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Unit 1 - Scientific Processes
Unit 2 - Cell Structure & Function
Unit 3 - Cell Transport & Water Properties
Unit 4 - Mitosis & Meiosis
Unit 5 - DNA & Protein Synthesis Unit 6 - Genetics & Biotechnology
Unit 7 - Evolution
Unit 8 - Plants
Unit 9 - Matter & Energy
Unit 10 - Ecology
Unit 11 - Human Body Systems
ANSWER KEY - https://seminoleschools-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/5922002419_student_myscps_us/EXD3cdKVtRFOpvDfrPzlnsgBM47X8HY_ujLVsyJdfQy1Zg?e=K6t6EP

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1. Science - Science! Science is the study of the unseen and new. Science is questioning what we know, discovering new things about our world that we can't just by traveling and observing.

2. Observation - Observation is what you can see, what is physically in front of you and makes you want to think more about it.

3. Inference - An inference is the small conclusion, the thoughts and ideas we draw from an observation.

4. Hypothesis - After coming up with a question you make an educated guess to what you believe the outcome will be, that is the hypothesis.

5. Theory - A theory is why we get certain results based on tee outcome of our experiment.

6. Independent Variable - The independent variable is the one thing that changed throughout the entire experiment, inevitably it is what we are testing.

7. Dependent Variable - The dependent variable is the result of experiment, it is the outcome based off of the independent variable as of such it is dependent on the independent variable.

8. Control Group - The control group is what the experiment is comparing its test subjects too, to see the change between untested subjects and the tested ones

9. Constant - The constant of an experiment is what you keep the same through the experiment, it is everything the independent variable is not.

10. Law - A Law is a set statement or fact based on continuous testing, it is the same n mater what condition it is tested in!

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The Scientific Method is the basis for any experiment, nothing would have been discovered without it! To properly conduct the scientific method you must start by researching, thinking, observing, and imagining. You must come up with a testable question and a hypothesis before continuing. Once you do so it is experimenting and drawing conclusions then thinking some more! Imagine all of the people you could help or the random things you could discover just from doing this. It is not as easy as it sounds but it is worth it in the end, to discover something new. If you want to save the world or just a park, or even find out why people chose the things they do or eat the products that they buy, then science is perfect for you. Well, it is perfect as long as you don't forget the scientific method.

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1. Cohesion - when same particles stick together

2. Adhesion - When different particles stick together

3. Surface Tension - the surface of the water like a thin film caused by cohesion that some bugs are able to walk on

4. Specific Heat - A certain heat a liquid has to reach to boil and/or evaporate, or even freeze

5. Solvent -

6. Solute - a mixture of two or more substances (liquid or not) that is homogenous

7. Osmosis - The pull of water through a semipermeable membrane

8. Isotonic - Same percentage of salt inside the cell and out

9. Hypotonic - Lower concentration of salt so more water tends to enter

10. Hypertonic - Higher concentration of salt so more water tends to exit

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Water transport and properties, let us talk about osmosis, it is absolutely fascinating! The way water moves in general is fascinating, when it freezes it gets less dense and floats to the top when in lakes, ponds, or rivers, only freezing the top layer, and water solute, or the salt in the water, likes to move to where less water solute is. You would espect something as common and simple to be just that, simple, but in fact it is more complex than we thought, the movement of water when in high heat or freezing tempatures or when able to move to where less solute levels are. Water is also a universal solvent, it can dilute basically anything it touched instead of bouncing right off, besides oil and vineguar of course, our whole body is also made up of mostly water, the real question here is how come we dont evaporate inside, or does water secretely come up through our mouths and nose and leave us? Thats how strage water is, to make you think things like this.

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1. Cell Membrane - The cell membrane protects the entire cell with just a thin, almost invisible layer surrounding it, which, in other words is the cell membrane.

2. Nucleus - The nucleus controls the ENTIRE cell, also holding all of your DNA and the life of the cells in its (metaphorical) hands!

3. Eukaryote - A Eukaryote is an organism that has a nucleus to control it

4. Prokaryote - A prokaryote is the organism(s) that do NOT have a nucleus to control them

5. Cytoplasm - Cytoplasm is like a clear gel that everything inside the cell floats around in

6. Organelle - An organelle is any structure in the cell but it has its original function

7. Endoplasmic Reticulum - The endoplasmic reticulum, or ER, forms tubes surrounded by membranes for extra protection, and is very important for synthesizing

8. Golgi Apparatus - The Golgi Apparatus, or Golgi body, processes macromolecules like proteins and lipids while they are synthesized through out the cell

9. Chloroplast - Chloroplast,  only found in plant cells, is what photosynthesis occurs in, making the plant green!

10. Cell Wall - The cell wall, also only found in plant cells, protect the insides thoroughly as an extra layer

11. Mitochondrion -  The mitochondrion, power house of the cell, produces Atp by using the glucose and sugars produced within the cell

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The scientific method simplified to a sketch, 6 steps to see and warnings to behold.

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The Scientific Method: Steps, Examples, Tips, and Exercise

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The scientific method! as simple as it gets.

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The steps of the scientific method with an extra step from the video, simplified but useful for understanding what needs to be done.

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Some steps of the scientific method are:

Step 1: Wonder

Observe something and wonder what is happening or why or how it happens. Ask a question or make a statement that can be tested by an experiment. This statement is called a hypothesis and defines the purpose of your experiment.

For example:

Observation: After my little brother has watched three hours of cartoons on Saturday morning, he always comes and picks a fight with me. However, if he spends the morning skateboarding, he is nice to me.

Hypothesis: Watching a lot of TV (or cartoons) makes little kids act mean. Physical activity makes them act nice.

Step 2: Define

Define your variables (parts of your experiment that will change) and your controls (parts of your experiment that will not change).

