Cells

Unit Review Sheet

Facts and Definitions

Lesson 1: Microscopes and Cells

• Magnification means enlarging the visual size of something. Your microscope probably has 3 magnification levels.
• A cell is the basic units of life that makes up living organisms.

Lesson 2: Animal Cells

• Organelles are specialized structures inside of a cell.
• The nucleus is the control center for the cell. It directs the rest of the cell. More than one nucleus is called nuclei.
• The cell membrane is the outermost layer of an animal cell. It is flexible, allowing water and food in and waste out.
• Cytoplasm is the jellylike material inside the cell.
• The mitochondrion turns food into energy for the cell. More than one mitochondrion is called mitochondria.
• Ribosomes make proteins for the cell. Ribosomes are primarily located in the endoplasmic reticulum.
• DNA contains instructions for making and maintaining living things.
• The Golgi apparatus moves proteins around the cell.
• Microtubules transport items, like proteins, through the cell.
• Multicellular organisms, like plants and animals, are made up of many, many different cells.
• Unicellular organisms are made up of only one cell.
• The paramecium is a one-celled organism with a distinctive long oval shape and hairlike organelles called cilia, which help it move around. More than one paramecium is called paramecia.

Lesson 3: Plant Cells

• Every plant cell has a vacuole, a large sac that holds fluid to keep the cell sturdy.
• Some plant cells have chloroplasts, which make food using photosynthesis.
• Plant cells have a tough outer layer called a cell wall.

Lesson 4: Systems of Plant and Animal Cells

• A system is a group of individual items that work together to perform important functions.
• Tissues are groups of cells with the same shared function.
• Organs are different types of tissues that join together to do more specific tasks to help an organism.
• Organ systems are collections of different organs that work together to do important jobs in an organism.
• Like animal cells, specialized plant cells join together to form tissues.
• Dermal tissue is like the plant's skin. It produces a thin waxy covering that keeps water inside the plant.
• Ground tissue in a plant has a variety of tasks. Some provide structural support, others carry out photosynthesis, and others store the plant's food.
• Vascular tissue carries water and food to other parts of the plant.

Lesson 5: Large Systems of Life: Ecosystems

• Biotic means related to or caused by living things.
• Abiotic means related to or caused by nonliving things.
• A group of one type of animal or plant living in a specific area is a population.
• Several populations of different animals and plants that interact with one another in a specific area are called a community.
• An ecosystem is a community of many organisms that affect and are affected by physical changes in their environment.

Lesson 6: Classifying Life

• Scientific classification (also called taxonomy) categorizes organisms according to Kingdom, Phylum/Division, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Variety may also be used to identify a population of a particular species in a particular geographic area.
• Phylum and Division are the same level of organization, but phylum refers to animals, and division refers to plants and fungi.
• Domain is a category above kingdom. The domains are Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archea.
• Eukarya is the domain that includes protists, fungi, plants, and animals. The other two domains are Bacteria and Archea, which are both types of bacteria with different cellular structures from one another.
• Prokaryotic cells are simple cells with little structure and no clear nucleus. These simple organisms include two different domains of bacteria.
• Eukaryotic cells are the more complex cells with clear nuclei, including those from the four kingdoms.

Final Project: Cells and Life on Earth

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