Life

How strong are your observation skills??

Lets test your skills- pair up with a partner, get 10 pieces of popcorn, and listen for instruction! Analysis
a. Which kinds of observations were most helpful? Least? b. What other types of data could have been useful? c. What 2 categories could you divide all your observations into?

Types of DATA
Quantitative-

Measurable, involves numbers= (objective) ex: temp., height, pH, mass

Observations that cant be counted or measured but are detected by our senses (subjective) Problem?

Qualitative-

How does Observation fit into the study of Biology?

CYCLE OF INQUIRY
OBSERVE (I notice)
Reflect/conclude (I communicate) Generate a question (I wonder)

(I research)
Hypothesize (I propose an explanation) Analyze results vs predictions:Support or not? (I think)

Design experiment and gather data(I do)

LIFE UNIT: PART 1 NOTES

Life: Biology
I.
A.

The Science of biology (Chap 1)

Biology defined: Study of Life Biologists study questions about how living things work, how they interact with the environment and how they change over time.

B. Why study biology? Ex: 1. Interest; applications 2. Improve Career 3. Care of Quality of life
Environment

There are many topics in BIOLOGY: Some biologists study diet Some study the environment Some study certain animals Some study DNA

Marine Biologist

Nutritionist
Watson and Crick

Environmentalist Geneticist

~BIOLOGY AND SOCIETY~

Biology is in the news and ever changing as we learn more about: *new technologies *disease treatments *newly discovered species *debates on environmental issues.

HOW DO WE DEFINE LIFE?

What characteristics of life do these 6 organisms have in common?

C. Characteristics of Life
1.Made of 1 or more cells 2.Reproduce (at cellular level) 3.Complex, highly organized chemicals 4. Movement 5.Grow and develop 6.Lifespan 7.Respond to stimulus 8.Adapts to environment 9.Metabolism - all processes in getting and using energy to maintain homeostasis

Lets Observe a Live organism !

LIFE Unit notes: PART 2 The Themes of Biology

THEME: Energy
Metabolism = all processes involved in and getting, taking in and transforming/useing energy & materials
Living things use energy to power all of lifes processes: repair, movement, & growth

Question: What is the ultimate source of all the energy?

THEME: Energy Examples of metabolism:

Photosynthesis is a metabolic process

in which plants, algae, and some bacteria use the suns energy to make sugar
The metabolic process of helps start to get the energy out of food to run everything in our body

Digestion

Theme: Energy
Energy FLOWS through:

Ecosystems

Cell chemicals

A body system

facstaff.bloomu.edu

2. In the provided spaces in notes: How many of the missing body systems can you name?

Theme: Systems and Interactions

(a) Digestive (b) Reproductive (c) Nervous (d) Circulatory (includes immune system) (e) Excretory (f) Muscular (g) Skeletal (h) Endocrine (hormones) (i) Respiratory (j) Integumentary (skin/coverings)

Theme: Systems and Interactions

Body systems: there are interactions within a system and between systems: Ex: digestive system gets full, muscles stretch and trigger nerves and brain detects and endocrine hormones released!

Theme: Systems and Interactions

Cells and ecosystems have multiple interactions: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Animation
(HHMI)

Theme-Unity within diversity

EX: All Organisms have
cells, but the cell types are different in structure and function

Analogy- all the balloons on this page are the same shape (unity) but they are different colors (diversity)

Theme: Homeostasis
Maintaining a steady state even when environment/conditions change
EX: Body temperature Ex: Predator/prey balance

Theme: Evolution= Change over Time

Comparing organisms past and present looks at changes- used to classify/group (cladograms) Natural Selection- as the environment changes those with the right adaptations survive-leads to different species Adaptations can lead to diversity in function Ex: bird beaks

Big unifying theme!

Process of Science (also called Nature of science)

Science is a way of knowing about the world based on gathering data and analyzing evidence. It is Not just an accumulation of facts

Theme:Process (Nature)of Science

Science is about:
observing the natural world and trying to understand the reason why things are the way they are. having curiosity about the world. making educated guesses about the underlying forces of nature and testing those guesses out.

taking careful records and measurements. continually updating and refining what you think you know as your experience and understanding grow. Science is a way of knowing about the world.
(Bob Frederick, csmate,Colorado state)

LIFE Unit notes: PART 3 The Organization and Classification of Living things

Where does Life fit into the Scale of the Universe ?

Organization of Living things

All living things can be placed in a heirarchy that shows increasing complexity. This helps show relationships and is one of the themes of biology. Locate the following in your notes packet.