Example:

Variable 1: Activity performed during a given period. Several different activities will be tested.

Variable 2: Individual subjects of experiment. Several different people will be tested.

Control 1: Period of time spent on activity. All subjects will spend the same time doing the activities.

Control 2: Test of "mean" or "nice" behavior. All subjects will be evaluated using the same test.

Step 3: Review

Find out everything you can about what people have already said or written about the subject. Even if someone else has already done an experiment and reported results, you can still repeat their experiment or devise one of your own to verify (or refute) the results of the previous experimenter.

Step 4: Design

Design an experiment to test the hypothesis.

Make a step-by-step list of what you are going to do.

Step 5: Experiment

Do the experiment and carefully record the data.

Step 6: Analyze

Process and analyze your data. Do any calculations needed or draw graphs to help you make sense of the data.

Step 7: Conclude

Draw conclusions and write a report.

Did the data you collected support your hypothesis or not? Is there any reason to think there might be errors in your results? If the data did not support your hypothesis, what are some other hypotheses you might test to explain your initial observations? What further research could you or someone else do to verify your results?

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Step 1: Wonder Observe something and wonder what is happening or why or how it happens. Ask a question or make a statement that can be tested by an experiment. This statement is called a hypothesis and defines the purpose of your experiment.

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The cell structure and its functions, it can be a bit tricky. Most people do NOT like to do things that take hard work but it pays off with this. The structure of your cell is a very complicated matter, there are many things working in these tiny, tiny cells that look like micro scales on your hands. The cell structure and all it's functions is, although small, very important to making you... you! The tiny micro parts working in your cells work almost like a well oiled machine, even better in fact, because not only does it pass around information to keep you healthy but it protects you! Your skin protects your body from the world, your tissues protect your body from yourself, and again, the world. And other skins form what keeps your heart beating, it also forms your heart! It is a very important thing to study if you want to know the basis of how your body works.

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Goes into how knowing cell structure can help later on and what it is!

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Parts of the cell (plus some) with functions involved as a bonus

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Some extra information on what we know you love most, the cell!

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Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. The human body is composed of trillions of cells. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body's hereditary material and can make copies of themselves.

Cells have many parts, each with a different function. Some of these parts, called organelles, are specialized structures that perform certain tasks within the cell. Human cells contain the following major parts, listed in alphabetical order:

Cytoplasm

Cytoskeleton

The cytoskeleton is a network of long fibers that make up the cell's structural framework. The cytoskeleton has several critical functions, including determining cell shape, participating in cell division, and allowing cells to move. It also provides a track-like system that directs the movement of organelles and other substances within cells.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

Golgi apparatus

Lysosomes and peroxisomes

Mitochondria

Nucleus

Plasma membrane

Ribosomes

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Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. The human body is composed of trillions of cells. They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body's hereditary material and can make copies of themselves.

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The properties of Water and how it I unique in biology.

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A little more about osmosis, a picture speaks a thousand words

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Go here to know more! presented osmosis from the website of .gov

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In this section, we examine two types of transport phenomena that, at first glance, may seem unrelated: the regulation of cell volume in both plant and animal cells, and the bulk flow of water (the movement of water containing dissolved solutes) across one or more layers of cells. In humans, for example, water moves from the blood filtrate that will form urine across a layer of epithelial cells lining the kidney tubules and into the blood, thus concentrating the urine. (If this did not happen, one would excrete several liters of urine a day!) In higher plants, water and minerals are absorbed by the roots and move up the plant through conducting tubes (the xylem); water is lost from the plant mainly by evaporation from the leaves. What these processes have in common is osmosis - the movement of water from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration. We begin with a consideration of some basic facts about osmosis, and then show how they explain several physiological properties of animals and plants.

Osmotic Pressure Causes Water to Move across Membranes

As noted early in this chapter, most biological membranes are relatively impermeable to ions and other solutes, but like all phospholipid bilayers, they are somewhat permeable to water (see Figure 15-1). Permeability to water is increased by water-channel proteins discussed below. Water tends to move across a membrane from a solution of low solute concentration to one of high. Or, in other words, since solutions with a high amount of dissolved solute have a lower concentration of water, water will move from a solution of high water concentration to one of lower. This process is known as osmotic flow.

Osmotic pressure is defined as the hydrostatic pressure required to stop the net flow of water across a membrane separating solutions of different compositions ( Figure 15-30). In this context, the "membrane" may be a layer of cells or a plasma membrane. If the membrane is permeable to water but not to solutes, the osmotic pressure across the membrane is given by

where π is the osmotic pressure in atmospheres (atm) or millimeters of mercury (mmHg); R is the gas constant; T is the absolute temperature; and Δ C is the difference in total solute concentrations, C A and C B, on each side of the membrane. It is the total number of solute molecules that is important. For example, a 0.5 M NaCl solution is actually 0.5 M Na⁺ ions and 0.5 M Cl − ions and has approximately the same osmotic pressure as a 1 M solution of glucose or lactose. From Equation 15-11 we can calculate that a hydrostatic pressure of 0.22 atm (167 mmHg) would just balance the water flow across a semipermeable membrane produced by a concentration gradient of 10 mM sucrose or 5 mM NaCl.

Different Cells Have Various Mechanisms for Controlling Cell Volume

Animal cells will swell when they are placed in a hypotonic solution (i.e., one in which the concentration of solutes is lower than it is in the cytosol). Some cells, such as erythrocytes, will actually burst as water enters them by osmotic flow. Rupture of the plasma membrane by a flow of water into the cytosol is termed osmotic lysis. Immersion of all animal cells in a hypertonic solution (i.e., one in which the concentration of solutes is higher than it is in the cytosol) causes them to shrink as water leaves them by osmotic flow. Consequently, it is essential that animal cells be maintained in an isotonic medium, which has a solute concentration close to that of the cell cytosol (see Figure 5-22).

