B.1.42 Realize and explain that at times, the environmental conditions are such that plants and marine organisms grow faster than decomposers can recycle them back to the environment. Understand that layers of energy-rich organic material thus laid down have been gradually turned into great coal beds and oil pools by the pressure of the overlying earth. Further understand that by burning these fossil fuels, people are passing most of the stored energy back into the environment as heat and releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Molecules and Cells

7.4.4 Explain that the basic functions of organisms, such as extracting energy from food & getting rid of wastes, are carried out within the cell & understand that the way which cells function is similar in all organisms.

7.4.5 Explain how food provides the fuel & the building material for all organisms.

7.4.6 Describe how plants use the energy from light to make sugars from carbon dioxide & water to produce food that can be used immediately or stored for later use.

7.4.7 Describe how organisms that eat plants break down the plant structures to produce the materials & energy that they need to survive, & in turn, how they are consumed by other organisms.

8.4.5 Explain that energy can be transferred from one form to another in living things.

8.4.6 Describe how animals get their energy from oxidizing their food & releasing some of this energy as heat.

B.1.6 Show that a living cell is composed mainly of a small number of chemical elements - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur. Recognize that carbon can join to other carbon atoms in chains and rings to form large and complex molecules.

Developmental and Organismal Biology

Genetics

Evolution

Ecology

7.4.9 Describe how technologies having to do with food production, sanitation, & disease prevention have dramatically changed how people live & work & have resulted in changes in factors that affect the growth of human population.

7.4.13 Explain that the environment may contain dangerous levels of substances that are harmful to human beings. Understand, therefore, that the good health of individuals requires monitoring the soil, air, & water as well as taking steps to keep them safe.

8.4.4 Describe how matter is transferred from one organism to another repeatedly & between organisms & their physical environment.

B.1.40 Understand and explain that like many complex systems, ecosystems tend to have cyclic fluctuations around a state of rough equilibrium. However, also understand that ecosystems can always change with climate changes or when one or more new species appear as a result of migration or local evolution.

B.1.43 Understand that and describe how organisms are influenced by a particular combination of living and nonliving components of the environment.

B.1.44 Describe the flow of matter, nutrients, and energy within ecosystems.

B.1.45 Recognize that and describe how the physical or chemical environment may influence the rate, extent, and nature of the way organisms develop within ecosystems.

B.1.46 Recognize and describe that a great diversity of species increases the chance that at least some living things will survive in the face of large changes in the environment.

Historical

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