Life on Earth
Audesirk & Audesirk
Prentice-Hall, Inc.


Chapter 1: At a Glance


The Characteristics of Living Things
  • Living things are both complex and organized.
  • Living things must acquire and use materials and energy.
  • Homeostasis maintains relatively constant internal conditions.
  • Growth is a property of all living organisms.
  • Living things respond to stimuli.
  • Living things reproduce themselves.
  • Living things have the capacity to evolve.

    The Diversity of Life
  • Members of the kingdom monera are prokaryotic cells; members of all other kingdoms are composed of eukaryotic cells.
  • Members of the kingdoms monera and protista are mostly unicellular; members of the kingdoms fungi, plantae, and animalia are primarily multicellular.
  • Members of the different kingdoms have different ways of acquiring energy.

    Biology: The Science of Life
  • Scientific principles underlie all scientific inquiry.
  • The scientific method is the basis for scientific inquiry.
  • Science is a human endeavor.
  • Scientific theories have been thoroughly tested.

    Evolution: The Unifying Concept of Biology
  • Three natural processes underlie evolution.

    Knowledge of Biology Illuminates Everyday Life



  • Designed in cooperation with Andrew Stull and Steven Brunasso.

    Last Update - July 25, 1997

    © Prentice-Hall, Inc.
    A Simon & Schuster Company
    Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

    Legal Statement