General Biology

Prepared by:
Gaynor A. Tenerife
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
Specific Objectives:
• Define biology and give its scope as a science of life.
• Identify and describe some branches of biology.
• Trace the progress and development of biological
science through time.
• Identify the parts of microscope and its function.
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
• Identify the attributes of living things and
compare them with that of nonliving things.
• Explain and apply the steps in scientific method.
• Carry out scientific attitudes.
• Give and appreciate the significance of biology to
the society.
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
• We live in a remarkable place, and we live in
remarkable times. Our home, the Earth, is unlike any
other planet that orbits the sun. The Earth is the only
planet with great oceans of liquid water. It is the only
planet surrounded by an atmosphere that is rich in
oxygen. In addition, it has something else that may not
exist on any other planet: The Earth has life.
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
• No matter where you live – city, farm, small town
or suburb – life is all around you. In fact, it is
almost impossible to think of a single place on
Earth that is not a home to living things. Life is
found in golden grasslands, scorching deserts, deep
oceans, and even the frozen wastes of Antarctic.
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
• It is often easy to think that life is the most
ordinary thing in the world. However, life is
far from simple or ordinary. As you study the
living things of the world, you will come to
appreciate their special qualities even more.
Biology and Related Sciences
• Biology – the science of life and living
organisms, including their structure, function,
growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and their
relationship to their environment
• from the Greek words ‘bios’ (life) and ‘logos’
(study/theory)
Biology and Related Sciences
• Life – refers to the properties and conditions,
which distinguishes a plant and animal from
inorganic matter or dead organisms.
• Dead – deprived of life.
• Scope of Biology: It deals in all aspects of living
organisms.
Major Branches of Biology
• Cytology – deals with the formation, structure, and
functions of cells.
• Zoology – deals with animals and animal life, including
the study of structure, physiology, development, and
classification of animals and their characteristics.
• Botany – study of plants including their characteristic
features.
 Major Branches of Biology
• Biochemistry – study of chemical substances and vital
processes occurring in living organisms.
• Physiology – is the biological study of the functions
of living organisms and their parts.
• Morphology – deals with the form and structure of
organisms without consideration of function.
Major Branches of Biology
• Anatomy – is the dissection of a plant or animal to
study the structure, position and interrelation of its
various parts.
• Ecology – is the science of the relationships between
organisms and their environment.
• Genetics – deals with the principles of heredity and
variation in all living things.
Major Branches of Biology
• Evolution – is the study of origin of life and living
forms; historical development of a related group of
organisms; theory that groups of organisms change
with passage of time, mainly because of natural
selection.
• Histology – is the microscopic study of tissues and
cells of plants and animals.
Major Branches of Biology
• Pathology – study of abnormal structure and
abnormal functional conditions.
• Taxonomy – is the classification, grouping and
naming of living things.
• Biogeography – refers to the distribution of
organisms on the earth’s surface.
 Brief History of Biology
1. Biology in Ancient Times/ Primitive Period
• people know already what to avoid
poisonous plants and how to treat animals
predates the written history of humans.
• survival depends on the knowledge of
harmful and useful of plants and animals
1. Biology in Ancient Times/ Primitive
Period
• Ancient Oriental people – knew the pollination palm
• Mesopotamia – knew that pollen can be used as
fertilizers.
• India – described some aspects of bird’s life.
• Egypt – knew that metamorphosis of insects and
frogs, thus they already knew anatomy and
physiology in various forms.
2. Classical Period to Medieval Biology

