Principles of Biology BIO 101

1. Principles of Biology BIO 101 Prof. Marianne E. McNamara

2. Who Are You? • Your major • Your year/are you part time or full time • Your plans • Your interests

3. What is Biology? • Biology is the study of life (bios = “life”; logia = “the study of”) • Biology consists of several specialized disciplines • Botany: the study of plants • Zoology: the study of animals • Microbiology: the study of microorganisms

4. Why Study Biology??? • It’s EVERYWHERE!

5. Why Study Biology??? • Biology frequently plays a role in dealing with various challenges that face society

6. Why Study Biology??? • It’s AWESOME!!! http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/planet-earth-highlights/

7. Why Study Biology??? • Biology is the scientific study of life! http://www.croski.hr/fotogalerija/20021207200152slc2.jpg

8. www.luttyphoto.com http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/natures_best_2006/gallery/snowmonkeyandbaby.html

10. What is the definition of life? • Life is a characteristic shared by ‘objects’ with self-sustaining biological processes • All living things share these characteristics: • Organization • Metabolism (growth and development) • Reproduction • Interaction/response to their environment • Evolutionary adaptation • Genetic component (DNA)

11. 1. Organization • All living things are organized • Life is organized in a hierarchical fashion • Hierarchy: any system of things ranked one above another

12. Biosphere Hierarchy of Life Ecosystem Florida coast Level • Ecosystem • Community • Population • Organisms • Systems • Organs • Tissues Community All organisms on the Florida coast Population Group of brown pelicans Organism Brown pelican Spinal cord Organ system Nervous system Brain Organ Brain Nerve Tissue Nervous tissue • Cells • Molecules • Atoms Atom Cell Nerve cell Nucleus Organelle Nucleus Molecule DNA

13. 2. Metabolism • All living things metabolize • Metabolism = set of chemical reactions necessary to maintain life • Metabolism is management of ENERGY; organisms TAKE energy from their environment, transform and use it • Allows organisms to grow, reproduce, maintain structural stability, and respond to their environments

14. Metabolism • Autotrophs – transform energy from their environment (the “producers”) • Plants are autotrophs; they transform the sun’s energy into energy-rich molecules that support life • Heterotrophs – ingest their energy from their environment (the “consumers”) • Animals are heterotrophs; they ingest (eat) food to obtain energy-rich molecules

15. 3. Reproduction • All living things reproduce • Reproduction can be sexual, asexual, or both!

16. 4. Interaction/response to environment • All living things interact and respond to their environment • Living things respond to environmental stimuli (scent, sight, sound, touch, taste) • Living things exchange gases (carbon dioxide, oxygen, etc) with their environment

17. Environmental interaction A Venus flytrap responds to the stimulus of a dragonfly landing on it

18. 5. Evolutionary adaptation • All living things evolve • Evolution is a gradual change over a long period of time (most of the time!) • Evolution explains the diversity and adaptations of life • Evolution is the change in genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next (we’ll come back to this)

19. 6. Genetic component (DNA) • All living organisms have DNA as their genetic blueprint • DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid • Every cell uses DNA as its genetic information • Every species has its own unique DNA sequence.

20. Three domains of life • Organisms can be grouped into three domains • Scientists classify organisms into a hierarchy of groups • Grouped by fundamental characteristics • Helps scientists manage the great diversity of life for study • Not always clear-cut; organisms do not always fall into structured categories

21. Three domains of life • All organisms are grouped into three domains • Domain Archea • Domain Eubacteria • Domain Eukarya Prokaryotic Eukaryotic • Eukaryote =genetic material stored in a nucleus • Prokaryote = no nucleus; genetic material ‘loose’ in cell

22. Classification • Domains are further classified/categorized into: • Kingdom • Phylum • Class • Order • Family • Genus • Species

23. Domain Kingdom Phylum Subphylum Class Order Family Diversification Genus Species

24. Scientific name • Organisms are ultimately sorted to the species level (species that appear to be closely related are grouped into the same genus_ • Binomial (“two part”) system: genus and species constitute the scientific name of the organism • Genus is always Capitalized and species is always lower-case; both are in italics

25. Scientific name • Why all the fuss? Common names can be deceiving… “dolphin” “bear” http://www.ticam.utexas.edu/images/grizzly.jpg

26. Scientific name • Scientific names are descriptive • May describe unique characteristic, region where species is found, etc. • Example: Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae • Magas = large • Pteron = wing • Novas = new • Angaliae = England

27. Scientific Method • A systematic approach to understand the natural world • Observation • Hypothesis • Must be testable • Experimentation • Must be repeatable • Multiple trials necessary • Conclusion • Supports or rejects the hypothesis

28. Hypotheses can never be proven!!!