Even in an isotonic environment, all animal cells face a problem in maintaining their cell volume. Cells contain a large number of charged macromolecules and small metabolites that attract ions of opposite charge (e.g., K⁺, Ca ²⁺, PO ₄ 3−). Also recall that there is a slow leakage of extracellular ions, particularly Na⁺ and Cl −, into cells down their concentration gradient. As a result of these factors, in the absence of some countervailing mechanism, the cytosolic solute concentration would increase, causing an osmotic influx of water and eventually cell lysis. To prevent this, animal cells actively export inorganic ions as rapidly as they leak in. The export of Na⁺ by the ATP-powered Na⁺/K⁺ pump plays the major role in this mechanism for preventing cell swelling. If cultured cells are treated with an inhibitor that prevents production of ATP, they swell and eventually burst, demonstrating the importance of active transport in maintaining cell volume.

Unlike animal cells, plant, algal, fungal, and bacterial cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall. Because of the cell wall, the osmotic influx of water that occurs when such cells are placed in a hypotonic solution (even pure water) leads to an increase in intracellular pressure but not in cell volume. In plant cells, the concentration of solutes (e.g., sugars and salts) usually is higher in the vacuole than in the cytosol, which in turn has a higher solute concentration than the extracellular space. The osmotic pressure, called turgor pressure, generated from the entry of water into the cytosol and then into the vacuole pushes the cytosol and the plasma membrane against the resistant cell wall. Cell elongation during growth occurs by a hormone-induced localized loosening of a region of the cell wall, followed by influx of water into the vacuole, increasing its size (see Figure 22-33).

Although most protozoans (like animal cells) do not have a rigid cell wall, many contain a contractile vacuole that permits them to avoid osmotic lysis. A contractile vacuole takes up water from the cytosol and, unlike a plant vacuole, periodically discharges its contents through fusion with the plasma membrane ( Figure 15-31). Thus, even though water continuously enters the protozoan cell by osmotic flow, the contractile vacuole prevents too much water from accumulating in the cell and swelling it to the bursting point.

Water Channels Are Necessary for Bulk Flow of Water across Cell Membranes

Even though a pure phospholipid bilayer is only slightly permeable to water, small changes in extracellular osmotic strength cause most animal cells to swell or shrink rapidly. In contrast, frog oocytes and eggs, which have an internal salt concentration comparable to other cells (≈150 mM), do not swell when placed in pond water of very low osmotic strength. These observations led investigators to suspect that the plasma membranes of erythrocytes and other cell types contain water-channel proteins that accelerate the osmotic flow of water. The absence of these water channels in frog oocytes and eggs protects them from osmotic lysis.

Microinjection experiments with mRNA encoding aquaporin, an erythrocyte membrane protein, provided convincing evidence that this protein increases the permeability of cells to water ( Figure 15-32). In its functional form, aquaporin is a tetramer of identical 28-kDa subunits, each of which contains six transmembrane α helices that form three pairs of homologs in an unusual orientation ( Figure 15-33a). The channel through which water moves is thought to be lined by eight transmembrane α helices, two from each subunit ( Figure 15-33b). Aquaporin or homologous proteins are expressed in abundance in erythrocytes and in other cells (e.g., the kidney cells that resorb water from the urine) that exhibit high permeability for water.

Simple Rehydration Therapy Depends on Osmotic Gradient Created by Absorption of Glucose and Na⁺

An understanding of osmosis and the intestinal absorption of glucose forms the basis for a simple therapy that has saved millions of lives, particularly in less-developed countries. In these countries, diarrhea caused by cholera and other intestinal pathogens is a major cause of death of young children. A cure demands not only killing the bacteria with antibiotics, but also rehydration  - replacement of the water that is lost from the blood and other tissues.

Simply drinking water does not help, because it is excreted from the gastrointestinal tract almost as soon as it enters. To understand the simple therapy that is used, recall that absorption of glucose by the small intestine involves the coordinated movement of Na⁺; one cannot be transported without the other (see Figure 15-25). The movement of NaCl and glucose from the intestinal lumen, across the epithelial cells, and into the blood creates a transepithelial osmotic gradient, forcing movement of water from the intestinal lumen into the blood. Thus, giving affected children a solution of sugar and salt to drink (but not sugar or salt alone) causes the bulk flow of water into the blood from the intestinal lumen and leads to rehydration.

Changes in Intracellular Osmotic Pressure Cause Leaf Stomata to Open

Although most plants cells do not change their volume or shape because of the osmotic movement of water, the opening and closing of stomata - the pores through which CO ₂ enters a leaf - provides an important exception. The external epidermal cells of a leaf are covered by a waxy cuticle that is largely impenetrable to water and to CO ₂, a gas required for photosynthesis by the chlorophyll-laden mesophyll cells in the leaf interior. As CO ₂ enters a leaf, water vapor is simultaneously lost - a process that can be injurious to the plant. Thus it is essential that the stomata open only during periods of light, when photosynthesis occurs; even then, they must close if too much water vapor is lost.

Two guard cells surround each stomate ( Figure 15-34a). Changes in turgor pressure lead to changes in the shape of these guard cells, thereby opening or closing the pores. Stomatal opening is caused by an increase in the concentration of ions or other solutes within the guard cells because of (1) opening of K⁺ and Cl − channels and the subsequent influx of K⁺ and Cl − ions from the environment, (2) the metabolism of stored sucrose to smaller compounds, or (3) a combination of these two processes. The resulting increase in the intracellular solute concentration causes water to enter the guard cells osmotically, increasing their turgor pressure ( Figure 15-34b). Since the guard cells are connected to each other only at their ends, the turgor pressure causes the cells to bulge outward, opening the stomatal pore between them. Stomatal closing is caused by the reverse process - a decrease in solute concentration and turgor pressure within the guard cells.

