CHAPTER

Biology: Exploring Life

Lecture Outline
I. Introduction
A. Snowy owls exhibit adaptations for life in their frozen, barren habitat, including
1. feathers that provide insulation in subzero weather and
2. keen vision and acute hearing that help owls locate prey.
B. Snowy owls are the result of evolution, the process that has transformed life from its
earliest beginnings.

II. Themes in the Study of Biology

A. 1.1 All forms of life share common properties
1. Biology is the scientific study of life.
2. Properties of life include
a. Orderthe highly ordered structure that typifies life,

b.
Reproductionthe ability of organisms to reproduce their own kind,
c.
Growth and developmentconsistent growth and development controlled by
inherited DNA,
d.
Energy processingthe use of chemical energy to power an organisms activities
and chemical reactions,
e.
Response to the environmentan ability to respond to environmental stimuli,
f.
Regulationan ability to control an organisms internal environment within limits
that sustain life, and
g. Evolutionary adaptationadaptations evolve over many generations, as individuals
with traits best suited to their environments have greater reproductive success and
pass their traits to offspring.
B. 1.2 In lifes hierarchy of organization, new properties emerge at each level
1. Biological organization unfolds as follows:
a. Biosphereall of the environments on Earth that support life,

b.
Ecosystemall the organisms living in a particular area and the physical
components with which the organisms interact,
c.
Communitythe entire array of organisms living in a particular ecosystem,
d.
Populationall the individuals of a species living in a specific area,
e.
Organisman individual living thing,
f.
Organ systemseveral organs that cooperate in a specific function,
g.
Organa structure that is composed of tissues,
h.
Tissuea group of similar cells that perform a specific function,
i.
Cellthe fundamental unit of life,
j.
Organellea membrane-bound structure that performs a specific function within a
cell, and
k. Moleculea cluster of small chemical units called atoms held together by chemical
bonds.
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2. Emergent properties are new properties that arise in each step upward in the hierarchy of life from the
arrangement and interactions among component parts.
C. 1.3 Cells are the structural and functional units of life
1. Cells are the level at which the properties of life emerge.
2. A cell can
a. regulate its internal environment,

b.
c.
d.

take in and use energy,

respond to its environment,
develop and maintain its complex organization, and
e. give rise to new cells.
3. All cells
a. are enclosed by a membrane that regulates the passage of materials between the cell and its
surroundings and
b. use DNA as their genetic information.
4. There are two basic types of cells.
a. Prokaryotic cells
i. were the first to evolve,
ii. are simpler, and
iii. are usually smaller than eukaryotic cells.
b. Eukaryotic cells
i. are found in plants, animals, fungi, and protists and
ii. are subdivided by membranes into various functional compartments, or organelles, including a
nucleus that houses the DNA.
5. Systems biology is the study of a biological system and the modeling of its dynamic behavior,
ranging from the functioning of the biosphere to the complex molecular
machinery of an organelle.
6. Cells illustrate another theme in biology: the correlation of structure and function.
7. Structure is related to function at all levels of biological organization.
D. 1.4 Organisms interact with their environment, exchanging matter and energy
1. Living organisms interact with their environments, which include
a. other organisms and
b. physical factors.
2. In most ecosystems,
a. plants are the producers that provide the food,

b.

consumers eat plants and other animals, and

c. decomposers act as recyclers, changing complex matter into simpler chemicals that plants can
absorb and use.
3. The dynamics of ecosystems include two major processes:
a. the recycling of chemical nutrients from the atmosphere and soil through producers, consumers,
and decomposers back to the air and soil and
b. the one-way flow of energy through an ecosystem, entering as sunlight and exiting as heat.

III. Evolution, the Core Theme of Biology

A. 1.5 The unity of life is based on DNA and a common genetic code
1. All cells have DNA, the chemical substance of genes.
2. Genes
a. are the unit of inheritance that transmits information from parents to offspring,
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b.

are grouped into very long DNA molecules called chromosomes, and
c. control the activities of a cell.
3. A species genes are coded in the sequences of the four building blocks making up DNAs double
helix.
a. All forms of life use essentially the same code to translate the information stored in DNA into
proteins.
b. The diversity of life arises from differences in DNA sequences.
4. The entire library of genetic instructions that an organism inherits is called its
genome.
5. In recent years, scientists have determined the entire sequence of nucleotides in the human genome.
B. 1.6 The diversity of life can be arranged into three domains
1. We can think of biologys enormous scope as having two dimensions.
a. The vertical dimension is the size scale that stretches from molecules to the
biosphere.
b. The horizontal dimension spans across the great diversity of organisms existing now and over
the long history of life on Earth.
2. Diversity is the hallmark of life.
a. Biologists have identified about 1.8 million species.
b. Estimates of the actual number of species range from 10 million to over
100 million.
3. Taxonomy is the branch of biology that
a. names species and
b. classifies species into a hierarchy of broader groups: genus, family, order, class, phylum, and
kingdom.
4. The diversity of life can be arranged into three higher levels called domains.
a. Bacteria are the most diverse and widespread prokaryotes.

b.

