence of progress, misleading language.
• Pseudoscience Origins: Alchemy, astrology.
• Homeopathy: Belief that disease causes can treat diseases.
• Spiritualism: Belief in reality as spiritual or immaterial.
• Phrenology: Skull shapes predicting mental traits.
• DNA's Role: Genetic material for all life.
• Chromosomes: Long strands of DNA in eukaryotic nuclei.
• Genes: Units of inheritance, coding for proteins.
• Chromatin: DNA wound with proteins within the nucleus.
• Human Chromosome Number: 23 pairs (46 total) from each parent.
• Other Organisms' Chromosome Numbers: Dogs (78), Paddlefish (120).
• Sister Chromatids: Duplicated chromosomes joined together.
• Centromere: Point where sister chromatids are attached.
• Chromosome Behavior During Cell Division: Tight packing and duplication.
• Cell Cycle: Ordered series of events in a cell's life.
• Cell Cycle Phases: Interphase and miotic phase.
• Interphase: The cell's growth and preparation for division(90% of the cell cycle).
• Miotic Phase: Cell division (nuclear and cytoplasmic) .
• Mitosis: Active division of the nucleus; part of the meiotic phase.
• Mitosis Stages: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase (PMAT).
• Prophase: Nuclear membrane dissolves, mitotic spindle forms.
• Metaphase: Sister chromatids align and attach to the spindle.
• Anaphase: Sister chromatids separate.
• Telophase: Nuclei reform; two nuclei formed.
• Cytokinesis: Division of cytoplasm, forming two separate cells.
• Animal Cell Cytokinesis: Cleavage furrow.
• Plant Cell Cytokinesis: Cell plate.
• Cell Growth and Division: Regulated cycles of duplication and division in healthy cells.
• Cell Duplication Necessity: Healthy cells only enter the miotic phase when needed.
• Diploid Cells: Most human body cells with two copies of each chromosome.
• Haploid Cells: Sex cells (e.g., gametes) with one copy of each chromosome.
• Gametes: Sex cells (sperm and egg).
• Human Life Cycle Stages: Gamete formation , fertilization , zygote formation, embryonic development, growth from infancy to adulthood.
• Homologous Pairs: Chromosome pairs of the same type.
• Autosomes: Non-sex chromosomes.
• Sex Chromosomes: Determine sex (XX or XY).
• Karyotypes: Images of chromosomes lined up in pairs.
• Meiosis: Gamete production (4 haploid cells).
• Meiosis Interphase: Chromosome duplication.
• Meiosis I: Homologous chromosome separation, followed by cytokinesis1.
• Meiosis II: Chromosome separation, followed by cytokinesis2, resulting in 4 haploid cells.
• Mitosis vs. Meiosis: Mitosis produces 2 diploid cells for growth; meiosis produces 4 haploid cells for reproduction.
• Sexual Reproduction Processes: Independent assortment, random fertilization, and crossing over.