Stomatal opening is under tight physiological control by at least two mechanisms. A drop in CO ₂ within the leaf, resulting from active photosynthesis, causes the stomata to open, permitting additional CO ₂ to enter the leaf interior so that photosynthesis can continue. When more water exits the leaf than enters it from the roots, the mesophyll cells produce the hormone abscissic acid, which causes K⁺ efflux from the guard cells; water then exits the cells osmotically, and the stomata close, protecting the leaf from further dehydration.

SUMMARY

Most biological membranes are more permeable to water than to ions or other solutes, and water moves across them by osmosis from a solution of lower solute concentration to one of higher solute concentration.

Animal cells swell or shrink when placed in hypotonic or hypertonic solutions, respectively. To maintain their normal cytosolic osmolarity and hence cell volume, animal cells must export Na⁺ and other ions that leak or are transported from the extracellular space into the cytosol.

The rigid cell wall surrounding plant cells prevents their swelling and leads to generation of turgor pressure in response to the osmotic influx of water.

In response to the entry of water, protozoans maintain their normal cell volume by extruding water from contractile vacuoles.

Aquaporin in the erythrocyte plasma membrane and other water-channel proteins increase the water permeability of biomembranes (see Figure 15-33).

Opening and closing of K⁺ and Cl − channels and the resulting changes in cytosolic solute concentrations of guard cells cause stomata in leaves to open and close (see Figure 15-34).

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In this section, we examine two types of transport phenomena that, at first glance, may seem unrelated: the regulation of cell volume in both plant and animal cells, and the bulk flow of water (the movement of water containing dissolved solutes) across one or more layers of cells.

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1. Genes - Genetic trait holders that affect the phenotype and genotype

2. Gamete - sexual reproduction and fertilization

3. Haploid - One set of complete chromosomes

4. Sexual Reproduction - Reproduction with 2 parent cells

5. Mutation - An alter in the original strand of DNA that could possibly cause physical alterations

6. Meiosis - Reproduction and formation of new chromosomes using half of each of the parent cells

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7. Asexual Reproduction - Reproduction with only one parent cell

8. Chromosomes - Carry all the information of the cells

9. Diploid - Double the number of haploids, 2 complete sets of chromosomes

10. Mitosis - A method of cell division that constantly forms new skin when needed for wounds and growth

11. Daughter Cell - The product of Asexual reproduction splits into two identical cells formed from one parent

12. Cancer - Uncontrolled growth of cells

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Mitosis and Meiosis... there is so much to say about this, they go hand and hand, like siblings. Meiosis can't exist with mitosis to form the cells but mitosis cant exist with an original cell formed by meiosis to duplicate to make a living organism. Mitosis has one parent and Meiosis has 2, this strains their relationship because sometimes it is hard to find the second parent, so mitosis has to wait a while before being able to help meiosis create this new life. Meiosis also has a longer process than Mitosis, double the process as it needs to be repeated twice, they both go through Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase (PMAT) at least once. Meiosis sets the basis for new life and Mitosis builds off of it to form growth, it is an amazing process.

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It shows the similarities and differences of Meiosis and Mitosis. (I remember Ms. Mig using it and I liked it)

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Mitosis vs Meiosis Rap Battle! | SCIENCE SONGS

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Meiosis and Mitosis PMAT!!

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Learn more about Mitosis, click the tab to the left and learn more about Meiosis too!

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Mitosis - GeneEd - Genetics, Education, Discovery

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Find information, videos, and activities about mitosis, the cellular process that replicates chromosomes and produces two identical nuclei in preparation for cell division

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1. Capillary -
2. Veins -
3. Hypertension -
4. Hemoglobin -
5. Atherosclerosis -
6. Gastrulation -
7. Pathogen -
8. Macrophage -
9. Lymphocyte -
10. Antibody -

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The human body systems is as complex as can be! Our heart, brain, blood, veins and much more is what are systems contain of, and that's just scratching the surface. This topic can be slightly difficult to understand but bare with me. In this unit you will take a trip to find out what parts of our brain are what and what they do as well as which parts of our brains are oxygenated. Our brain has 4 different lobes but one tends to split off into 3 so naturally there are 6, kind of like subcategories but still very important. You will learn about how our brain connects to our senses down to our spinal chord and eventually to our heart, is quite fascinating really. Our heart has more oxygen running through it then not as well, so sit and wait and you'll learn all about that. Don't forget about white and red blood cells either, they're an important part, including antigens and antibodies.

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Here we go again down into the body of humans, lets see what learn

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Human Body Systems Functions Overview: The 11 Champions (Older Video 2016)

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Simple Charts

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1. Carrying Capacity - The highest point a population can reach before unable to keep growing

2. Density Dependent Factors - Population growth and decrease based on living things like predators, humans, plants, and other things.

3. Density Independent Factors - Population growth and decrease based on non-living things like natural disasters or

4. Immigration -Population that moves into a place

5. Population Density - The number of organisms living in a population

6. Biodiversity - The genetic diversity in a population or biosphere

7. Invasive Species - A non-native species that immigrates to a native land that causes the native species problems or even death

8. Sustainability - How a population stays alive

9. Habitat Fragmentation - Change in a habitat that causes it to separate

10. Emigration - Population that moves out of a place

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Ecology, the study of life in our world is a wide variety topic. The mass amounts of not only people but animals and other creatures in this world is what makes it so big of a topic to talk about. There are so many factors to cology but population is a good star, population of different species, humans or otherwise, and how they thrive and survive. The density of a population and genetic variety as well as sustainability is where we get a little more specified. Not to mention, the rate of immigration compared to rate of emigration or even death rate compared to birthrate, which, for humans is scarely over whelming, talk about over populating the world. In this unit you will lern about all of this, but also learn ways to help our planet by learning what is killing the world and other species, like over fishing and pollution, both caused by humans mind you. You will not be dissapointed by the tremendous amounts of variety and biodiversity you will discover when going through this unit but you will definitely be dissapointed in humanity, but dont give up, there is still time to fix it.

