course web site: https://www.angelfire.com/mb/biochimie/

Regents Living Environment Vocabulary List - this is the MUST KNOW list.

Portions of the notes here modified from Mr. Buckley's Living Environment web site @:
http://www.ekcsk12.org/science/regbio/
 

What have we learned so far?
 

Living organisms vs. non-living things:

How could you tell one from the other?

There are certain processes that are performed by living organisms only. These LIFE FUNCTIONS are unique to living organisms only. They include, but are not limitedto the followings:

1. Nutrition- the intake and usage of materials organisms
 -ingestion- food intake by an organism
 -digestion- breakdown - from complex to simpler - of foods

2. Circulation - distribution of materials (eg.gases O2, CO2, nutrients) throughout the organism

3. Movement- change in position of an organism

4. Respiration- process used by organisms to release the energy in their food
(eg. oxygen + glucose ----------> carbon dioxide + water  + ENERGY)

** The energy released in respiration is needed to maintain life functions.

5. Synthesis- combining SIMPLER chemical substances to form more COMPLEX ones
(ex. starches from simple sugars)

6. Excretion- the removal of waste products

7. Regulation (coordination)

- the control of the various activities of an organism (mostly involves the nervous system and endocrine glands in complex organisms)

8. growth- increase in living matter by increasing cell size or numbers

9. reproduction- ability of living things to form more of their own kind

** Not needed for organism survival--but necessary for the survival of the species.

10.  immunity -- the ability of an organism to resist disease causing organisms and foreign invaders

Metabolism- the sum total of all life processes needed to sustain life

Homeostasis- the maintenance of an internal stable environment by an organism (steady state)

A disruption in any organism system will result in a corresponding disruption of homeostasis.

producer/autoroph, consumer/heterotroph, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore
food chain, food web, pyramid of energy and mass, carbon-hydrogen-oxygen cycles,

energy + 6 CO2 + 6H2O <------> C6H12O6 + 6O2
---> from left to right photosynthesis
<--- from right to left respiration
nitrogen (N2) / ntriates / ammonia

T. Kwan Hung

Questions? email me at
TKH2000NOPATHOGEN@excite.com

[take out the NOPATHOGEN 'cuz I don't want any spammers to send me junk email :) ]

last updated: 2002.11.2