Matter, Energy and Organization of Living Things

1. The systems of the human body are inter-related and regulate the body’s internal environment.
   1. digestive system
   2. circulatory system
   3. respiratory system
   4. nervous system,
   5. skeletal system
   6. muscular system
   7. reproductive system
2. Cells carry on many functions needed to sustain life.
   1. Cells are the basic units of structure and function of living things.
   2. Cells provide a framework that supports the complex chemical reactions required for sustaining life.
   3. Major cell parts include: nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, cell wall, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and vacuole
3. Important levels of organization in living systems for structure and function includes cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms.
   1. The cell’s size, shape, and structure contribute to its function.
   2. Tissues are a group of similar cells that perform the same function.
   3. An organ is made up of differing tissues that interact to perform specialized functions.
   4. Organ systems function together to form an organism.
   5. Recognize that multicellular organisms are composed of and defined by the interactions of the following: cells tissues, organs, and systems.
   6. Each organ system enables an organism to carry out some life functions.
4. The carbon dioxide produced during respiration can become a raw material for photosynthesis. Likewise, the oxygen produced by photosynthesis becomes available for respiration.

Diversity and Biological Evolution

1. Organisms can be classified by external and internal characteristics, e.g., invertebrate/vertebrate and vascular/nonvascular.
   1. Physical structure is often a basis for biological classification.
   2. A complete classification system moves from general groupings (kingdom) to more specific groupings (genus and species).
2. Some characteristics are inherited and others are acquired as a result of interactions with the environment.
   1. Genes of a cell carry information that determines inherited characteristics.
   2. Acquired characteristics cannot be passed from one generation to another.
3. In nature, individual organisms with beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than others.
4. Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of a species.
5. Organisms with beneficial traits are more likely to survive changes in the environment and are most likely to survive and produce offspring.

Reproduction and Heredity

1. The life cycle of an organism is the series of changes it goes through. These changes occur in its development and in producing more of its kind.
2. In some organisms, all genes come from a single parent. In organisms that have sexes, typically half of the genes come from each parent, resulting in variations.
   1. Some organisms reproduce asexually resulting in an offspring that is genetically identical to the parent.
   2. Some organisms reproduce sexually resulting in an offspring having a blend of characteristics from both parents. Sexual reproduction involves the separation and recombination of genes.