BIOLOGY DEFINITIONS
Classification
● movement as an action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of
position or place
● respiration as the chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules and
release energy for metabolism
● sensitivity as the ability to detect and respond to changes in the internal or external
environment
● growth as a permanent increase in size and dry mass
● reproduction as the processes that make more of the same kind of organism
● excretion as the removal of the waste products of metabolism and substances in excess
of requirements
● nutrition as the taking in of materials for energy, growth and development
● species as a group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile offspring
● binomial system of naming species as an internationally agreed system in which the
scientific name of an organism is made up of two parts showing the genus and species
Cells
● Cells: Basic functional and structural unit of life
● Tissue: Groups of cells of similar structure working together to perform a shared function
● Organs: Groups of tissues working together to perform specific functions
● Organ system: group of organs with related functions, working together to perform body
functions
Movement
● Diffusion: net movement of particles from a region of their higher concentration to a
region of their lower concentration down a concentration gradient, as a result of their
random movement
● Osmosis: net movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential
(dilute solution) to a region of lower water potential (concentrated solution), through a
partially permeable membrane
● active transport as the movement of particles through a cell membrane from a region of
lower concentration to a region of higher concentration against a concentration gradient,
using energy from respiration and carrier proteins
Enzymes
● Catalyst: a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction and is not changed
by the reaction
● Enzymes: proteins that are involved in all metabolic reactions, where they function as
biological catalysts
Plant Nutrition
● photosynthesis as the process by which plants synthesise carbohydrates from raw
materials using energy from light
Human Nutrition
● Balanced diet: Provides sufficient energy for molecules for metabolism by the nutrients
carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water in correct proportions
● ingestion – the taking of substances, e.g. food and drink, into the body
● digestion – the breakdown of food
● absorption – the movement of nutrients from the intestines into the blood
● assimilation – uptake and use of nutrients by cells
● egestion – the removal of undigested food from the body as faeces
● physical digestion: breakdown of food into smaller pieces without chemical change to
the food molecules
● chemical digestion: break down of large insoluble molecules into small soluble molecules
Plant transport
● Transpiration: loss of water vapour from leaves from the surfaces of the mesophyll cells
through the stomata by diffusion
● Translocation: the movement of sucrose and amino acids in phloem from sources to
sinks
Animal Transport
● circulatory system: a system of blood vessels with a pump and valves to ensure one-way
flow of blood
● Single circulatory system: Blood passes through the heart only once on a complete
circuit
● Double circulatory system: Blood passes through the heart twice on a complete circuit
Immunity
● pathogen: a disease-causing organism
● transmissible disease: a disease in which the pathogen can be passed from one host to
another
● Active immunity: defence against a pathogen by antibody production in the body
● Antibodies: proteins that bind to antigens leading to direct destruction of pathogens or
marking of pathogens for destruction by phagocytes
● passive immunity: a short-term defence against a pathogen by antibodies acquired from
another individual, including across the placenta and in breast milk
Respiration
● aerobic respiration: the chemical reactions in cells that use oxygen to break down
nutrient molecules to release energy
● anaerobic respiration as the chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient
molecules to release energy without using oxygen
Excretion
● deamination as the removal of the nitrogen-containing part of amino acids to form urea
Coordination
● reflex action: a means of automatically and rapidly integrating and coordinating stimuli
with the responses of effectors (muscles and glands)
● Synapse: a junction between two neurons
● sense organs as groups of receptor cells responding to specific stimuli: light, sound,
touch, temperature and chemicals
● cornea – refracts light
● iris – controls how much light enters the pupil
● lens – focuses light on to the retina
● retina – contains light receptors, some sensitive to light of different colours
● optic nerve – carries impulses to the brain
● hormone as a chemical substance, produced by a gland and carried by the blood, which
alters the activity of one or more specific target organs
● homeostasis as the maintenance of a constant internal environment
● Gravitropism: a response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away from gravity
● Phototropism: a response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away from the
direction of the light source
Drugs
● Drugs: any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions in
the body
Reproduction
● asexual reproduction as a process resulting in the production of genetically identical
offspring from one parent
● sexual reproduction as a process involving the fusion of the nuclei of two gametes to
form a zygote and the production of offspring that are genetically different from each
other
● fertilisation as the fusion of the nuclei of gametes
● pollination as the transfer of pollen grains from an anther to a stigma
● self-pollination as the transfer of pollen grains from the anther of a flower to the stigma of
the same flower or a different flower on the same plant
● cross-pollination as the transfer of pollen grains from the anther of a flower to the stigma
of a flower on a different plant of the same species
● fertilisation as the fusion of the nuclei from a male gamete (sperm) and a female gamete
(egg cell)
● sexually transmitted infection (STI) as an infection that is transmitted through sexual
contact
Inheritance
● Chromosomes are made of DNA, which contains genetic information in the form of
genes
● gene as a length of DNA that codes for a protein
● allele as an alternative form of a gene
● haploid nucleus as a nucleus containing a single set of chromosomes
● diploid nucleus as a nucleus containing two sets of chromosomes
● mitosis as nuclear division giving rise to genetically identical cells
● stem cells as unspecialised cells that divide by mitosis to produce daughter cells that can
become specialised for specific functions
● meiosis as a reduction division in which the chromosome number is halved from diploid
to haploid resulting in genetically different cells
● inheritance as the transmission of genetic information from generation to generation
● genotype as the genetic make-up of an organism and in terms of the alleles present
● phenotype as the observable features of an organism
● homozygous as having two identical alleles of a particular gene
● heterozygous as having two different alleles of a particular gene
● dominant allele as an allele that is expressed if it is present in the genotype
● recessive allele as an allele that is only expressed when there is no dominant allele of
the gene present in the genotype
● codominance as a situation in which both alleles in heterozygous organisms contribute
to the phenotype
● sex-linked characteristic as a feature in which the gene responsible is located on a sex
chromosome and that this makes the characteristic more common in one sex than in the
other
Variation
● variation as differences between individuals of the same species
● continuous variation results in a range of phenotypes between two extremes; examples
include body length and body mass. Caused by both genes and environment
● discontinuous variation results in a limited number of phenotypes with no intermediates;
examples include ABO blood groups, seed shape in peas and seed colour in peas.
Caused by genes only
● mutation as genetic change
● gene mutation as a random change in the base sequence of DNA
● adaptive feature as an inherited feature that helps an organism to survive and reproduce
in its environment
● adaptation as the process, resulting from natural selection, by which populations
become more suited to their environment over many generations
Organisms and environment
● a food chain as showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next, beginning
with a producer
● food web as a network of interconnected food chains and interpret food webs
● producer as an organism that makes its own organic nutrients, usually using energy from
sunlight, through photosynthesis
● consumer as an organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
● consumers may be classed as primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary according to
their position in a food chain
● herbivore as an animal that gets its energy by eating plants
● carnivore as an animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
● decomposer as an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material
● trophic level as the position of an organism in a food chain, food web or ecological
pyramid
● population as a group of organisms of one species, living in the same area, at the same
time
● community as all of the populations of different species in an ecosystem
● ecosystem as a unit containing the community of organisms and their environment,
interacting together
Human influences on ecosystem
● biodiversity as the number of different species that live in an area
● sustainable resource as one which is produced as rapidly as it is removed from the
environment so that it does not run out
Biotechnology
● genetic modification as changing the genetic material of an organism by removing,
changing or inserting individual genes
