The ABC's of Biology

About the Author

Hello, my name is Will Shirah. I am a sophomore at Fannin County High School. I work very hard in school, and hope to succeed academically in the rest of high school and in college. I love to play baseball. I have learned so much this semester in Biology and have enjoyed every step of the way. I loved the labs that we did in class. They were very interesting and fun. Also, I had fun learning about the many interesting topics that the biology class provided. I look forward to using my new knowledge in the many years to come.

S is for Sexual Reproduction

R is for RNA

T is for Tropism

Sexual reproduction is the process where two parents unite to produce a new organism. Sexual reproduction occurs through the process of meiosis. The offspring of sexual reproduction are genetically unique and contain half the genetic information from each parent.

Tropisms are responses of plants to a stimulus. There are several different tropisms including gravitropism, thigmotropism, phototropism. Tropisms deal with a plants growth in response to gravity, touch, and light.

RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a single-stranded nucleic acid. It is made up of the sugar ribose. There are three types of RNA icluding messenger RNA, transfer RNA, and ribosomal RNA.

http://www.scienceprofonline.com/genetics/ribonucleic-acid-rna-structure-and-function.html

http://www.ib.bioninja.com.au/higher-level/topic-10-genetics/101-meiosis.html

https://quizlet.com/5398896/target-37-plant-tropisms-flash-cards/

L is for Lysosome

K is for Kingdom

Kingdom is a large taxonomic grouping system. There are six kingdoms. They include Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.

Lysosomes are organelles located in cells that break down materials. They are very important what cells die, because they get rid of unneeded cells. Lysosomes are filled with enzymes.

M is for Mutation

J is for Jaguar

http://www.biology4kids.com/

files/cell_lysosome.html

Mutations are alterations in DNA. They can be harmful or helpful. A few types of mutations include deletion, insertion, substitution, translocation, etc.

A jaguar is a large member of the cat family. It is the biggest member in the Americas. It is a top level carnivore. Unfortunately, the jaguar population is very low and close to extinction.

http://slideplayer.com/slide/4015265/

U is for Uracil

Q is for Quaternary Consumer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosomal_translocation

N is for Nucleotide

I is for Incomplete Dominance

Uracil is a nitrogenous base in RNA. It pairs with adenine in the strand. It is the only different base in RNA and DNA. Uracil is represented by a U in RNA.

Quaternary consumers are the consumers above the tertiary consumers in the food chain. They are the fourth consumers. A couple of examples of quaternary consumers are hawks and killer whales.

Incomplete dominance occurs when one trait is not expressed or dominant over the other. This occurs when a white and a red flower reproduce. A possible result would be pink flowers.

Nucleotides are nucleic acids consisting of a phosphate group, nitrogenous bases, and a 5-carbon sugar. The bases in DNA are thymine, adenine, guanine, and cytosine. RNA bases are the same except for uracil instead of thymine.

http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Incomplete-Dominance-Examples.html

http://dnarnanews.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-is-three-parts-of-nucleotide.html

O is for Omnivore

H is for Heterotroph

Omnivores are organisms that consume both plants and animals. An example of an omnivore is a bear. Bears hunt fish and eat berries and nuts.

Heterotrophs are animals that cannot make their own food and have to eat other organism for food. These animals are consumers. Some examples of heterotrophs include bears, humans, coyotes, etc...

G is for Geographic Isolation

http://slideplayer.com/slide/255161/

http://www.discoveryandinnovation.com/BIOL202/notes/lecture12.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/388365948387590146

Geographic isolation occurs when geography separates a species. It is a form of reproductive isolation. Geographic isolation causes species to evolve based on natural selection. An example of this is Darwin's finches.

V is for Virus

P is for Photosynthesis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin's_finches

F is for Food Chain

Viruses are nonliving organisms that contain nucleic acids and a protein coat. They are very tiny and can be seen with a microscope. Viruses can reproduce, but only by using a host cell. They do not have a cell membrane.

Photosynthesis is the process where organisms convert light energy into chemical energy. Plants use this process to make food. They use carbon dioxide in the reaction and give off oxygen.

Food chains are steps of feeding in an ecosystem where energy is transferred. Food chains begin with a producer, and as you go up the chain, there are different levels of consumers. Energy is lost as heat when you go up the food chain.

http://www.ck12.org/biology/Food-Chains-and-Food-Webs/lesson/Food-Chains-and-Food-Webs/

E is for Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts. Enzymes are proteins that lower the activation energy in a reaction. They have to bind to a specific substrate at an active site to function. Enzymes are not used up in reactions.

http://doctorspin.me/2012/03/18/clever-pinterest-virus-a-first-for-the-booming-image-site/

http://scienceunraveled.com/Photosynthesis

http://biology.tutorvista.com/biomolecules/enzymes.html

D is for DNA

DNA is a nucleic acid the contains the sugar deoxyribose. Humans and many other organism contain DNA. Depending on the organism, DNA might or might not be located in a nucleus. DNA consists of the bases adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.

W is for White Blood Cells

http://www.astrochem.org/sci/Nucleobases.php

White blood cells are cells in the immune system that help fight infection. One harmful disease that can affect white blood cells is leukemia. Leukemia causes and overproduction of white blood cells. A unique feature of white blood cells is that they have nuclei.

C is for Cellular Respiration

X is for X Chromosome

Cellular respiration is a process the breaks down glucose and produces energy. All organisms go through cellular respiration. The reactants for cellular respiration are the products of photosynthesis.

The x chromosome is a sex chromosome. Normally, it appears twice in a female and once in a male. The female chromosome is represented as XX, and the male chromosome is XY.

http://www.healthcare-online.org/Low-White-Blood-Cell-Count.html

Z is for Zygote

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/698588390508986368

Y is for Y Chromosome

B is for Bacteria

A zygote is the product of the fertilization of two gametes. It contains DNA from both gametes. Zygotes help form new individuals.

The y chromosome is the other sex chromosome present in humans. It only occurs in the male chromosomes. Two percent of the DNA in cells are reprsented by the y chromosome.

Bacteria are unicellular prokaryotes that contain petidoglycan. Bacteria consist of two categories which are Archaebacteria and Eubacteria. Archaebacteria can survive in extreme climates!

http://genomics.unc.edu/news/articles/111024-upregulatingX.html

http://www.lafishblog.com/evil-flesh-eating-bacteria-and-how-to-fight-it/

http://biologypop.com/zygote-info/

http://www.yalescientific.org/2013/05/qa-does-the-y-chromosome-rot/

A is for Abiotic Factor

Abiotic factors are the nonliving factors that make up an environment. Some examples of abiotic factors include water, climate, and sunlight. Abiotic and biotic factors combine together to form and ecosystem.

http://kruger-nationalpark.weebly.com/abiotic-and-biotic-factors.html

The ABC's of Biology

By: Will Shirah

1st block Biology

https://sqonline.ucsd.edu/2014/05/what-does-a-biology-major-mean/