Campbell Biology Chapter 1-4 Outline
The Chemical Context of Life 8/22/13 6:23 PM Chapter 1: Exploring Life Biology?s Most Exciting Era Biology- the scientific study of life Biologists explore life from the microscopic to the global scale A Hierarchy of Biological Organization The biosphere- consists of all the environments on Earth that are inhabited by life. Ecosystems- consists of all the living things in a particular area, along with all the nonliving components of the environment with which life interacts. Ex. forest The biosphere is composed of ecosystems Communities- the entire array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem. The set of populations that inhabit a particular area Populations- consists of all the individuals of a species (forms of life) living within the bounds of a specified area