UNIFYING AND COMMON

THEMES IS THE STUDY OF LIFE

CHAPTER 1
CONCEPT 1: COMMON THEMES IS THE STUDY OF LIFE
CONCEPT 2: EVOLUTION
CONCEPT 3: HOW SCIENTISTS STUDY NATURE
CONCEPT 4: COOPERATIVE APPROACH AND DIVERSE
VIEW POINTS.
 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Biology is the branch of science that deals with living organisms
and vital processes.

• Biologists study life at many different levels, from molecules to the

global.

• Evolution is the process of change over time.

– Evolution accounts:
• For the unity and diversity of life.
• For the adaptation of organisms to their environment.
 CONCEPT 1. BIOLOGICAL HIERARCHY
• There is a hierarchy of structural levels.
• At each level of organization, new properties
appear (emerge).
• Atoms  molecules  macromolecules →
organelles → cells  tissues  organs 
organ systems  organisms  populations 
community  ecosystem  biosphere.
 EMERGENT PROPERTIES
• At each level of organization, new properties appear (emerge)
as a result of the relative simple interactions of its
components.

• This emergent properties were not present in the previous in

previous, simpler organizational levels.

• These properties show the hierarchy of structural organization.

• The emergent property cannot be reduced to the sum of its

components. “The whole is greater than its components.”

• There is a correlation between structure and function.

 REDUCTIONISM
• Reductionism: taking a complex system apart into more
manageable components in order to understand how it
works.
• Complex systems can be understood by studying its
component parts.
• We cannot explain a higher level of order by breaking it
down into its components.
• Systems biology: explore biological systems by
analyzing the interaction of all of its parts.
 THE CELL
• The cells is the basic unit of structure and
function.
• All cells share certain characteristics.
• Organelles are parts of the cell.
– UNICELLULAR ORGANISMS
– MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS
• Prokaryotic cells LACK membrane-bound
organelles and membrane-enclosed
nucleus.

• Eukaryotic cells HAVE membrane-bound

organelles and a membrane-enclosed
nucleus.
 TWO BASIC TYPES OF CELLS
• Prokaryotic cells Eukaryotic cells
No nucleus Nucleus present

One DNA Several DNA strands in

nucleus
Circular DNA, no free ends Chromosomes with free
ends
Lack membrane bound organelles Have membrane bound
organelles
 The Cell’s Heritable Information
• Life processes involve the expression and transmission
of genetic information.
• The continuity of life is based on heritable information in
the form of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
• DNA is made of a double helix.

• Each strand of the helix is made of four kinds of molecules

called nucleotides.
• The sequential arrangement of these four nucleotides
contain encoded the precise information of a gene. This
arrangement makes the genetic code.
 GENES
• Genes are made of DNA.

• Genes are the units of inheritance that transmit

information from parents to offspring.
• RNA is an intermediary molecule between the DNA
genetic code and the cell product.
• Gene expression refers to the cellular product.
– Genomics: large scale analysis of whole sets of genes.
– Proteonics: large scale analysis of sets of proteins.
– Bioinformatics: use of computers to analyze and store large
volumes of data.
 3. TRANSFER AND TRANSFORMATION OF
ENERGY

• The sun is the ultimate source of the energy used by

organisms.
• Photosynthesis transforms radiant (light) energy into
chemical energy that is used by organisms.
• Photosynthetic organisms are called producers.
• Consumers are organisms that feed on producers.

• Energy flows through the ecosystem entering as light energy

and eventually leaving as heat.
 4. Organisms interact with their
environment
• Organisms exchange matter and energy with their
environment.
– Living and non-living environment.
– Molecules interact within the body of organisms.

• Feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems.

