Download Biology explores life from the global to the microscopic scale.

Biology explores life from
the global to the
microscopic scale.
Biology explores life in its diverse
forms.
The Biosphere
– consists of all the parts of the
planet that are inhabited by living things.
 Includes most regions of land, bodies of
water, and the atmosphere up to several
kilometers.
 Biosphere
Ecosystems
– community of living things in
an area, along with nonliving features that
support the environment.
 Earth’s ecosystems vary widely.
 Ecosystem
Organisms
– individual living things.
 Some organisms are too small to see with
the naked eye.
 Interactions among the organisms of a
community make each ecosystem a
constantly changing place.
 Organisms
Cells
– life’s basic unit of structure and
function.
 All organisms are made up of one or more
cells.
 Cell
DNA and Genes
– chemical responsible for
inheritance.
 DNA contains all the instructions for a cell
to make all the other molecules it needs to
function.
 Genes – inherited information on the DNA
molecule.
 DNA
Life’s Diversity of Species
 Each
different kind of organism you
observe is an example of a species, a
distinct form of life.
 Identified more than 1.5 million species.
The Three Domains of Life
– broadest category of
classification.
 Three domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and
Eukarya.
 Most organisms in Archaea and Bacteria
are very tiny and unicellular, single
celled.
 Domain
 They
have cells without nuclei and are
therefore prokaryotic cells.
 Eukaryotic cells contain nuclei.
 Multicellular organisms are made of
many cells, such as humans.