• It began with the Greeks and continued

with the Romans
• Great curiosity about natural phenomena
and ability to organized biological
knowledge and record it.
Great contributions in Biology:
Hippocrates – is the “Father of Medicine”
“diseases have natural causes and the body
has the power to repair itself ”
Aristotle - is the “Greatest Ancient Scientist”
excelled in making observation and he studied
almost all areas of science.
Great contributions in Biology:
Theopratus – carried on pioneer studies on the nature
of plants; Aristotle’s pupil.
Galen – is the “Last Great Biologist of Antiquity”,
practiced medicine in Rome. He studied human
anatomy and carried first psychological experiments on
animals.
After Galen, Biological darkness envelop all Europe.
 Medieval Biology
• often called as the dark age of biology - downward trend in
scientific inquiry and no biologist made critical observations,
however some people dealt with medieval issues
• Al-Jahiz – wrote kitab al hayawan (book of animals)
• Albertus Magnus – wrote the de vegetabilis and de animalibus,
about plant propagation and reproduction, and discussed
some details of the sexuality of plant and animals
 3. The Renaissance - 14th to 16th century
• virtual artists were interested in the bodies of animals and
humans leading to the study of physiology in details
• middle renaissance, anatomy, physiology, botany, and zoology
were established
• Otto Brunfels, Heironymus Bock, and Leonhard
Fuchs – wrote a book about wild plants; German fathers
of biology
• Conrad Gesner – wrote books about animals
• Albrecht Durer – made illustrations of animals
• Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo – they
made accurate studies in plants and animals, and
human anatomy.
• Andreas Vesalius – published “The Structure
of The Human Body”
• William Harvey – described blood circulation
in man
4. Modern Biology – 17th century
• Technology went forward
Predecessors of Microscope
• Robert Hooke – established the concept of cell theory
• Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) – observed
blood and sperm cells
• Carl Von Linne (1707-1778) – invented the taxonomy
system with scientific name
• Louis Pasteur – is the “Father of Microbiology”
who laid the foundation of modern microbiology.
Predecessors of Microscope
• Francesco Redi - who disproved experimentally the
spontaneous generation (living organism can originate from
non-living matter)
• Gregor Mendel (1866) – postulated the Law of
Inheritance ; “father of genetics”
• Jean Baptiste Lamarck - proposed the theory of
evolution(long neck of giraffe)
Predecessors of Microscope
• Charles Darwin (1859) – proposed the natural selection as an
explanation by which evolutionary changes take place; wrote
the book “On the Origin of Species” (natural selection as the
primary mechanism of evolution)
• James Watson and Francis Crick (1953) – created the basic
structure of DNA, the genetic material expressing in all life
forms.
• Hugo de Vries - formulated the mutation theory
Attributes of Living Things
• Life is the quality that distinguishes a vital
functioning being from dead body.
• Biogenesis – life comes from life
• Abiogenesis – or spontaneous generation;
living things comes from non-living things
 Form and Size
• Living Things - certain limits, most of
them are also arranged as definite
individuals.
• Non Living Things - its materials vary
 Organization
• Living Things - made up of cells assembled into
interrelated systems for performing life processes. They
rearranged and combine chemical elements for their
need.
• Non Living Things - cannot recombine materials and
their structure depend on chemicals present and mode
of formation.
 Movement
• Living Things - can move by themselves; capable of
moving from one place to another place or moving
some of its parts; change position. Unicellular organisms
use their cilia and flagella for movement.
• Non Living Things - can move with the help of
external force
 Growth
Living Things
• property of all living things; refers to the increase in size or in
the amount of living substance in the body that involves the
conversion of materials acquired from the environment into
specific, molecules of organisms’ own body.
• exhibit internal growth by a process called intussusception
(assimilation of new materials in the body
 Growth
Non Living Things
•exhibit external growth or accretion
•- they grow only by addition
 Life Cycle
Living Things
• replace parts during life.
• definite life cycle-birth, growth, maturity, life span,
and death
Non Living Things
• no orderly cycle or change
 Metabolism
Living Things
• is the sum-total of all the chemical reactions needed to sustain
life; over-all processes that continuously taking place in the
body of organism
• various vital life processes which includes all the changes that
the material taken as food undergoes;
 Metabolism
Living Things
• chemical reactions and energy transformations which
are needed in the maintenance of cell organization,
growth, repair and other activities of the cell, occur in
all living things.
• - must be carefully regulated to maintain an internal
balance or homeostasis
 2 Phases of Metabolism:
Anabolism – called as the constructive or building up
phase; includes assimilation or building up protoplasm
from simple compounds and elements that are end-
products of digestion.
Catabolism – destructive or breaking down phase;
involves the release of energy by breaking food
