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What are the seven characteristics of life?
Cellular organization, response to stimuli, homeostasis, metabolism, growth and development, reproduction, and change through time.
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What are the seven characteristics of life?
Cellular organization, response to stimuli, homeostasis, metabolism, growth and development, reproduction, and change through time.
What are the two types of cellular organization?
Multicellular and Unicellular
List the units of organization within a multicellular organism from the smallest to the biggest.
Atom, Biological Molecules, Organelles, Cells, Tissues, and Organs
What is the basic unit around which an organism is organized?
The cell
What is cellular organization?
The idea that living organisms are all composed of either one or many cells
What is an organism composed of one cell called?
Unicellular
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are the seven characteristics of life? | Cellular organization, response to stimuli, homeostasis, metabolism, growth and development, reproduction, and change through time. |
What are the two types of cellular organization? | Multicellular and Unicellular |
List the units of organization within a multicellular organism from the smallest to the biggest. | Atom, Biological Molecules, Organelles, Cells, Tissues, and Organs |
What is the basic unit around which an organism is organized? | The cell |
What is cellular organization? | The idea that living organisms are all composed of either one or many cells |
What is an organism composed of one cell called? | Unicellular |
What does it mean to be multicellular? | To be composed of many cells. |
What is an atom? | The simplest particle of an element that retains all of its properties |
What is a biological molecule? | Chemical compounds that provide physical structure and that bring about movement, energy use, and other cellular functions |
What is an organelle? | Tiny structures within cells that carry out functions necessary for the cell to stay alive |
What are cells? | Structures that contain all genetic information necessary for replication |
What are tissues? | Groups of cells that have similar abilities and allow the organ to function |
What are organs? | Structures that carry out specialized jobs within an organ system |
What is a stimulus? | A physical or chemical change in the internal or external environment |
What is homeostasis? | The ability to maintain a stable level of internal conditions |
What are some internal conditions homeostasis seeks to maintain? | Temperature, pH, water content, and cellular uptake of nutrients |
What is metabolism? | The sum of all the chemical reactions that take in and transform energy and materials from the environment |
What is photosynthesis? | The process used by plants to transform energy from the sun into food (sugar molecules) |
What are organisms who use the process of photosynthesis called? | Autotrophs |
What are heterotrophs? | Organisms who obtain food energy from other organisms |
How do living things grow and increase in size? | Via the division and enlargement of cells |
What is cell division? | The formation of two new cells from an existing cell |
How does a unicellular organism grow and develop? | The cells divide and then enlarge |
How does a multicellular organism grow and develop? | The cells divide, enlarge, and develop |
What is development? | The process by which an organism becomes a mature adult |
Why is cell differentiation/specialization important? | Without it, an organism cannot undergo development |
What happens as a result of development? | An adult organism is composed of many cells specialized for different functions |
Of how many cells is the human body composed? From where did they originate? | Trillions, all from a single fertilized egg |
What is reproduction? | The process by which organisms produce new organisms like themselves |
For what is reproduction essential? | The survival of the species, though not the individual |
Why is hereditary information important to reproduction? Where is it encoded? | Parents pass on hereditary information (contained in DNA) to their offspring. |
What is DNA? For what does it stand? | Deoxyribonucleic acid is a large molecule containing hereditary/genetic information |
How is DNA partitioned? | It is divided into short segments |
What is a short segment of DNA that codes for a single trait called? | A gene |
What are the two types of reproduction? | Sexual and asexual |
How is hereditary information transferred to the offspring via sexual reproduction? | The information is provided by two parents and recombines to form an organism similar but not identical to its parents |
How is hereditary information transferred to the offspring via asexual reproduction? | A single organism provides hereditary information for the offspring, making the parent and offspring identical |
In what amount of time does evolution occur? | It does not occur in the individual's lifetime, but gradually through populations |
By what other name is change through time called? | Evolution |
Why is evolution important? | It allows populations to survive in a changing environment |
What is a sport or hopeful monster? | What Darwin called an organism that was different from its parents due to a random genetic mutation |
What does it mean to be exothermic? | The heat source comes from the outside |
What does it mean if an organism is endothermic? | The heat source comes from within |