Glossary of Terms for
The Nature of Life

Assimilation - when the organism makes nutrients part of its own body

Biology - the study of life

Cell - the smallest unit of life

Excretion - when an organism removes poisonous waste substances

Evolution - the gradual change in an organism over time

Growth - the process where organisms increase in size

Homeostasis - the constant, stable internal environment obtained in an organism

Metabolism - every chemical reaction occurring within the cells of an organism

Nutrients - the required materials that is needed by an organism for energy, growth, repair, or maintenance

Nutrition - the process that occurs when an organism takes in food (ingestion) which is eventually broken down (digestion) to provide the organism with the necessary materials needed for metabolism

Regulation - all of the different activities that help to maintain an organism's stable internal environment (homeostasis)

Reproduction - the process in which living things produce new living organisms of their own species

Respiration -the process when energy is released during complex series of chemical reactions

Sexual Reproduction - a type of reproduction that occurs with two organisms and the resulting offspring are not completely identical to that of their parent

Synthesis - when two or more simple substances are combined chemically to form much more complex substances

Transport -the process of substances moving into and out of cells or distributed within the cells