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The worlds ecology, kind of scary isn't it? how everything effects everything

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Ecology - Rules for Living on Earth: Crash Course Biology #40

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In depth with ecology, all around the world? (Struggled with this one)

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Background

Ecoregions are areas where ecosystems (and the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources) are generally similar. This ecoregion framework is derived from Omernik (1987) and from mapping done in collaboration with EPA regional offices, other Federal agencies, state resource management agencies, and neighboring North American countries. Designed to serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, and monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components, ecoregions denote areas of similarity in the mosaic of biotic, abiotic, terrestrial, and aquatic ecosystem components with humans being considered as part of the biota. These regions are critical for structuring and implementing ecosystem management strategies across Federal agencies, state agencies, and nongovernmental organizations that are responsible for different types of resources within the same geographic areas (Omernik and Griffith 2014, McMahon et al. 2001).

Ecoregions are identified by analyzing the patterns and composition of biotic and abiotic phenomena that affect or reflect differences in ecosystem quality and integrity (Omernik 1987, 1995). These phenomena include geology, landforms, soils, vegetation, climate, land use, wildlife, and hydrology. The relative importance of each characteristic varies from one ecological region to another regardless of the hierarchical level. A Roman numeral classification scheme has been adopted for different hierarchical levels of ecoregions, ranging from general regions to more detailed:

Level I - 12 ecoregions in the continental U.S.

Level II - 25 ecoregions in the continental U.S.

Level III -105 ecoregions in the continental U.S.

Level IV - 967 ecoregions in the conterminous U.S.

Explanations of the methods used to define these multi-agency ecoregions are given in Omernik and Griffith (2014), Omernik (1995, 2004), and CEC (1997).

References

Commission for Environmental Cooperation. 1997. Ecological regions of North America: toward a common perspective. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 71p. Map (scale 1:12,500,000). Revised 2006.

McMahon, G., S.M. Gregonis, S.W. Waltman, J.M. Omernik, T.D. Thorson, J.A. Freeouf, A.H. Rorick, and J.E. Keys. 2001. Developing a spatial framework of common ecological regions for the conterminous United States. Environmental Management 28(3):293-316.

Omernik, J.M. 1987. Ecoregions of the conterminous United States. Map (scale 1:7,500,000). Annals of the Association of American Geographers 77(1):118-125.

Omernik, J.M. 1995. Ecoregions: A spatial framework for environmental management. In: Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making. Davis, W.S. and T.P. Simon (eds.), Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. p. 49-62.

Omernik, J.M. 2004. Perspectives on the nature and definition of ecological regions. Environmental Management 34(Supplement 1):S27-S38.

Omernik, J.M. and G.E. Griffith. 2014. Ecoregions of the conterminous United States: evolution of a hierarchical spatial framework. Environmental Management 54(6):1249-1266.

Downloads

To view or download printable ecoregions maps and GIS datasets for spatial analysis, go to the pages in the Ecoregions Maps & GIS Data box above.

For Further Information

See Ecoregions Publications for links to additional details about ecoregions.

James Omernik: omernik.james@epa.gov / 541-754-4458
Glenn Griffith: ggriffith@usgs.gov / 541-754-4465
Randy Comeleo: comeleo.randy@epa.gov / 541-754-4491

Western Ecology Division
200 SW 35th St
Corvallis, OR 97333

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Ecoregions are areas where ecosystems (and the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources) are generally similar. This ecoregion framework is derived from Omernik (1987) and from mapping done in collaboration with EPA regional offices, other Federal agencies, state resource management agencies, and neighboring North American countries.

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1. Herbivore - Something that only eats plants

2.Carnivore - something that only eats meat

3. Omnivore - something that eats both plants and meat

4. Detritivore - animals that only eat dead organic material like mushrooms

5. Habitat - A specific home that certain animals inhabit, that they are adapted too

6. Predation -

7. Trophic Level -

8. Food Chain -

9. Food Web -

10. Biomass -

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How much energy do we actually get when we eat? not a lot, to say the lease. The trophic levels go down 10% when energy is passed from food source to food source. You'll be surprised when you learn that bugs will probably pass you more energy than eating shark, which is a thing, why is this? This is because of where they are on the food chain, imagine primary producers have a trophic level of 1000, smaller fish eat that, so the fish gets about 100 of the energy, then shark eats those fish getting about 10, soo when we consumer the shark, we only get 1/1000 of what the plant produces. It's astonishing how much energy is lost in the transferring process. It is also based on the habitat the animal is in, that changed what it may eat, fruits and berries go to monkies or grass goes to zebra which ends at lion, its strange to think about it.

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Let us take a quick crash course into catapults and energy

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Energy & Chemistry: Crash Course Chemistry #17

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Shows direction energy flows and different levels of consumers starting with the producer

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This talks about Food chains and the order of producer then consumers as well as food webs

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Food Chains, Food Webs, Biomass Pyramids, and Cycles

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Qld Science Teachers has free online science lessons, worksheets, quizzes, experiments and FAQs.