• In feedback regulation, the product or output regulates
the very process that produces it.
• There are positive and negative feedback mechanisms.
 CONCEPT 2: EVOLUTION
• Evolution accounts for the unity and diversity
of life.
• Biologists have identified about 1.8 million
species.
– 5,200 prokaryotes
– 100,000 fungi
– 290,000 plants
– 52,000 vertebrates
– 1,000,000 insects
– Total number of species: 10 to 100 million (estimate).
 Grouping of organisms: the basic
concept.
• Taxonomy is the science of classifying
organisms.
• The species is basic unit of classification.
• Taxonomic classification is hierarchical: each
level consists of groups of the previous lower
level.
– Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotic organisms.
– Eukarya is a eukaryotic domain
 THREE DOMAINS OF LIFE
• Species  genus  family  order  class  phylum
(division)  kingdom  domains
• The broadest unit of classification is the domain.

• All living organisms are classified into one of three domains:

Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya.
• Four kingdoms in the Eukarya: Protista, Fungi, Plantae and
Animalia.
 UNITY IN DIVERSITY
• There is unity in the diversity of life.
• This unity is evident in:
– The universal genetic code.
– Similar metabolic pathways or cell functions.
– Similar cell structure
 CHARLES DARWIN AND THE THEORY OF
EVOLUTION
• Species change over time. This documented by the
fossil record and other evidence.
• In 1859, Charles Darwin published The Origin of
Species in which he made two major points:
– Species change, and contemporary species arose from a
succession of ancestors through a process of "descent with
modification.”
– A mechanism of evolutionary change is natural selection.
 DARWIN’S THEORY
• Darwin made the following observations:
– Individuals in a population vary in many inheritable traits.
– Populations have the potential to produce more offspring
than will survive or than the environment can support.
– There is competition or a struggle for existence.
– Individuals with traits best suited to the environment
leave a larger number of offspring, which increases the
proportion of inheritable variations in the next generation.
 NATURAL SELECTION
• This differential success in reproduction is what he called
natural selection.

• Natural selection does not create adaptations. It merely

increases the frequency of inherited variants that arise
by chance.

• Natural selection is NOT the theory of evolution. It is the

MECHANISM of evolution.
 TREE OF LIFE
• An illustration of evolutionary relationship.
• This connection between species and its
ancestors more and more remote is refer as
the Tree of Life in which each species is a
“twig” of the “tree”.
• Each branch represents the common ancestor
of the lineages originating there.
 CONCEPT 3: THE STUDY OF NATURE
• Inquiry is a search for information and explanation.

• Data can be quantitative and qualitative.

• Inductive reasoning begins with observations and

draws conclusions: general principle.
– What do all these facts have in common?
– From many examples to all possible examples:
inductive leap.
• Inductive conclusions are generalizations that
summarize many concurrent observations.
 WHAT IS A HYPOTHESIS?
• A hypothesis is a tentative answer to some
question. It is an educated guess.
• Hypotheses must be testable.
• Science cannot address the possibility of
supernatural phenomena nor the validity of
religious beliefs.
 SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• Requires evidence to logically solve problems.
• Make observations. Curiosity.
• Ask critical questions.
• Do background research, e.g. review of the literature; talk to
scientists.
• Formulate hypothesis:
• - A hypothesis is an educated guess proposed as a tentative
answer to a specific question or problem.
• Predictions are logical consequences of the hypothesis.
– Make a prediction that can be tested.
• Test the prediction: controlled experimentation.
 CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT
• Control group: in a controlled experiment, the groups
in which all variables are held constant.
• The experimental group differs from the control group in
only one variable.
– Both groups are then compared.
• Collect data. Recorded observations are called data
(sing. datum)
– One datum; two data.
• Interpret data.
• Draw conclusions.
• Hypothesis supported or not.
 SCIENTIFIC THEORY
• A theory in science is a comprehensive
explanation supported by abundant evidence,
which is widely accepted by the scientific
community.
• A theory is validated by a continuum of
observations and experiments.
• A theory is general enough to spin off many
new, specific hypotheses that can be tested.
 CONCEPT 4: SCIENCE IS A SOCIAL
PROCESS
• Cooperative approach and diverse viewpoints.
• Scientists build on the work of other scientists
that have come before.
• Technology is a method or devise that applies
scientific knowledge for some specific
purpose.