General Biology 2

STEM 12 - O
Notes By: Chloe Rivera
CHAPTER 1: BIOLOGY AND ITS THEME
4. Populations
EVOLUTION 5. Organisms
• Process of change that has transformed life on 6. Organs and Organ Systems
earth 7. Tissues
• An organism’s adaptions to its environment are 8. Cells
result of evolution 9. Organelles
10. Molecules
BIOLOGY
EMERGENT PROPERTIES
• Scientific study of life
• Result from arrangement and interaction of parts
SOME PROPERTIES OF LIFE within a system
• Can characterize non-biological entities
• Order
o A functioning bicycle emerges only when
• Evolutionary adaption
all of the necessary parts connect in a
• Regulation
correct way
• Reproduction
• Response to the environment REDUCTIONISM
• Growth and development
• Reduction of complex systems to simpler components
• Energy processing that are more manageable to study

FIVE UNIFYING THEMES SYSTEMS BIOLOGY

• Organization • Analysis of the interactions among the parts oa a
• Information biological system
• Energy and matter
• Interactions
• Evolution

SOME PROPERTIES OF LIFE

• Order
• Evolutionary adaption
• Regulation
• Reproduction
• Response to the environment
• Growth and development
• Energy processing

UNIFYING THEMES: ORGANIZATION

SUCCESSIVE LEVELS OF BIOLOGICAL
ORGANIZATION

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

• correlation is found at each level of biological
hierarchy

CELL

CELL
• lowest level of organization that can perform all
activities required for life
• enclosed by a membrane that regulates passage
1. The Biosphere of materials between the cell and its environment
2. Ecosystems
3. Communities

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 General Biology 2

TYPES OF CELLS
GENOMICS
PROKARYOTIC EUKARYOTIC
• Simpler usually • membrane-closed GENOMES
smaller organelles • entire set of genetic instructions
• Does not contain a • Nucleus - largest
nucleus or other organelle GENOMICS
membrane-enclosed • study of sets of genes within and between
organelles species

UNIFYING THEME: INFORMATION PROTEOMICS

• study of whole sets of proteins encoded by the
DNA genome (proteomes)
• Genetic material contained in chromosomes
within cells
• Each chromosome has one long DNA molecule 3 RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTS FOR GENOMIC AND
with hundreds or thousands of genes PROTEOMIC APPROACHES
• Controls the development and maintenance of • “High throughput” technology
organisms • Bioinformatics
• Each DNA molecule is made up of two long • Formation of interdisciplinary research teams
chains arranged in a double helix
“HIGH-THROUGHPUT” TECHNOLOGY
• Tools can analyze many biological samples very
rapidly

BIOINFORMATICS
• Use of computational tools to store, organize, and
analyze large volume of data

GENES
• encode information for building the molecules
synthesized within the cell
• units of inheritance

FORMATION OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

TEAMS
• Groups of diverse specialists

UNIFYING THEME: ENERGY AND MATTER

LIFE REQUIRES THE TRANSFER AND

TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY AND MATTER
• Energy flows through an ecosystem, usually
entering as light and exiting as heat
• energy from the sun and its transformation from
one form to another make life possible
• Some energy is lost to the surroundings as heat
during transformation
• As a result, energy flows through an ecosystem,
• Genes control protein production indirectly usually entering as light and exiting as heat
o DNA -> RNA -> protein
• Gene expression
o Process of converting information from
gene to cellular product

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 General Biology 2

UNIFYING THEME: INTERACTIONS UNIFYING THEME: EVOLUTION

FROM ECOSYSTEMS TO MOLECULES, CORE THEME: UNITY & DIVERSITY

INTERACTIONS ARE IMPORTANT IN BIOLOGICAL ▪ Core theme of Biology
SYSTEMS ▪ Evolution makes logical sense of everything we
know about living organisms
• Interaction between the components of the
▪ The scientific explanation for both the unity and
system ensure smooth integration of all parts
diversity of organisms is the concept that living
• At ecosystem level, each organism interacts
organisms are modified descendants of common
continuously with other organisms
ancestors
o May be beneficial or harmful to one or
▪ Fossils and other evidence document the
both the organisms
evolution of life on Earth over billions of years
• Organisms also interact continuously with the
physical factors in their environment, and the UNITY IN DIVERSITY OF LIFE
environment is affected by the organisms living
there ▪ Approximately 1.8 million species have been
• This holds true equally well for components of an identified to date, and thousands more are
ecosystem and the molecules in a cell identified each year
▪ Estimates of the total number of species that
actually exist range from 10 million to over 100
million
a. DNA – universal genetic language common
to all organisms
b. Unity – evident in many features of cell
structure
TAXONOMY
▪ Branch of biology that names and classifies
species into groups of increasing breadth

LEVELS OF CLASSIFICATION
▪ Domain
▪ Kingdom
• Interactions of molecules within organisms ▪ Phylum
o Interactions between components that ▪ Class
make up living organisms (organs, ▪ Order
tissues, cells, and molecules) are crucial ▪ Family
to their smooth operation ▪ Genus
o Cells are able to coordinate various ▪ Species
chemical pathways through a
mechanism called feedback
• Feedback regulation - the output, or product of a
process, regulates that very process
o Feedback mechanisms
▪ Negative feedback
▪ Positive feedback

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TREE OF LIFE
• Could cause an ancestral species to give rise to
two or more descendent species

• “Unity in diversity” arises from “descent with

modification”

BACTERIA ARCHAEA EUKARYA

Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
3 multicellular
kingdoms
a. Plants - produce
their own food by
photosynthesis
b. Fungi - absorb
nutrients
c. Animals - ingest
their food

THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION

CHARLES DARWIN
• Published On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection in 1859
• Darwin’s theory explained the duality of unity and
diversity

2 POINTS OF DARWIN
• Species showed evidence of “descent with
modification” from common ancestors
• “Natural selection” is the mechanism behind
descent with modification

NATURAL SELECTION (DARWIN’S OBSERVATION)

• Individuals in a population vary in their traits, which
are heritable
• More offspring are produced than survive, and ZOOLOGY
competition is inevitable • Scientific study of animal kingdom and their life in
• Species generally suit their environment general
o Environment “selects” for the
propagation of beneficial traits SUBDISCIPLINES OF ZOOLOGY
o Results in the adaptation of organisms to
their environment (ex: bat wings) ANATOMY
• Study of the structure of the entire organism and
DARWIN’S CONCLUSION
their parts
• Individuals that are best suited to their
environment are more likely to survive and CYTOLOGY
reproduce
• Study of the structure and function of the cells
• Over time, more individuals in a population will
have the advantageous traits

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ECOLOGY
• Study of interaction of organisms with their
environment

EMBRYOLOGY
• Study of an animal’s development from fertilized
egg up to its birth or hatching

GENETICS
• Study of mechanisms of transmission of traits
from parents to offspring

HISTOLOGY
• Study of tissues

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
• Study of subcellular details of the animal’s
structure and function.
PARASITOLOGY
• Study of animals that live in or on other organisms
at the expense of the host

PHYSIOLOGY
• Study of function of organisms and their parts

SYSTEMATICS
• Study of the classification of animal groups and their
evolutionary interrelationships with each other

ENTOMOLOGY
• Study of insects

HELMINTHOLOGY
• Study of parasitic worms

HERPETOLOGY
• Study of amphibians and reptiles

ICHTHYOLOGY
• Study of fishes

MAMMALOGY
• Study of mammals

ORNITHOLOGY
• Study of birds

PROTOZOOLOGY
• Study of protozoa

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