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1. Photosynthesis - The process of turning light, Carbon, and Energy into Glucose and Oxygen

2. Cellular Respiration - process of turning Oxygen into Energy and Carbon

3. Xylem - It is stronger, tends to be what creates wood, transports water

4. Phloem - Transports food

5. Stamen - Male part of a flower, consists of filament and Anther aka Pollen

6. Pistil - Female reproductive organ in a flower

7. Vascular Tissue - The Xylem and Phloem, kind of like veins

8. Meristem - Plant cells that are actively dividing

9. Dermal Tissue - Outer protective later that helps protect against injury

10. Cambium - Thin layer that forms new cells on either side, Xylem on one side, Phloem on the other

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Plants are what keep us alive. Many of you already know this but plants produce the oxygen that keep us alive, but did you know we produce the carbon to keep them alive as well? oxygen and carbon go through the process or photosynthesis and cellular respiration over and over again. Humans breathe in oxygen, in turn producing carbon, this carbon floats in the air until it goes through the plants, sucked in through the leaf and pulled into the chloroplast then used to produce sugar for itself and, you guessed it, oxygen for humans. This process repeats continuously over and over, never ending. Photosynthesis uses energy, light, and carbon, producing glucose, or C6H12O6, and oxygen that it releases, while cellular respiration used oxygen and, of course, energy.

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Aren't plants kind of awesome?

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Labeled parts of Phloem and Xylem for more specific view

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Going to this one place you can learn so many amazing things about plants!

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Plant Biology journal page at PubMed Journals. Published by Wiley

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1. Evolution - the change occurring over a great length of time

2. Derived Trait - Evolved to get certain adaptions that did not come from an ancestor

3. Ancestral Trait - Shared characteristics based on a common ancestor

4. Homologous Structure - Different parts of the body that share a similar structure

5. Analogous Structure - Similar structures but don't come from the same ancestor

6. Vestigial Structure - A structure that lost all or most of its original function

7. Classification - Categorizing things into different groups based on shared characteristics

8. Cladogram - Shows how an animal evolved and got their own derived traits

9. Binomial Nomenclature - 2 name naming process of different species

10. Taxonomy - naming something through shared characteristics

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Evolution, the Mother Teresa of all things science and biology, unless you have been living under a rock, you know the basics of evolution, no, not the fact that humans evolve from monkeys, that's slander, whoever told you that lied. Humans come from other humans, just not as evolved, smaller brains, bigger chins, didn't know how to walk upright or use tools, might not even know how to speak in a coherent language, we did come from a common ancestor as primates though, its why we have tail bones! Sadly, we don't grow full tails but we still have the bones for it. It is also why primates also have opposable thumbs, the only problem is that their brains didn't exactly get bigger like ours, they just got more hairy really. many animals have common ancestors. I wouldn't be surprised if we had a common ancestor as a worm, would you?

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Watch the evolutions of... well, evolution!

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Meet Evolution!

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Through the process of descent with modification, the common ancestor of life on Earth gave rise to the fantastic diversity that we see documented in the fossil record and around us today. Evolution means that we're all distant cousins: humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.

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1. Double Helix - The structure of DNA

2. Replication - The copy of a helix strand but with A turned in T, and G turned into C and vise versa

3. Thymine - Also known as T, it pairs up with Adenine in DNA

4. Nucleic Acid - Macro molecule for the nucleus

5. Cytosine - Also known as C, it pairs of with Guanine in DNA

6. Nucleotide - The basis of the macromolecule Nucleic Acid

8. Adenine - Also known as A, pairs up with Thymine in DNA

9. Guanine - Also known as G, it pairs up with Cytosine in DNA

10. Complementary Base - The base that pairs up perfectly with the original base

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DNA and Protein synthesis is a tough ball, knowing what to hit first is the hardest, from mRNA to learning about how proteins are synthesizes an part of the process of making new DNA. It is insane how complicated one cell on out whole body of millions of cells is. The coding and process of learning DNA to RNA to mRNA is strange, A to T, G to C, vise versa, then it goes A to U, T to A, G to C, and C to G, sometimes it can get confusing to keep up wit the changing letters when there is a lot to change, that's how amazing out DNA process is to do it in no time at all, more and more cells grow on as each day as more and more fall off and its strange to think about how our skin is constantly moving and working while we laze around and do nothing. It is kind of like the real word, how everything in a city needs to work together or it will all fall apart, just like a cell, that i one really good way to remember the cell processes, treat it like a town or city.

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The synthesizing of proteins can be an epic adventure if you know what you're talking about, let's join the Amoeba sisters and find out more

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The "simple" picture of DNA and RNA

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The "truth" about Protein synthesis, find it here.

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Protein synthesis - An Introduction to Genetic Analysis - NCBI Bookshelf

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We can regard protein synthesis as a chemical reaction, and we shall take this approach at first. Then we shall take a three-dimensional look at the physical interactions of the major components.

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1. Dominant - The trait that will show more often in the phenotype

2. Recessive - The trait that will show less often in the phenotype

3. Codominance - Both genes show perfectly on the phenotype as separate genes

4. Incomplete Dominance - Both genes mix to form a different phenotype

5. Punnett Square - A model allowing us to easily know the crosses of different genotypes

6. Monohybrid - 2 genotypes crossed that are the same

7. Dihybrid - 2 different genotype traits crossed

8. Biotechnology - manipulations of living organisms genotypes and phenotypes

9. Genetic Engineering - Changing genetics in something manually

10. Gene Therapy - Helping a gene change through different methods like lazers

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Genetics and Biotechnology is an advanced topic, to actually do it in real life, change genetic codes or heal and fix cells with therapy is insane! How far we have come as a race is amazin, really, to the point where we change the genes in plants and maybe humans too. The process of Genetics still isn't easy, thinking about Phenotypes and Genotypes, but it isn't hard either, once you get the hang of it you can do a cross of pretty much anything, on paper that is, in real life you would have to do a lot of tinkering with the persons genetics to get the perfect person. Genetic engineering will take this world to a whole new level, and Biotechnology, but maybe a little less of that on animals, they can't necessarilly say yes. In this unit you will learn a lot about how genes are crossed and the probabilities of getting different phenotypes based on the genotypes you got.