Biome: desert, tundra, temperate deciduous forest, tropical rainforest, grasslands, taiga, marine, freshwater

Biosphere: area of earth where all life exists

Community: all populations around a pond

Ecosystem: tree, field, drop of water

Population: all the deer in Maine

Organism: bacteria, man, fly,fungus, tulip System: digestive, reproductive, excretory, skeletal Organ: brain, stomach, lung, kidney
Tissue: nervous, muscle, skin
Cell- blood, skin, Ameba, bacteria Organelle- nucleus,ribosome Molecule-H2O, ATP, DNA Atom-C,H,O,N.P,S

Classification
How and why do biologists organize life and name organisms?

Classification: Organizing Organisms

Taxonomy:

Aristotles method was

A beginnning but he only observed Contained errors

Why classify?

Ease of reseach/

organizing info Consistency/ communication/ share knowledge See relationships/ make inferences about new organisms

Classification:

Galens contribution : Dissection

Carl Von Linne Linneaus: Designed the basic classification system

Why did he choose Latin?

Not changing

because not spoken Basis of European languages Known by educated people at the time

3 Domains (see chart)

Archaea Bacteria Eukarya

The taxa
Domain

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Subspecies

What are these 2 organisms?

Why classifiied as different species? Domain: Eukarya Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Perissidactyla Family: Equidae Genus: Equus Species: caballus Domain: Eukarya Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order:Perissidactyla Family: Equidae Genus: Equus Species: asinus

Binomial Nomenclature

Specific 2 name system using the last 2 taxa (genus and species)

Rules

Capitalize genus Lower case species Italicize or underline May use 1st initial of genus once full name is given

Why use?
More specific than common name; common

names not consistent

Complexity in Classification
More DNA and other molecular evidence suggests that previous classifications (5 or 6 Kingdoms) were based on incomplete descriptions of organisms However, for the purposes of this class, you can look at the chart (focus primarily on fungi, plantae, animalia) http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html
http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Modern methods for classification

Structure/ anatomy Fossil record Behavior

DNA/ chromosome similarities

Embryology

Biochemistry

Species Definitons

Biological species:

2 individuals can breed and produce fertile, viable offspring Comparing life forms and their structures, physical and chemical to fossils

Phylogenetic Species:

* Typological species:
based upon structural similarities

Limitations to species definitions

Typological: * DNA variations produces a wide variety within a species that can be misleading. * Extinct species may have only bones or imprints-no other traits to compare Biological: * Impractical to breed every type. * Can't breed extinct species. Sometimes some clearly different can interbreed and be bred artificially. Phylogenetic: * Evolutionary history not known for all species.

Cladogram

Dichotomous Key
An either/ or choice

STOP HERE- End of current Life Unit- following are

Ghosts of past lessons: historical perspective, theories on Origins of Life and elements of the scientific method

Life- Part 4 Historical background

Historical Experiments:
Spontaneous Generation (abiogenesis) = Non-life-beginning Life from non-life

Defined: living organisms created from non-living materials 1st beliefs: Aristotle
Frogs from mud No experiments
Only observations

Redis meat maggots experiments (1668)

Hypothesis: flies come from other flies 1. Meat in jars - open 2. Meat in covered jars Conclusion: covered jars: NO MAGGOTS! No spontaneous generation

Broth experiments - to seal or not to seal?

Needham (1745) hypoth: yes to SG (vital force) Hypoth: if heat broth will kill, so if life shows up, then SG Open to air Conclusion: SG! (error in his conclusion?)

http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp06991&rNo=0&role=art

Spallanzani (1768)

Criticized Needham because of air. Removed air from flask - NO GROWTH Then redesigned: Loosened seal: GROWTH Conclusion? No SG!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spallanzani.jpg

Pasteur comes along 1860s

1a. Swan neck and straight neck - both open Swan neck - no growth! 1b. Tipped swan neck to get dust: growth! Conclude: NO SG!

More Pasteur
2. Varied dusty areas Result: varied growth - more dust, more growth No SG - dust carried it OVERALL: disproved SG theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Louis_Pasteur.jpg

I.

Origins of Life Theories (Chap 14)

What does evolution theory say were the events that led to life? a. Big Bang- 15 billion years

Earth form/Primordial Soup-4.6 Billion yrs.Oparins Hypothesis about conditions: a. Chemical Soup:

methane, Hydrogen, water, ammonia b. NO Oxygen c. Heat d. Eons of time e. Energy source (lightening)

c. Chemical Evolution- formation of organic molecules

1. 2.

Miller and Ureys apparatus (see p. 403) Foxs proteinoid spheres (also called protocells, prebiotic cells, and coacervates) (see p. 404)

1.