substances through respiration.
 Irritability
Living Things
• react to changes in the environment; changes act as
stimuli that induce responses by the organism
• respond to stimulus or stimuli:
• Taxes – animals’ response to stimuli
• Tropism – plants’ response to stimuli
 Irritability
Non Living Things
• definite quantitative relationship between the
intensity of the environmental change and the
reaction produced as in the expansion of metal
by heat.
 Reproduction
Living Things
• is the ability of the organism to create another
same kind; “Life comes only from living
organisms.”
• can be asexual or sexual reproduction
 Scientific Method and
Attitude
• Scientific method – a system of asking
questions, developing explanations, and
testing those explanations against the reality
of the natural world.
 Scientific Method and
Attitude
• It is the logical, organized, and systematic
approach to the solutions of problems that
lend themselves to investigation and gather
knowledge.
 Scientific Method and
Attitude
• It requires honesty, the ability to withhold a
decision until all the evidence is gathered, and
a desire for knowledge.
• Claude Villee – once described the scientific
method as “organized common sense”.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Observation - observed phenomenon leads to
a question. What actually occurs from direct
observations?
• Question - formulation of a problem about an
observed phenomenon.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Hypothesis - tentative answer to the question; an
intelligent guess.
• Experiment - a sequence of observations carried
out under controlled conditions. Part of the
experiment, carefully records and analyzes data, or
information gathered.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Generalization - A large number of related
observations in terms of broad principles.
• It is the organization of the accumulated data
and finds relationships among them.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Conclusion - result of the experiment,
which should be interpreted carefully.
• It may raise new questions and lead new
hypotheses and new experiments.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Natural Law or Principle - summarized
results, generalization that describe behavior
in nature but does not explain why nature
behaves in that particular way.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Theory – it explains why nature behaves in the
way described by the natural law.
• It answers not only the original question, but also
any other questions that were raised during the
process. It also predicts the result of further
experiments, which is how it is checked.
 Steps of the scientific
Method
• Testing – it is used to establish the validity
of the theory.
• A theory is retained only as long as it is
useful.
 The Process of Science
• The process of science or the so-called
science process skills facilitate students’
acquisition of skills and the development of
scientific mind and attitudes for lifelong
learning.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
Basic Process and Skills:
• Observing – is using any one or a combination
of the senses or other devises to gather
information about objects or events.
• Using numbers - it refers to expressing concepts
quantitatively in terms of numerical values.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
• Classifying – arranging, sorting and distributing
objects, events, or information according to some
methods or systems.
• Communicating – expressing one’s thoughts and
ideas through verbal or non-verbal modes.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
• Measuring – making quantitative observations
with reference to a standard or convention.
• Predicting – giving forecast of possible future
occurrence/s
• Inferring – making a logical generalization from
any given data.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
Integrated Skills:
• Identifying and Controlling Variables –
recognizing and controlling factors that are either
constant or changing under specific conditions.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
• Formulating / Testing Hypothesis –
constructing and confirming generalizations based
on inferences made.
• Interpreting data – analyzing patterns, trends, or
relationships based on gathered data.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
• Defining operationally – defining or describing
systems of information based on specific
conditions.
• Experimenting – applying all science processes
to probe or explore on something of interest.
 A brief description of science processes
follows:
• Constructing models – demonstrating and
translating information or concepts by means of
graphic illustrations, prototypes, or other multi-
sensory representations.
Significance of Biology in Society
• Enables us to learn all basic information about
living forms
• Forensics – DNA analysis.
• Develop an appreciation of interdependence of
living things with each other.
Significance of Biology in Society
• Enables us to realize the economic value of plants
and animals, and to respect life in whatever form
it is.
• Plant and animal improvement (breeding)
- supply nutrient need for ever growing
population.
Significance of Biology in Society
• Effectively help in the country’s conservation and
preservation programs.
• Improve general health standards.
• Medicine – genetic engineering, pharmaceutical
