Abiotic: Non living part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment
Absorption: The process of taking nutrients from the digestive system into the blood so they
can be used in the body
Accommodation: The change in shape of the lens, in order to focus on abjects on abjects at
different distances
Active Site: The region of an enzyme where th substrate molecules bind and undergo a
chemical reaction
Active transport: the movement of dissolved molecules into or out of a cell through the cell
membrane, from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration
Aerobic respiration: A chemical process in which oxygen is used to make energy from
carbohydrates
Allele: Different versions of the same gene
Anaerobic respiration: The release of a relatively small amount of energy by the breakdown
of food substances in the absence of oxygen
Antibiotic: Drug that target bacteria and are intended to treat and prevent bacterial infections
Antibody: Protein produced by the body's immune system when it detects harmful
substances called antigens
Antigen: Molecules that are often proteins located on the surface of cells that trigger a
specific immune response
Antitoxin: An antibody with the ability to neutralise a specific toxin
Artificial Selection: When humans breed plants and animals for particular genetic
characteristics
Assimilation: The movement of digested food molecules into the cells where they are used
Balanced Diet: A diet containing one of each of the different types of nutrients, in a suitable
quantity and proportions
Binary fission: Asexual reproduction where a body splits into two new body’s
Bioaccumulation: The process of accumulation of chemicals in an organism that takes place
if the rate of intake exceeds the rate of excretion
Biological control: Alternative to using pesticides and involves using one species or
biological agent to control the population size of another species.
Biomass: renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals
Biotechnology: technology that uses biological systems, organisms or parts of this to
develop or create different products
Biotic Factor: The living organisms that shape up the environment
Breathing: Muscular movements which cause air to move air in and out of the lungs
Carcinogen: A substance that increases the risk of a person body developing cancer
Catabolism: the breaking down of complex molecules in living organisms to simpler ones
Cell: The basic building blocks of all living things
Community: All the organisms and all the different species living in an area at the same time
Competition: A set of interactions between organisms and and species to get a limited
resource
Deamination: Metabolic reaction that takes place in the liver in which the nitrogen containing
part of amino acids is removed from the urea and then followed by the release of energy
from the remainder of the amino acid
Decomposer: An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic matter
Deforestation: The clearing of trees usually in a large scale
Denaturation: The unfolding or breaking up of a protein modifying its standard three
dimensional structure
Diffusion: The movement of molecules from a higher concentration to a lover concentration
Digestion: The breaking down of large insoluble food molecules into small, water soluble
molecules using mechanical and chemical processes
Diploid: The presence of two complete sets of chromosomes in an organisms cell, with each
parent contributing a chromosome for each pair
Dominant allele: An allele that is always expressed even if there is only one copy present
Double Circulation: A system in which blood passes through the heart in one cycle through
the body, and has two separate circuits one for oxygenated blood and another for
deoxygenated blood.
