What is Biology?

Neubert CP Bio Spring Semester

In your journals copy the following Student Learning Map (SLM)

UEQ: What is Biology? How is biology studied?Science as a process

Biology Basics

1. What is the goal of science?

2. How do scientists test hypotheses?

3. How is a scientific theory developed?

Scientific methods, hypothesis, experiment, control, independent variable, dependent variable, safety symbol, data, theory

1. What are the characteristics that all living things share?

2. What are the benefits to studying biology?

Biology, organism, organization, reproduction, species, growth, development, environment, stimulus, response, homeostasis, energy, adaptation, evolution

WARM UP! 1/23/12Marvin the Martian steals a car from Earth and

takes it back to Mars as an example of life on Earth. The Martians state that this is not a good example of life.

Who is right? In your group, come up with an argument for or against Marvin’s idea that a car is a good example of Life from Earth.

Biology is the study of Life

Biologists study…• Interactions between living and nonliving

things• Diversity of life• Characteristics of living things• How life changes, adjusts, adapts and evolves

Interactions between living and nonliving things

• Because living organisms do not live in isolation, biologists study living and nonliving interactions. – Ex. Learning about a wild population

of rabbits requires knowledge of the plants they eat, and what preys on them.

Ex. Plants use CO2 from the atmosphere, and replenish O2 back into the atmosphere.

Diversity of life• Each organism has a role to play (niche) and so

there is great diversity among organisms.

Characteristics of living things• Can you name the nine characteristics of life?

9 Characteristics of Life

Gas exchange

Water Use energy

Eliminate waste

Respond to environment

Grow

Reproduce

Can die

Made up of cells

Metabolism• all chemical changes within cells considered all

together; the chemical reactions in the body's cells that convert the fuel from food into the energy needed to do everything from moving to thinking to growing.

How life changes, adjusts, adapts and evolves

• Any inherited structure, behavior, or internal process that enables an organism to respond to environmental factors and live to produce offspring is called an adaptation.

• Gradual changes over time through these adaptations is called evolution.

Activity

• Complete the worksheet and turn it in. Use your notes to complete the worksheet.

WARM UP! 1/24/12• In the 1940’s the brown tree snake was introduced

to the island of Guam. In 1965, a newspaper reported that this snake was beneficial to the island, because it ate rodents. However, a biologist walking through the woods noticed that there were no bird songs in the forest. – What was the original hypothesis about the brown tree

snake and it’s role on the island?– What might the hypothesis be of the biologist

mentioned above?– What’s one thing the biologist could do, to support her

hypothesis?

The Scientific Method• Common steps used by scientists to collect data and

answer questions. – Observation– Hypothesis– Experiment – materials and procedure

• Control• Independent variable – the variable that determines the outcome

of the experiment (x-axis)• Dependent variable – changes based on the independent variable

(y-axis)

– Data/results– Analysis/ Error analysis– Conclusion/discussion