Reproduction- assume RNA before DNA, asexual before sexual

***BIG jump from a group of organized molecules to a living cell***3.5 billion yrs (some suggest could be 3.8 bill.)

d. 1st simple life

unicellular prokaryotes (have no nucleus) =bacteria/ Archea a. Assume anerobic (do not use Oxygen)- why?

Why anaerobic?
O2 is an oxidizer and will make molecules fall apart could not get together long enough to make more complex ones.

a. Assume heterotrophic

(must take in food)why?

Why heterotrophic?

Heterotrophs put out CO2 as a waste, not O2. If they were autotrophs they would make O2 as a waste.

Next steps:
e. photosynthesis develops- this allows:

O2 production and heterotrophs can increase, and respiration processes

f. Eukaryotic life (cells with a nucleus)- simple Protists-Ameba Endosymbiont theory- Lynn Margulis- p.406- some prokaryotic cells absorbed into others and became organelles within eukaryotes.

 Life arrived here on meteors

Some other ideas:

Life did not begin in the soup and

the atmosphere was not same as Oparin suggested Life began in volcanic vents in the deep sea

Scientific inquiry
Problem Solving using deductive and inductive reasoning (see notes)
1. Designing an experiment (p17)
a. Define a problem/ purpose b. Observation and background research Hypothesis

c. Procedure: control vs. experimental groups d. Data collection

e. Analysis f. Conclusion

Not a linear process!!! Must be repeatable to be valid: peer review follows the communication of the results and other scientists verify or disprove /question-science is a collaborative effort

Variables
*1. Dependent: a.Variable that is measured/observed to generate data b. Expected to yield different results in control versus experimental groups c. Changes in a response to independent variable *2. Independent: a. Not affected by the dependent b. This is the one variable that is changed in the experimental group compared to the control *3. Constant: Remains the same for all groups- these are the controlled variables

Lets practice:
You have heard that mosquitos are more attracted to people who wear perfume. Make 3 columns and label them dependent, independent and constant Thinking of how you would design an experiment to test this hypothesis place all the variables you would consider in your design
Share your thoughts with a small group, then discuss what kinds of data you would collect

The development of Hypotheses, Theories and Laws

Hypothesis What it does Prediction of what may happen May or may not have supportpreceded by observation/ inference Theory Defines why something happens Has a lot of evidence and support Law Predicts what will happen

Level of support

Tons of evidence

Lets discuss Hypotheses

A good hypothesis has three parts: 1) a test to be performed, which answers a
specific question, 2) a predicted positive result, 3) an explanation of the meaning of the positive result.(known as the inference)

Null Hypothesis= the prediction that the results

are random chance, the variable has no effect, that something is not present, or that there is no difference between treatment and control.

Hypothesis Example:
Observation = the car wont start Observation the act of perceiving a natural occurrence that causes someone to pose a question Inference = the car is out of gas inference is a logical explanation of an observation Hypothesis = IF we add gas to the car AND the car starts, THEN the car was out of gas.

Look at the Creating a Hypothesis sheet

Review the If..and..then statement Read the samples of hypotheses and pick the best Discuss with a small group (1) Why your choice is the best (2) What is wrong with each of the others

Theories can Change

Theories are constantly tested to confirm that they are correct. If new experiments show that a theory is only partially correct, then the theory must be changed. Sometimes a theory is completely rejected, but only after many new experiments show that it is incorrect.
Theories are formed after LOTS of evidence is examined and can be the basis of a LAW

Lets look at the theme of evolution and adaptations more closely:

Pair up and discuss the differences you see between the roots types illustrated on your roots adaptations sheet. Can you figure out the advantage each root type allows? Lets share

 Root hair function: Greater absorption Legumes ex of: Mutualism More surface area; reach in all directions Fibrous allows: for water and nutrients Tap allows: Strong anchor; reach deep water Adventitious allows: Take advantage of a place to anchor Tuber allows: Storage of food supplies for later Prop allows: Holds up plant against wind or in soft soil Aerial allows: Support climbing plants

A quick quizName each type of root

Application Activity:
Label on the plant you chose individually from ecocolumn the type of root it has. Answer the adaptation question now and turn in your diagram and answers.

Never be daunted by the science that precedes you, and never assume that what you discover is already known. What you discover may be new. What will distinguish you as a true scientist is your powers of observation. Keep careful records, watch and observe with patience and intensity. Let your mind travel freely on a river of questions and when one touches your soul, pursue it, follow where it goes and let others share in what you learn- we are expecting great things from you!

Application
Think about the outdoor population lab and the plants observed- what root adaptation did the dandelions have? How did that help them to be successful there?

Classification Systems