AP Biology Big Ideas

The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life

Biological Systems use Energy and molecular building blocks to grow

Living things store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.

Biological systems interact and these systems and their interactions exhibit complex properties

Evolution is characterized by a change in the genetic makeup of a population over time and is supported by multiple lines of evidence.

Organisms are linked by lines of descent from common ancestry.

Life continues to evolve within a changing environment.

The highly complex organization of living systems requires constant input of energy and the exchange of macromolecules.

Cells have membranes that allow them to establish and maintain internal environments that are different from their external environments.

Timing and coordination of biological mechanisms involved in growth, reproduction, and homeostasis depend on organisms responding to environmental cues.

Communities and ecosystems change on the basis of interactions among populations and disruptions to the environment.

Heritable information provides for continuity of life.

Differences in the expression of genes account for some of the phenotypic differences between organisms.

Cells communicate by generating, transmitting, receiving, and responding to chemical signals.

The processing of genetic information is imperfect and is a source of genetic variation.

Transmission of information results in changes within and between biological systems.

Living systems are organized in a hierarchy of structural levels that interact.

Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.

Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within biological systems affects interactions with the environment.