Lecture 1 - What is Biology

8/12/2019 Lecture 1 - What is Biology

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What is Biology?

The study of life or living organisms.


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Biology is Relevant

Global problems are often Biological

Problems

Medicine

Bioengineering

Environment


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Biology can be Controversial

If I choose to limit my family size, what

methods of birth control do I use?

Is it right to protect an endangered species

at the expense of jobs?

Is it ethical to use fetal tissue in biomedical

research?

Are there dangers in cloning humans?

Are irradiated foods safe to eat?


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What is Life?Give your own definition


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Living Organisms:

Are highly organized, complex entities

are composed of one or more cells

contain a blueprint of their

characteristics acquire and use energy

carry out and control numerous chemical

reactions produce offspring similar to themselves

respond to changes in the environment

may evolve into new types of organisms


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Biology is a Branch of Science

Biology, physics, chemistry, geology, etc.

are branches of science

All branches:

pursuit of information

bodies of knowledge

have unique features/attributes


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Study of Life Has Unique Questions

Question #1: What happens when you

push a stationary ball?

Question #2: What happens when you

push a sleeping dog?


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Physical sciences are deterministic

Action A leads to Response B

Biology is probabilistic

Action A leads to Response B, C, D or E

with each having W, X, Y and Z

probabilities of occurring

Stochastic or deterministic?


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Disciplines of Biology

The disciplines of biology are allinterrelated and should not be viewed

as separate, independent entities.


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Studying Life cont.

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A. Characteristics of Living Things

All living things share common characteristics.

1. Living things are made up of units called cells.Cells- are the smallest building block of life that is astructural and functional unit.

oStructure-How something is made.

o

Function-How something works.Organism- Complete, individual living thing.

oMulticellular-Many cells

oUnicellular- One/Single celled


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Studying Life cont.

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2. Living things reproduce.

Reproduction - The process by which organismsmake

more of their own kind.

Two types of reproduction:

Sexual- Cells from two parents unite to produce a neworganism.

Asexual- New organisms have a single parent.


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Studying Life cont.

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3. Living things are based on a

universal genetic code.

Heredity- Passing of traits from

one generation to another.

Genes- Instructions for proteins

found in DNA (Deoxyribonucleic

Acid).


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Studying Life cont.

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4. Living things grow and develop.

Multicellular organisms will go through a

more dramatic growth and develop, then

will unicellular organisms.

Growth occurs through multiplication of

cells, not individual cells getting really

large.

Approximately 10 trillion cells in one adult

human.


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Studying Life cont.

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5. Living things obtain and use materials andenergy.

All organisms need E (energy) from nutrients. Metabolism-Sum of all chemical reactions that

build-up or break-down materials in an organism.

Where does E ultimately come from? I s metaboli sm structural or functional aspect of

cell?


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Studying Life cont.

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6. Living things respond to their environment.

Organisms detect and respond to stimuliA

signal to which an organism responds.

These stimuli can be internal or external.


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Studying Life cont.

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7. Living things maintain a stable internalenvironment.

o

Homeostasis- The ability to maintain a stableinternal environment in spite of changes in theexternal environment.

o Most organisms have feedback mechanisms tobalance their internal environment.

Ie. Temp, water, waste, nutrients, etc

How do we maintain a constant internalenvironment?


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Studying Life cont.

8. Taken as a group, living things change over

time.

Evolution- Change in the inherited traits of

species occurs over time.

What does it mean in your everyday l ife when you

become adapted to a situation?


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Studying Life cont.

B. Branches of Biology

o Living things can be studied by different types:

Zoology- Animals

Botany- Plants

Paleontology- Ancient life

o Or by organizational levels:

Atom-Molecules-Organelles-Cells-Tissues-

Organs-Systems-Organism-Population-

Community-Ecosystem-Biosphere


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Studying Life cont.

Atoms- Building blocks of all matter.

6 important elements of life:

C, H, O, P, N, S

Atoms join to form molecules.

Organelles- Structures that perform

specific functions in cells.

Made of many large molecules.


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Studying Life cont.

Cell- Made up of organelles.

Red, white, bone, muscle, nerve, etc.

Tissue- Group of similar cells that performa common function.

Skin, muscle, nerves

Organ- Composed of tissues workingtogether.

Stomach, eye, brain


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Studying Life cont.

System- Group of organs working together.

Digestive, Muscular, Nervous

Organism- Group of systems working

together

Population- Group of organisms of the

same species living in the same place at the

same time.


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Studying Life cont.

Community- Different populations that live in the

same area and interact with one another.

Lake

Ecosystem-A community of living things and its

nonliving physical environment.

Forest, Prair ie, Desert


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Levels of Organization(large scale)

Ecosystem

Both living

organisms and non-living or physical

components of

environment in a

particular area


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Levels of Organization(large scale)

Community All interacting

organisms in an area(living component

only)


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Levels of Organization

Population

Individuals of one species living in same

area


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Individual One

organism


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(within an Individual)

Organ Systems group of organs

that work togetherin performing vitalbody functions

excretory, nervous


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Tissues

integrated groupof cells with acommon function,structure, or both

Bone tissue


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Cell

Unit of living

matter separated

from

environment byits membrane

red blood cell


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Atom Smallest particle

of ordinary

matter


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Emergent properties

New properties that emerge with each

step in the hierarchy of life

e.g., birth rate, death rate is studied atpopulation level, not organismal level or

molecular level


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Interconnected Webs

producers

photosynthetic organisms

provide food for others

consumers

eat plants or other animals

decomposers act as recyclers, breaking down dead matter

to simple mineral nutrients

Sunlight


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Ecosystem

Producers

(such as plants)

Sunlight

Cyclingof

chemicalnutrients

Chemical energy

Consumers

(such as animals)

Heat

Heat


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Biology :

The study of life

Microbiology : (a branch of Biology)

The study of microorganisms, which are

unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic

organisms. This includes eukaryotes such

as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes

Biotechnology: (a field of applied Biology)

Any technological application that uses

biological systems , living organisms, to

make or modify products and or processes.


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Biology :


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Microbiology :


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Biotechnology :


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iotechnology :


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Biotechnology :


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Cells: structural functional units of

life Cells-

most basic unit of life

can perform all functions necessary for life.


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Common Features of All Life

Properties All Life Has in Common

1. Order

2. Regulation3. Growth and development

4. Energy processing

5. Response to Environment

6. Reproduction

7. Evolutionary adaptation


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Three Domains of Life

taxonomy

branch of biology that names &

classifies species


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Documents

Lecture 1 - What is Biology