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How genetic engineering requires learning about biotechnology and genetics and how it will effect our future

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Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything Forever – CRISPR

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What must you do if your hypothesis is NOT correct?

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What must you do if your hypothesis is NOT correct?

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A) Give up and go home
B) Think and try again
C) Think and change your hypothesis
D) There is no possible way it is wrong

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What 2 barriers protect and surround the cell?

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What 2 barriers protect and surround the cell?

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A) Cell wall and Chloroplast
B) Chloroplast and Mitochondrion
C) Cell wall and Cell Membrane
D) Nucleus and Chloroplast

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What are the three main forms of transport through osmosis?

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What are the three main forms of transport through osmosis?

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A) Diffusion, Active Transport and Passive Transport
B) Active Transport, Passive Transport and Aggressive Transport
C) Facilitated Diffusion, Diffusion, and Aggressive Transport
D) Facilitated Diffusion, Diffusion, and Active Transport

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What does Mitosis and Meiosis have in common?

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What does Mitosis and Meiosis have in common?

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A) Reproduction
B) Growth
C) Cytokinesis
D) PMAT

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A) Double Helix
B) Spiral Chord
C) Duple Helixes
D) Double Hel

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The true definition of Biotech

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Do you want to know how Biotechnology changed Cancer? I do to, let's read this, shall we?

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You have roughly 50% chance of developing a cancer in your life and 25% of dying from it. How to cure it? Biotech played and will continue to play an essential role in Cancer, ranging from monoclonal antibodies, immuno-oncology, CAR-T and everything in between.
Cancer is the degeneration of one type of cell within an organism into something anarchistically powerful, and nasty... As this new cell-form uncontrollably proliferates and embeds itself in a tissue host, a tumor is born. When tumor cells later spread, the prognosis for its victim rapidly diminishes, a process known as metastasis. Detected at an early stage, cancer can be benign and solvable...but once metastases appear the challenge becomes a whole new (depressingly difficult) ball-game.

The "traditional" ways to tackle cancer are chemotherapy ('chemo') and radiotherapy. One big problem with these techniques, is the lack of specificity as chemo and radiotherapies are targeting cancer cells, but also healthy cells.

So, how do you improve drug specificity? You got it, monoclonal antibodies (aka mAbs), which were discovered in 1975 in the UK. Antibodies rapidly took off as a whole new approach for fighting cancer.

Monoclonal antibodies: How biological gets the ascendant on chemical's accuracy

The first monoclonal antibody used for cancer purpose was invented in 1983 to treat a patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Back then, having good results for your primary efficacy wasn't enough to negate all the adverse effects and limits of the therapy. However, since then the field has rapidly improved.

A good example of mAb success is Herceptin. One study published in the European Journal of Cancer detailed a clinical trial at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (Spain), where 25% of patients treated with Herceptin went into complete remission as opposed to the 5% of patients in the control group. One reason behind the efficiency and stark results in the trial is the use of a biomarker to better segment the population of breast cancer patients.

The biomarker, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an oncogene, of which overexpression occurs in around 15-30% of breast cancers. Essentially, segregation of a trial group based on the presence of this particular biomarker was the beginning of ' personalized treatments ' in Oncology. This strategy is also referred to as being 'theranostic': One biomarker (HER2), one device to detect the biomarker and one tailored treatment (Herceptin).

Video explaining how Herceptin Works

However, monoclonal antibodies are similar to chemotherapy in the respect they only act on a single target. And because cancer cells are so versatile, as soon as one path is inhibited another one simply takes its place. To answer this problem, multi-target strategies have been developed instead. Bi-specific antibodies have one body, but can form ligands with two different target sites. First described in 1983, there are currently only two bi-specific antibody therapies that are available, yet more than a 100 exist in current pipelines ( one recent example being the 'TandAbs' of Affimed). Another strategy is the combination of two antibodies to work together (e.g. BMS and its new combination - Nivolomab and Ipilimumab - approved by the FDA in the late September 2015 for treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type or metastatic melanoma).

Two approaches can be highlighted with mAbs: On one hand, mAbs such as Trastuzumab are blocking signal pathways, therefore killing the cancer cell. On the other hand, mAbs such as Ipilimumab are triggering the immune system to defend itself against the cancer cells...

This is Immuno-oncology baby!

It's the new way to treat cancer: Instead of targeting the tumor itself, immuno-therapies act on the body's own immune system (IS), enabling it to recognize a tumor for destruction. They also provide 'long-lasting memories' to the IS, to repeat the appropriate immune response and reduce the risk of relapsing should the same cancer come back. There is a useful introduction to Immuno-oncology in this leaflet from the ECPC here.

Monoclonal antibodies have already significantly impacted cancer treatments, but it's not the only method of attack...

Cell Therapy: The oldest biological against cancer

Cell therapy can be defined as the use of a whole cell as a 'drug', as opposed to small-molecules or antibodies. Currently there are only few indications validated worldwide, and they vary greatly from one country to another. However, in the last decade, hematopoietic stem cells have even been used (undifferentiated blood cells from bone marrow).

A standard procedure to treat blood cancer consists in taking healthy blood stem cells from bone marrow first for modification. Chemo is then used to blast the immune system, killing off all cancerous and healthy cells. Once this is done, the stem-cells from bone marrow samples are grafted into the patient to try and replenish the system. This strategy isn't exactly brand new; the first successful bone marrow transplant was performed in 1968 by the late Robert Good (the founder of modern Immunology)! But this is only a solution for a specific type of cancer (blood)...and there are so many types out there. And as with every medicine, there are limits and risk of severe adverse effects.

