Chapter 1 Biology Investigating the Cycles of Life

Chapter 1 Biology: Investigating the Cycles of Life Lab Biology Mrs. Campbell

Lesson 1 What is Biology? • Biology – the study of life • Organism – a living thing; one of many different forms of life • Biologist – a person who studies life or biology • Cycle – a course or series of events or operations that repeats

Lesson 2 Energy and Growth Cycles Energy Cycles • Energy – the ability to do work. Energy is found in many different forms. • Transform – to change form. • Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can not be created or destroyed. • Heat – a form of energy resulting from the motion of particles in matter.

Lesson 2, Energy and Growth Cycles con’t Growth Cycles • Reproduction – the process of making new life. • DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid is a chemical in an organism that contains the instructions for life. • Cell – the basic unit of life. • Proteins – a chemical used by cells to grow and work.

Lesson 3 Evolutionary and Ecology Cycles • Evolution – the changes in a population over time. • Species – a group of organisms that can reproduce with each other. • Speciation – the process of making a new species. • Extinct – when no members of a species are alive.

Lesson 3, con’t Evolutionary and Ecology Cycles • Adaptation – an adjustment to environmental conditions. • Environment – an organism’s natural and man-made surroundings. • Ecology – the study of interactions among living things and the nonliving things found in any particular area.

Lesson 3, con’t Evolutionary and Ecology Cycles • Ecologist – a person who studies ecology. • Ecosystem – all of the living and nonliving things found in a particular area. • Stimulus – anything to which an organism reacts.

Lesson 4 The Scientific Method • Specimen – a sample; an individual item or part considered typical of a group or whole. • Scientific Method – a series of steps used to test possible answers to scientific questions. • Observation – Looking at the world around us, watching life.

Lesson 4, con’t The Scientific Method • Question – When scientists see something they don’t understand, they ask a question and try to find an answer. • Hypothesis – an educated guess. • Experiment – the procedure used to test whether a hypothesis is correct or not. • Control Group - the set-up in the experiment that has no factor or variable to be tested.

Lesson 4, con’t The Scientific Method • Experimental Group – the same group as the control group, except for one factor, or variable, to be tested. • Variable – the factor that is being tested in an experiment. • Data – information collected from experiments.

Lesson 4, con’t The Scientific Method • Analysis – making sense of the results of an experiment. • Communication – After checking results, scientists share the results with others. • Theory – a well-tested explanation that makes sense of a great variety of scientific observations.