Exam 1: Introduction to Biological Concepts and Research

Scientists want to determine whether chemical X, a component of fertilizer, is harmful to fish. They treat fish in the laboratory with increasing amounts of the chemical for one week and then measure their viability. When researchers designed this experiment, they wrote "chemical X is toxic to fish" in their lab notebook. This statement is a(n) ____.

A series of programmed changes encoded in DNA, through which a fertilized egg divides into many cells that ultimately are transformed into an adult organism, is known as ____.

The most fundamental and important molecule that distinguishes living systems from nonliving matter is ____.

The group that is the most inclusive and has recently been added to the classification scheme is ____.

List one of Darwin's and Wallace's observations and conclusions explaining biological evolution.

The large, double-stranded, helical molecule that contains instructions for assembling a living organism from simpler molecules is ____.

Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are examples of ____.

The percentage of African-Americans, Hispanics, Caucasians, and Asians in a neighborhood is an emergent property of a(n)____.

Statements about what a researcher expects to happen to one variable if another variable changes are called ____.

Populations of all organisms change from one generation to the next because their DNA changes over time. This is known as ____.

Scientists want to determine whether chemical X, a component of fertilizer, is harmful to fish. They treat fish in the laboratory with increasing amounts of the chemical for one week and then measure their viability. Fish that are not treated with chemical X are considered ____.

Scientists want to determine whether chemical X, a component of fertilizer, is harmful to fish. They treat fish in the laboratory with increasing amounts of the chemical for one week and then measure their viability. What is the experimental variable for this experiment?

The observations you make and experimental data you collect in your biology laboratory class are examples of ____.

The algae used to make sushi rolls are classified as ____.

You are studying an ecosystem on your campus. After a solid base of carefully observed and described facts, your next step would be to ____.

A biologist who searches for explanations about natural phenomena solely to satisfy her curiosity and advance our collective knowledge of living systems practices ____.

You are at the stage in your research when you must design an experiment to test your hypothesis. Which factors must you include to ensure that you obtain valid data?

In the mid-nineteenth century, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace observed many organisms. Based on these observations, they arrived at an explanation called ____ for how populations change through time.