Gene Therapy: Reprogramming a virus as an anti-cancer agent

A third strategy developed by the biotech field is Gene Therapy. It can be defined as the using of specific nucleic acids sequences that once vectorized (inserted into a transporter) and delivered to the target cells in the patient, will be inserted into the cells genome and expressed as any other gene might. In doing so, the gene can be used to activate a certain signaling path, or be translated as a protein with many applications.

Two mains types of vectors for gene-therapies exist. One uses viruses, such as Adenovirus (chosen for their ease of manipulation), and the other a range of non-viral micro-particles such as Lipofectamine (a type of liposome which can freely pass through the cell membrane and deliver the target gene, which is inserted into a bacterial plasmid).

Several strategies have been developed with viruses to treat cancer, here are two interesting examples:

Currently, there is not the same kind of plethora of treatments available in Gene Therapy as there is with mAbs. The main reason here is the stigma associated with using gene-editing techniques in humans - particularly with viruses (which everyone is afraid will result in the ' 28 days later '). As a result there are many regulatory issues and extremely stringent safety requirements. Nevertheless, gene therapy is very promising.

CAR-T - The Ultimate Therapy: A mix between Cell therapy, Gene therapy and Immuno-oncology

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell (CAR-T) Immunotherapy: you may have already read up on it at Labiotech ...in part because it's such a major developmental area for Oncology research.

It works by triggering the immune system to recognize tumors and thus activate cancer cell lysis. In brief, you take the patient/donor T-cell, and then you modify it genetically in vitro to express a CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) that recognize a specific tumor's antigen.
Currently several trials are undergoing, one among other attempt to treat the Acute Lymphatic Leukemia by targeting CD19 antigen. One example is that by Autolus (a spin-off biotech from the University College of London):

The first proof using CAR-T however has already been achieved by Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania. Targeting the cancerous B cells in leukemia, up to 3 of the 14 patients in the trial went into complete remission, with one remaining cancer-free for over 5 years (and counting!).

So...the 4 major advantages of CAR-T are:

Using an autologous (patient-specific) cell decrease the risk of immunogenicity (host rejection)

CAR-T will target only the tumor alone, so there's less adverse events that with a chemo/monoclonal antibody

Triggering the immune system improves the natural way that our body defends itself against tumor on a long-term basis, helping reduce risk of relapse

Prior results of trials are very promising - complete remission, even!

However, the cost of production remains really expensive because of a manufacturing process yet to be mastered and standardized.

One way to overcome this challenge, as French Billion-euro Biotech Cellectis is doing, is to use allogeneic CAR-T cells. By using nucleases (gene-cutting enzymes) the genes responsible for immunological rejection of surgeries in graft vs. host reactions (as well as host vs. graft) are therefore not possible.

This progress has allowed the industrialization of the process to an extent - i.e. compared to the expensive and time-laborious task of creating one batch per patient (autogenic graft), medics can now create one batch for several patients (allogenic) without the risk of rejection.

For the record, here are other companies that also develop CAR-T: Theravectys, Kite Pharma, Juno therapeutics.

Video on CAR-T from Cellectis

You want some more?

CAR is not the only receptor that is expressed on therapeutic T-Cells. Indeed, Kite Pharma is re-directing T-Cell against cancerous targets through genetic engineering of designer T-cell receptors (TCR) that recognize antigens whether inside or outside of the cell. Clinical efficacy in solid tumors and some blood malignancies has been demonstrated already...
Immunocore and Adaptimmune are also doing TCR, leading to the biggest private biotech fundraising in the EU ever (€300M!).

So, what next?

We saw that biotech drugs fight cancer in a better way than classical chemical drugs do. As a matter of proof, biotech target cancer cells far more precisely and with less overall damage than in traditional chemotherapies. It also uses the immune system to block cancer from relapsing in the future, and so this strategy enables more of a prophylactic treatment rather than just a toxic curative.

But these new treatments remain hard to master and their extremely high prices cause reimbursement challenges for healthcare systems (particularly in the case of the UK's NHS). The future of cancer treatments will therefore remain of utmost interest to the biotech industry as the levels of personalization, accuracy and efficiency of these treatments continues to improve.

New very promising solutions are in various well-funded pipelines and should arrive on the market soon.

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The Ultimate Review on how Biotech Changed Cancer Treatment

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You have roughly 50% chance of developing a cancer in your life and 25% of dying from it. How to cure it? Biotech played and will continue to play an essential role in Cancer, ranging from monoclonal antibodies, immuno-oncology, CAR-T ...

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What chance does a cancer patient have of surviving cancer before biotechnology?

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What chance does a cancer patient have of surviving cancer before biotechnology?

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A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%

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Everything is connected

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What evolved to become bigger for humans?

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What evolved to become bigger for humans?

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A) Forehead
B) Chin
C) Brain
D) Teeth

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This is what our brains look like! Sadly, less colorful

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A small description of what this unit is dabbling in, the earth reminds me of the carbon changes with how it glows

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What is the difference between dependent and independent density factors?

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What is the difference between dependent and independent density factors?

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A) Biotic and Amazing
B) Biology and A-Biology
C) Abiotic and Biolic
D) Abiotic and Biotic

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A) Frontal Lobe, Rear lobe, Temporal Lobe, and Partial Lobe
B) Occipital Lobe, Frontal Lobe, Rear Lobe, Partial Lobe
C) Occipital Lobe, Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Partial Lobe
D) Occipital Lobe, Partial Lobe, Frontal Lobe

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If the starting Trophic Level is 3000 and the tertiary consumer eats the secondary consumer, how much energy would pass on to it?

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If the starting Trophic Level is 3000 and the tertiary consumer eats the secondary consumer, how much energy would pass on to it?

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A) 3
B) 30
C) 300
D) .3

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A) Transport Water
B) Transport Food
C) Carry Pollen
D) Carry Nutrients