Biology—The Science of Life

1. Biology—The Science of Life Old Growth Forest

2. Vocabulary List for Chapter One • Adaptation Development • Biology Energy • Cellular respiration Evolution • Chlorophyll Food Chain • Community Growth • Consumer Homeostasis • Decomposer Organism • Photosynthesis Producer • Reproduction

3. Biology • Bios is the Greek word for life or way of life. • Biology is the study of life. • All life as we know it can be found in the biosphere, which is the thin envelope of space surrounding Earth (about 12 miles) and projecting a short distance below Earth’s surface. Biosphere

4. What distinguishes living things? • Living things reproduce resulting in offspring. • Young organisms grow and develop. • Growth is an increase in the amount of living material in an organism. • Development is the series of changes an organism undergoes in reaching its final, adult form. Life cycle of a butterfly

5. Living things continued • Living organisms maintain homeostasis, the steady state of the internal operation of an organism regardless of external changes. • When you get too hot, your body gets rid of the excess heat by perspiring. • Because external factors change constantly, it’s imperative that organisms maintain homeostasis.

6. Living things continued (again) • Each function or life process that an organism performs is vital to its existence. None is isolated from the others—they all come together and interact with each other to create a single, orderly living system. This precise organization is characteristic to all life forms. Diatoms in Schuylkill water source in Pennsylvania

7. Organisms and Community • While an organism is anything capable of carrying out life processes, a community is an assortment of life forms within a given place where all the organisms react and depend upon one another in a symbiotic relationship. These fish eat parasites off of the shark and in return receive protection from other predators in a symbiotic relationship.

8. Food and Energy • Energy is the ability to do work. • Food provides energy. • Producers are members of the community that make the food. • Most producers make food using carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2 O) . • Chlorophyll, found in plants, traps light from the sun and produces oxygen and glucosein this chemical reaction: • 6CO2 + 6H2 O  C6H12O6 + 6O2 Carbon cycle and photosynthesis

9. Consuming Food • Producers make food for themselves and serve as food sources for other members of the community. • Organisms that cannot make their own food are called consumers. • Producers and consumers convert the energy in glucose through cellular respiration. Cellular respiration

10. Food Chains • Food and thus energy is passed from producers through a series of consumers. This passage is called the food chain. • Different sets of organisms create different food chains. Food chain

11. Decomposers • Decomposers feed on the dead remains and waste products of living organisms. • If it weren’t for the decomposers, nothing would decay and our environment would indeed be less than desirable! Decomposers