What Is Life?

Understanding Main Ideas

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What are six characteristics all living things share? 2. How did Redis experiment help disprove the idea of spontaneous generation? 3. What are the four basic needs all living things must satisfy? 4. Describe the difference between growth and development.

Building Vocabulary
Fill in the blank to complete each statement.

5. A change in an organisms environment that causes the organism to react is called a(n) . 6. Organisms that make their own food are 7. 8.
organisms are composed of many cells. is the mistaken idea that living organisms arise from nonliving sources. is the basic unit of structure and function .

9. The in an organism.

10. Organisms that get energy by consuming other organisms are . 11. An organism reacts to a stimulus with a(n)
.

12. In a(n) , a scientist carries out a series of tests that are identical in every respect except for one factor, which is the manipulated variable. 13. An organisms ability to maintain stable internal conditions is called . 14. To the parents.
is to produce offspring that are similar to

Classifying Life
Understanding Main Ideas
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.

1. Describe the contributions to modern classification made by Carolus Linnaeus.

2. Describe the modern system of classification.

Building Vocabulary
Match each term with its definition by writing the letter of the correct definition in the right column on the line beside the term in the left column.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

classification binomial nomenclature genus taxonomy species

a. naming system developed by Linnaeus b. process of grouping things based on their similarities c. a group of organisms that can mate and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce d. first word in an organisms scientific name e. the scientific study of how things are classified

Domains and Kingdoms

Understanding Main Ideas
Identify the kingdom to which the following organisms belong by writing protist, fungi, plant, or animal in the spaces provided.

1. mushroom 2. horse 3. redwood tree 4. seaweed 5. yeast 6. dog 7. dandelion 8. human

Building Vocabulary
Write a definition for each of these terms on the lines below.

9. nucleus

10. prokaryote

11. eukaryote

Evolution and Classification

Understanding Main Ideas
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.

1. How has the theory of evolution changed how biologists classify organisms?

2. Describe how a branching tree diagram is organized.

3. On a branching tree diagram, which characteristics probably developed the earliest?

4. What are two methods scientists use to determine the evolutionary history of a species?

Building Vocabulary
On a separate sheet of paper, write a definition for each of these terms.

5. shared derived characteristic 6. convergent evolution 7. branching tree diagram