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Evolution: the process of change that has transformed life on earth from its earliest beginnings to
the diversity of organisms living today
Biology: the scientific study of life. Posing questions about the living world and seeking science
based answers are central activity of biology.
Some properties of life
o Order: highly ordered structure that characterizes life.
o Regulation: the regulation of elements and substances throughout life.
o Evolutionary adaptation: the adaptations evolved over many generations by the
reproductive success of those individuals with heritable traits that are best suited to their
environment.
o Energy processing: chemical energy and other types stored variously and in foods to power
work.
o Growth and development: inherited info carried by genes controls the pattern of growth
and development of organisms.
o Response to the environment: interacting to ones environment.
o Reproduction: organisms reproduce their own kind.
Evolution is biology's core theme.
The scientific explanation for the unity and diversity and also the ability for organisms to adapt to
their environments is evolution.
Themes of biology
THEME: new properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy.
Emergent properties are due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity
increases.
Reductionism: the reduction of complicated systems to more simple parts that is easier to study.
LEVELS OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
1. The biosphere: consists of all the environments and habitats inhabited by life on earth.
2. Ecosystems: consists of all the living organisms in a particular space, also along with the non living
components of the environment with which the organisms interact.
o Ecosystems combine to make up biospheres.
3. Communities: the entire range of living things inhabiting a certain ecosystem.
4. Populations: consists of all individuals of a species living within a certain area.
5. Organisms: individual living things are called organisms.
6. Organs and organ systems: a body part consisting of two or more systems. They carry out a
certain job inside the body.
7. Tissues: a group of similar cells.
8. Cells: life's most fundamental unit of structure and function.
9. Organelles: the various functional components that make up cells.
10. Molecules: a chemical structure consisting of 2 or more atoms.
A system is simply a combo of parts that function together.
Systems biology: to construct models for the behavior of whole biological systems.
THEME: organisms interact with their environments, giving and taking matter and energy.
In any ecosystem, every living thing interacts always with its environment, which encompasses
both nonliving and other organisms.
Operation of any ecosystem involves two major processes
Process of cycling the nutrients
One way flow of energy from sun light to producers to consumers.
The change of energy between the organism and its environment often encompasses the
transform of one form of energy to another.
THEME: structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological organization
When something is made for something, it is specifically used for that task or job at hand.
THEME: cells are organism’s basic units of structure and function
Cells share certain characteristics
o All cells are enclosed by a membrane that dictates the passage of materials between the cell
and its environment.
o All cells use DNA as its genetic info.
Eukaryotic cell: is subdivided by internal membranes into various membrane enclosed organelles.
o The nucleus is the largest organelle in the eukaryotic cell and it contains the DNA
Prokaryotic cell: the DNA is not apart from the rest of the cell.
THEME: the continuity of life is based on heritable info in the form of DNA
Chromosomes have almost all the cells genetic material, DNA.
o DNA is the substance of genes.
Genes: the units of inheritance that communicate info from the parents to the kids.
Each chromosome has one long DNA molecule with many of the genes arranged along it.
DNA molecule is made up of two chains making a double helix.
DNA provides the blueprints for proteins.
o Proteins serve as the means that actually hold and maintain the cell and conduct its
activities.
The DNA of genes controls the production of protein indirectly using a molecule call RNA as an
intermediary.
Genome: the entire library of genetic instructions that one inherits.
3 key research developments to bring systems bio within reach
High throughput technology: tools that can analyze biological materials very rapidly and produce
large amounts of data.
Bioinformatics: is the use of computational tools to store, organize and analyze the volume of
data that result from the high throughput methods.
Formation of interdisciplinary research teams.
THEME: feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems
Negative feedback: the most common form of regulation, in which accumulation of an end
product hinders the effectiveness of a process.
Positive feedback: when an end product speeds up production.
THE CORE THEME: evolution accounts for the unity and diversity of life
Taxonomy: the branch of bio that names and organizes species.
Domain Bacteria and Domain Achaea: consist of all prokaryotic organisms.
Domain Eukaryote: all organisms with eukaryotic cells.
o Includes 3 kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotic
Plantae
Fungi
Animalia
Darwin believed that contemporary species arose from a succession of ancestors.
Scientists use two main forms of inquiry in their study of nature
Inquiry: at the heart of science, it is a search form info and explanations often focusing on specific
questions.
Discovery science is mostly about describing nature.
Hypothesis based science is more about explaining it.
Discovery science: describes natural structures and processes as accurately as possible through
careful observations and analysis of received data.
Data: recorded observations.
Discovery science can lead to important conclusions based on a type of logic called inductive
reasoning.
Hypothesis: is a tentative answer to a questioned.
Deductive reasoning: the logic flows in the opposite direction from the general to the specific.
o Testing takes the for of if…..then.
A hypothesis must be testable.
A hypothesis must be falsifiable.
No amount of experimentation can make a hypothesis true beyond doubt.
Controlled experiment: one that is made to compare and experimental section with a control
group.
Controlled experiment means that the people control the experiment area and keep everything
the same except the one variable.
Theory: is a much broader in scope that a hypothesis.
Models: take many forms, diagrams, graphs ect….
Technology: generally applies to scientific knowledge for some specific purpose.