research and healthcare
• Others – cloning, genome mapping
THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF LIFE
Specific objectives
• Describe the structure of an atom.
• Discuss the isotopes.
• Describe the different types of chemical
bonds.
• Compare elements and compounds.
THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF LIFE
• Discuss the functions of inorganic compounds
such as water and minerals.
• Identify and discuss the functions of organic
compounds in living organisms.
• Differentiate organic compound from inorganic
compound.
THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF LIFE
Why are living things so different from nonliving
things?
One way to examine this question is at the chemical
and molecular levels.
As you will discover, the arrangement of chemical
elements in living things is far more complex than
anything found in the nonliving world.
 Atoms and Elements
• Neils Bohr (1913)
-proposed that a cloud of electrons orbits
around the core of every atom, resembling a
miniature solar system. The center of each atom is
small, very dense nucleus, formed of the other two
stable subatomic particles, protons and neutrons.
 Atoms and Elements
• Atomic number
– is the number of charged protons which
determines the chemical character of the
atom, because it dictates the number of
electrons orbiting the nucleus and available for
chemical activity.
 Atoms and Elements
• Atomic mass – is equal to the sum of the masses
of its protons and neutrons.
• An atom is a core nucleus of protons and
neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons. The
number of its electrons largely determines the
chemical properties of an atom.
 Atoms and Elements
• Example: Based on the number of protons they
possess, the atomic numbers of hydrogen, carbon and
calcium are thus 1, 6, and 20, respectively.
• An element is a substance with only one kind of atom.
Each has a different number of protons and a different
arrangement of electrons. It is simplest form of
substance.
 Atoms and Elements
• Substance
– has a constant composition and properties
throughout a given sample and from one sample to
another, can be decomposed by chemical process.
Dmitri Mendeleev (19th century)
• – a Russian chemist who arranged the known elements
in a table according to their atomic number, he also
discovered one of the great generalizations of all
science. He found that the entries in the table exhibited
repeating pattern of chemical properties, in recurring
groups of eight elements.
Dmitri Mendeleev (19th century)
• 92 or more chemical elements in the world only 6
elements are present in about 99% of living matter
(C, H, O, N, P, S)
• 14 are consistently present in living things but in
smaller quantities (Mg, I, Fe, Ca, Na, Cl, K)
Chemical elements /Chemistry of life
• There are about 92 naturally occurring elements,
only about 18 are usually found in the living
organisms. These 18 elements and their compound are by
far the most common substances in living organisms.
They are the ones found most often in the materials
needed for chemical activities of life.
Chemical elements /Chemistry of life
• All living organisms are made up of Hydrogen – H,
Oxygen – O, Nitrogen – N, and Carbon – C, in
which 99% of the weight of living things is composed
of these atoms. It also contains sulfur – S and
phosphorus - P.
 Table 1. CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN LIVING ORGANISMS
(PRESENT IN THE LIVING CELL – PROTOPLASM)
AMOUNT IN THE AMOUNT IN THE
ELEMENTS BODY ELEMENTS BODY
(69.3KGPERSON) (69.3KGPERSON)
Oxygen 45.5 Chlorine 0.1
Carbon 12.6 Magnesium 0.04
Hydrogen 7 Iron 0.00027
Nitrogen 2.1 Manganese 0.002
Calcium 1.05 Iodine 0.03gm
Phosphorus 0.7 Silicon Minute traces
Potassium 0.25 Fluorine Minute traces
Sulfur 0.1 Copper Minute traces
Sodium 0.1 Zinc Minute traces
Chemical elements /Chemistry of life
• Isotopes – atoms that have the same number of
protons but different numbers of neutrons; differ in
atomic mass but have similar chemical properties.
Example: Hydrogen and Carbon
• Radioisotopes – isotopes with excess neutrons that
undergo radioactive decay emitting a significant amount
of energy
Chemical elements /Chemistry of life
• Half-life – the time it takes for 50% of the atoms in a
sample to decay.
• Example: Carbon 14 has a half-life of about 5600
years. A sample of carbon containing 1 gram of the
isotope C-14 today would contain 0.5 gram after 5600
years, 0.25 gram 11,200 years from now and so on.
Molecules and Compounds
• A molecule consists of two or more than atoms
combined in stable associations or linked together
by chemical bonds.
• A chemical bond is a force holding two
atoms together forming molecules.
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:
1. Covalent bond – involves the sharing of electrons
between atoms; most biological compounds are
formed
• a.) single bond – a pair of electrons is shared
• b.) double bond – two pairs of electrons are shared
• c.) triple bond – three pairs of electrons are shared
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:
2. Ionic bond – formed when electrons are pulled
completely from one atom and transferred to the
other; an attraction between ions (charged particle or
atom that gains or loses electrons) of opposite charge;
play important roles in muscle contraction,
transmission of nerve impulses and many other life
processes.
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:

