Living Earth Dictionary

Hypothesis

• The most reasonable explination based upon limited knowledge

Observation

• Carefully collecting information based upon what you see or hear

Analyze

• To examine in detail, typically for easier understanding

Control

• The group of an experiment that is used for comparison

Dependent Variable

• A variable whose value is dependent upon another variable.

Independent variable

• The variable whose value is not dependent upon any other variables.

Theory

• An explanation solely based upon background knowledge

Law

• Something that has been proven over and over, whose results will never change.

Ethics

• Morals or values

Producer

• An organism that makes their own food

Consumer

• Organisms that feed on plants or animals for energy

Decomposer

• An organism that decomposes organic material

Ecosystem

• Community of interacting organisms within their environment

Trophic Level

• The position an organism occupies in a food chain

Food Web

• A connection between food chains showing what eats what

Ecological Pyramid

• Representation of the relationship between different organisms in an ecosystem

Ecological Pyramid

• Representation of the relationship between different organisms in an ecosystem

Chrolophyll

• A green pigment in all green plants

Thylakoid

• A membrane-bound compartment inside chloroplasts and cyanobacteria.

Aerobic

• occuring in the presene of or requiring oxygen

Pyruvate

• Enters krebs cycle when sufficiant oxygen available
• End product of glucose

Stroma

• connective tissues and blood vessels.

Anaerobic

• The absence of oxygen

ATP

• principal molecule for storing and transferring energy in cells

Fermentation

• the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms.

Analogous Structure

• Having a similar structure with no common ancestors

Homologous Structure

• Similar because of common ancestry, different from adaptations

Convergent Evolution

• independent evolution of similar features in species.

Trait

• A characteristic passed down to offspring through genes

Adaption

• A trait that helps organism survive and reproduce in a specific environment

Species

• a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.

Evolution

• Change over time

Overproduction

• When a species produces too many offspring to survive