Archaea are prokaryotes that often live in Earths extreme environments.

c. Eukarya have eukaryotic cells and include
i. single-celled protists and
ii. multicellular fungi, animals, and plants.
C. 1.7 Evolution explains the unity and diversity of life
1. Evolution can be defined as the process of change that has transformed life on Earth from its
earliest beginnings to the diversity of organisms living today.
2. The fossil record documents
a. that life has been evolving on Earth for billions of years and
b. the pattern of ancestry.
3. In 1859, Charles Darwin published the book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, which articulated two main points.
a. Species living today are descended from ancestral species in what Darwin called descent with
modification.
b. Natural selection is a mechanism for evolution.
4. Natural selection was inferred by connecting two observations.
a. Individual variation: Individuals in a population vary in their traits, many of which are passed on
from parents to offspring.
b. Overproduction of offspring: A population can produce far more offspring than the environment
can support.

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CHAPTER 1

Biology: Exploring Life

5. From these observations, Darwin drew two inferences.

a. Unequal reproductive success: Individuals with heritable traits best suited to the environment are
more likely to survive and reproduce than less well-suited
individuals,

b.
Accumulation of favorable traits over time: As a result of this unequal reproductive success
over many generations, an increasing proportion of individuals in a
population will have the advantageous traits.
6. Darwin realized that numerous small changes in populations as a result of natural
selection could eventually lead to major alterations of species.
7. The fossil record provides evidence of such diversification of species from ancestral species.

IV. The Process of Science

A. 1.8 In studying nature, scientists make observations and form and test hypotheses
1. Science is a way of knowing that stems from our curiosity about ourselves and the world around us.
2. Science is based on inquiry, the search for information and explanations of natural phenomena.
3. Scientists typically
a. make observations,
b. form hypotheses, proposed explanations for a set of observations, and
c. test them.
4. Two types of data are frequently collected in scientific investigations.
a. Qualitative data are descriptive.

b.

Quantitative data include numerical measurements.

5. Scientists use two types of reasoning.
a.
Inductive reasoning makes generalizations based on collecting and analyzing a large number of
specific observations.
b.
Deductive reasoning flows from general premises to predicted and specific results.
6. We solve everyday problems by using hypotheses.
a. A common example would be the reasoning we use to answer the question, Why doesnt a
flashlight work?

b.

Two reasonable hypotheses are that

i. the batteries are dead or
ii. the bulb is burned out.

7. A scientific theory is
a. much broader in scope than a hypothesis and
b. supported by a large and usually growing body of evidence.

8. Science is a social activity in which scientists

a. work in teams,
b. share information through peer-reviewed publications, meetings, and personal communication,
and
c. build on and confirm each others work.
B. 1.9 SCIENTIFIC THINKING: Hypotheses can be tested using controlled field studies

1. Scientists conducted a controlled experiment to test the hypothesis that color patterns
have evolved as adaptations that protect animals from predation.
2. The experiment compared an experimental group consisting of noncamouflaged mice
models and a control group consisting of camouflaged models that matched the mice native
in each area.
3. The groups differed by only one factor, the coloration of the mouse models.
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4. As presented in Table 1.9,

a. the noncamouflaged models had a much higher percentage of attacks in the beach and inland
habitats and
b. these data fit the key prediction of the camouflage hypothesis.

V.

Biology and Everyday Life

A. 1.10 EVOLUTION CONNECTION: Evolution is connected in our everyday lives

1. Evolution is a core theme of biology.
2. Humans selectively breed plants and animals in the process of artificial selection to produce
a. more productive crops,
b. better livestock, and
c. a great variety of pets that bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors.
3. Humans also unintentionally cause
a. the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
b. the evolution of pesticide-resistant pests, and
c. the loss of species through habitat loss and global climate change.
B. 1.11 CONNECTION: Biology, technology, and society are connected in important ways
1. Many issues facing society
a. are related to biology and

b.

often involve our expanding technology.

2. The basic goals of science and technology differ.
a. The goal of science is to understand natural phenomena.

b.

The goal of technology is to apply scientific knowledge for some specific purpose.

Key Terms
Archaea
artificial selection
Bacteria
biology
biosphere
cell
community
controlled experiment
domains
ecosystem

emergent properties
Eukarya
eukaryotic cells
evolution
genes
genome
hypothesis
molecule
natural selection
organ

organ system
organelle
organism
population
prokaryotic cells
systems biology
technology
theory
tissue

Word Roots
archae=ancient(Archaea:One of two prokaryotic domains of life, the other being Bacteria.)
bio- = life (biosphere: all the environments on Earth that support life); -logy = the scientific study of a subject
(biology: the scientific study of life)
-ell = small (organelle: a membrane-bound structure that performs a specific function in a cell)
eu- = true; karyo- = nucleus (eukaryotic cell: a cell with a membrane-enclosed nucleus and other membraneenclosed organelles)
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CHAPTER 1

Biology: Exploring Life

pro- = before (prokaryotic cell: a cell that has no nucleus)

tech- = skill or art (technology: the practical application of scientific knowledge)

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