BIO152H5 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Dna, Mutation, Evolution
BIO152H5
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Bio Exam Key Words (Lectures 1-6)
1
Science
- Is a way of knowing/acquiring knowledge
- Seeks natural causes for natural phenomenon (observe something in nature and come up with natural causes)
- Involves the use of the scientific method: asking questions, making observations, developing explanatory
hypotheses, and testing those hypotheses
- Sometimes called self-correcting, meaning that errors that may occur are usually discovered within the scientific
community
- Scientific communication (whether spoken or written) is essential to science
- Science cannot answer all questions; it is limited to organisms and processes that can be measured and observed
- Biology is a science in which carefully designed experiments are an important tool for hypothesis testing
Scientific experiments
- Are contrived experiments that make use of the scientific method
- The ed esult that ou osee is the depedat aiale’s esult of aipulatio of a idepedet aiale
- Inductive reasoning: derive a generalization from many specific observations
- Deductive reasoning: goig fo the geeal to the oe speifi takes the fo of if ad the logi
- Ofte i the fo of if/the stateets: If the hpothesis is tue, the the esults of the epeiets ill e…
Variables
- Variables in an experiment must be clearly defined and measurable
- Investigators identify dependant, independent, and controlled variables
• Dependant Variable
o Measured or counted or observed in response to the experimental condition
o There can be more than one dependant variable to observe how manipulation of the
independent variable can affect various aspects of what is being observed
• Independent Variable
o The variable/experimental condition that is manipulated
o The most important variable by which investigators test hypotheses
o The value set for the independent variable is the level of treatment
• Control Variables
o Variables that are identified as alternate independent variables (they could have been the ones
chosen to be manipulated, but they were not), also serves as a benchmark
o They must be kept constant so they do not affect the dependant variable in an experiment
o The selected independent variable is the only variable that should have an effect on the
dependant variable (this is only true if all other variables are controlled)
How scientists think/conduct research
- In order for a question to be pursued by science, the phenomenon must be well defined and testable
- The elements must also be measurable and controllable
- Same procedure will generally be repeated several times (replication), providing consistent results
Hypothesis
- Scientists attempt to answer questions by proposing possible explanations (these are hypotheses)
- A hunch or guess in which researchers integrate all knowledge to tentatively explain something that is observed
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2
- A scientifically useful hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable (able to be proved false)
- Even though a hypothesis can be falsified, it can never be proven true
Theory
- A powerful, broad explanation of natural phenomenon, as a result of extensive and reproducible observations
- There is no absolute truth in science
- Scientists: theory represents that of which they are most certain of; public: theory represents lack of knowledge (a
guess)
Biology
- The scientific study of living organisms
- Living organisms share several basic properties, despite the diversity in organisms:
• Order (cellular organization)
• Energy processing/metabolism
• Regulation/homeostasis
• Reproduction
• Growth and development (inheritance and genetic control)
• Response to the environment
• Evolutionary adaptation (evolution is the core theme of biology)
- Addressing the complexity of biological systems
• REDUCTIONISM
o the approach of study where you reduce complex systems to simpler components
o you must be able to link the simplified components to the original study in the end
o Advantage? Easier to study
• SYSTEMS BIOLOGY
o approach that focuses on a whole biological system
o stud iteatios aog the sste’s pats ad the ultiate ai is to answer large-scale
questions
o we want to know how things function and what they are responsible for
o a change in one variable can affect many components of the whole system
Theme: New Properties Emerge as Each Level in Biological Hierarchy
- biology is organized into a hierarchy of levels; each high level contains novel properties not present at the simpler
level
- progression of organization and the emergence of new properties (building up complexity)
→ molecule (atoms interacting with each other) → organelles (found in cells and made up of molecules) →
tissues (highly organized group of cells and organelles) → organs and organ systems → organisms (all
properties acting together) → population (groups of members of the same species) → community (many
populations that occupy a community) → ecosystems (living organisms and their interactions with the
non-living) → biosphere (most complex)
Theme: Organisms Interact With One Another and With the Physical Environment
- no one lives in isolation, so we must study the interactions with the physical environment and with one another
- Ex. Plants can live without humans, but humans cannot live without plants (but plants rely on other organisms as
well)
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