• cations – atoms with 1, 2 or 3 electrons tend to

loose electrons, so they become positively charged.
• anions – atoms with 5, 6, or 7electrons tend to gain
electrons, so they become negatively charged
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:

3. Hydrogen bond – formed between a hydrogen

atom and an electronegative atom; weak bonds and
are readily formed or broken; important in
determining the properties of water; have specific
length and orientation (a feature that helps determine
the 3-D structure of large molecules).
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:

• exist between the different molecules in water, for

example; without them, water would be a gas at
room temperature, as without sufficiently strong
bonds between them, the water molecules would
not be attracted together strongly enough to keep
the water together as a liquid
Three principal kinds of chemical bonds:

• They are present in the structures of proteins,

carbohydrates, and nucleic acids, and are therefore
very significant in many biological processes.
• Compound – a substance whose molecules
contain more than one kind of atom
 Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• Inorganic Compounds – do not have the elements

carbon and hydrogen in its chemical composition.

• Water – one of the most biologically important

compounds in living organisms;
Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• it is the most abundant inorganic compound in

every living organisms which constitute 65% -
95% of the substance. It is very necessary to
support life.
• Ability to dissolve substances – water is universal
solvent; powerful solvent
Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• covers ¾ of the earth; forms a large part of the

mass of living organisms;

• in human tissues, the percentage of water ranges

from 20%; in bones to 85% in brain cells;
Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• Involved in plant metabolism and the source of

oxygen in the air we breathe, and its hydrogen
atoms are incorporated in many organic
compounds present in the bodies of living
organism; has a pH of 7
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER
PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE
Many kinds of
Polar water
molecules can move
HIGH molecules are
freely in cells, permitting
POLARITY attracted to ions
a very diverse array of
– and polar
chemical reaction
POWERFUL compounds,
Can dissolve organic
SOLVENT making them
matter –can form many
soluble
amount of ions
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER
PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE
Hydrogen bonds
absorb heat when
HIGH they break, and Water stabilizes body
SPECIFIC release heat when temperature, as well as that
HEAT they form, of the environment;
/HIGH minimizing minimizes abrupt
HEAT temperature changes; temperature changes in the
CAPACITY the effect of heat organisms
production and heat
loss is lessened
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER
PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE

Many hydrogen Evaporation of water

bonds must be cools body surfaces;
HIGH
broken for water During high
HEAT OF
to evaporate; a lot temperature, living
VAPORIZAT
of heat is needed organisms do not heat
ION
to vaporize a small up and lose all the water
quantity of water. in the body.
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER

PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE

(melting) more Because of it, it protects

HIGH
heat must be organisms against
HEAT OF
removed from freezing at low
FUSION
water to freeze it. temperature.
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER
PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE

Water molecules
LOWER
in an ice crystal Because ice is less dense
DENSITY
are spaced than water, lakes do not
OF ICE –
relatively far apart freeze solid, and they
WITH HIGH
because of overturn in spring
DENSITY
hydrogen bonding
 Table 2. THE PROPERTIES OF WATER
PROPERTY EXPLANATION BENEFIT TO LIFE

Leaves pull water

upward from roots; seeds
Hydrogen bonds swell and germinate.
COHESION hold molecules of Medium of transport for
water together foods, mineral and other
substance in living
systems
 Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• Buffers – are substances that minimize changes in

the concentrations of H+ and OH- by acting as a
reservoir for hydrogen ions, donating them to the
solution when their concentration rises.
 Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• Example: In humans, the buffer in blood is an acid-

base pair

H2O + CO2 <------> H2CO3 <------> HCO3- + H+

Water carbon dioxide carbonic acid bicarbonate ion hydrogen ion
 Chemical Compounds in Living Cells:

• Buffers – are substances that minimize changes in

the concentrations of H+ and OH- by acting as a
reservoir for hydrogen ions, donating them to the
solution when their concentration rises.