6th grade - Life Science

6th grade - Life Science

Rachel Williamson Jessica Harwood Douglas Wilkin, Ph.D.

Ken Vicknair

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Printed: June 16, 2016

AUTHORS Rachel Williamson Jessica Harwood Douglas Wilkin, Ph.D. Ken Vicknair

EDITOR Douglas Wilkin, Ph.D.

CONTRIBUTORS Doris Kraus, Ph.D. Niamh Gray-Wilson Jean Brainard, Ph.D. Sarah Johnson Jane Willan Corliss Karasov

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Contents

Contents

1 Basic and Applied Science 2 Characteristics of Life 3 Fields in the Life Sciences 4 Safety in the Life Sciences 5 Microscopes 6 Organization of Living Things 7 Light Reactions of Photosynthesis 8 Levels of Ecological Organization 9 Ecosystems 10 Food Webs 11 Energy Pyramids 12 Producers 13 Consumers and Decomposers 14 Predation 15 Invasive Species

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1 4 9 13 18 24 29 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55



1 CONCEPT

Concept 1. Basic and Applied Science

Basic and Applied Science

? Define basic science and applied science. ? Distinguish between basic science and applied science.

Why should we study the rainforest?

Some scientists study problems that seem to have very little impact on our lives. For example, scientists are working to describe every type of plant and animal in the rainforest. What is the purpose? Many of our medicines come from plants and animals of the rainforest. So what medicines have not yet been discovered? There might be new cures to diseases yet to be identified. This is an example of how science can be applied to our lives.

Basic and Applied Science

Science can be "basic" or "applied." The goal of basic science is to understand how things work--whether it is a single cell, an organism made of trillions of cells, or a whole ecosystem. Scientists working on basic science questions are simply looking to increase human knowledge of nature and the world around us. The knowledge obtained through the study of the subspecialties of the life sciences is mostly basic science.

Basic science is the source of most scientific theories. For example, a scientist that tries to figure out how the body makes cholesterol, or what causes a particular disease, is performing basic science. This is also known as basic research. Additional examples of basic research would be investigating how glucose is turned into cellular energy or determining how elevated blood glucose levels can be harmful. The study of the cell (cell biology), the study of inheritance (genetics), the study of molecules (molecular biology), the study of microorganisms and viruses (microbiology and virology), the study of tissues and organs (physiology) are all types of basic research, and have all generated lots of information that is applied to humans and human health.

Applied science is using scientific discoveries, such as those from basic research, to solve practical problems. For example, medicine, and all that is known about how to treat patients, is applied science based on basic research

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