NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.

NO:19110012

ASSIGNMENT 3
(BE 101)

Q) Write an essay describing your combined learning so far (from

lecture 1 till lecture 9).

ANS)
Through the course, we mainly talked about Evolution in the first six lectures. First
of all evolution is a theory and not an experiment. And evolution is based on the 2
main assumptions. And they were:
1. A-biogenesis: Scientists believe that life originated from a biotic component
on the earth such as rock and now this process is not going on.

Requirements of evolution:
1. All species should be different and within the species , there should be variety.
2. Limited resources. So that selection happens i.e elimination occurs.
3. Heritability
In the first lecture, we mainly focused on the order that is form or organization. We
are called organisms because our body is well organised. All groups of living
organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or
response to stimuli, reproduction, adaptation, growth and development, regulation,
homeostasis (‘Homeostasis is the ability or tendency to maintain internal stability in
an organism to compensate for environmental changes.’), and energy processing.
When viewed together, these eight characteristics serve to define life. (from
textbook). Order is one of the most important features to distinguish between
different types of species. Other features such as response to stimuli, homeostasis,
adaption and regulation help us grow and maintain our order. Organisms use energy
to maintain their metabolic processes and for reproduction.
All living beings have definite life span. This is because with time, environmental
changes take place which the living beings cannot adapt to therefore they die. Other
problems include lack of resources which leads to the competitive exclusion that is
“survival of the fittest”. Living components of the environment compete for the
resources whereas non living do not. Competitive exclusion: Ecological niche. Better
NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

niche would be occupied by more competitive organism. Like lions require more
resource than earthworm.
Benefits of competitive exclusion
1. Reproduction
2. Survival
3. Symbiosis
The baby would be stronger if more is the difference of adaptations between the
parents because, more the difference in the adaptations more mutation of genes in
the baby’s DNA. Reproduction plays a key role in the evolution of the species
because reproduction causes mutations in the DNA due to internal and external
things. Reproduction helps in maintaining the form of the living beings. Reproduction
helps in adaptations and evolution. Only stable changes in the DNA are selected.
Evolution can happen in three ways,
1. via replacement of parts
2. via removal of parts
3. via addition of parts
Removal method is used to remove vestigial organs from the body, whereas addition
method is the most common method through which evolution happened. Addition
method makes the body more complex. Robust changes in the DNA can even lead
to the formation of new species. Than we talked about cells which are the most basic
unit of living organisms. Viruses do not have cells, and that is the reason why viruses
are not considered as living organisms because they depend on a living cell for
nutrients for the reproduction and other basic necessary actions. There are two types
of organisms depending on the development of their cells that is if they have nucleus
wall or not. They are:
1. Prokaryotes(Unicellular organisms that do not have membrane on organelles)
2. Eukaryotes (Multicellular organisms that have membrane on the organelles
and nucleus)

Second lecture mainly focused on the various layers of organization.

Humans are the most sophisticated piece of organism present at the planet and are
the most organised living being on the universe.
ORGANELLES CELLS TISSUES ORGANS

ORGANISM
ORGAN
SYSTEMS
POPULATION COMMUNITY ECOSYSTEM
NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

BIOSPHERE

The most basic level of organization for organisms is the organelle, which is made of
aggregates of macromolecules. We learnt that living beings are the components or
parts of the biosphere or say the upper level of organization and we are composites
of cells and tissues or the lower levels of organization of life. For the benefit of
composite , component has to sacrifice.

“Organelles are small structures that exist within cells. Examples of these include:
mitochondria and chloroplasts, which carry out indispensable functions.
All living things are made of cells, and the cell itself is the smallest fundamental unit of
structure and function in living organisms. (This requirement is why viruses are not
considered living: they are not made of cells. To make new viruses, they have to invade and
hijack the reproductive mechanism of a living cell; only then can they obtain the materials
they need to reproduce. ). Cells are classified as prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Prokaryotes are
single-celled or colonial organisms that do not have membrane-bound nuclei; in contrast, the
cells of eukaryotes do have membrane-bound organelles and a membrane-bound nucleus.
In larger organisms, cells combine to make tissues, which are groups of similar cells
carrying out similar or related functions.
Organs are collections of tissues grouped together performing a common function.
An organ system is a higher level of organization that consists of functionally related
organs.
All the individuals of a species living within a specific area are collectively called a
population. For example, a forest may include many pine trees. All of these pine trees
represent the population of pine trees in this forest.
A community is the sum of populations inhabiting a particular area. For instance, all of the
trees, flowers, insects, and other populations in a forest form the forest’s community.
The forest itself is an ecosystem. An ecosystem consists of all the living things in a
particular area together with the abiotic, non-living parts of that environment such as nitrogen
in the soil or rain water.
At the highest level of organization, the biosphere is the collection of all ecosystems, and it
represents the zones of life on earth. It includes land, water, and even the atmosphere to a
certain extent. Taken together, all of these levels comprise the biological levels of
organization, which range from organelles to the biosphere.”

In the third lecture, we mainly focused on the food chain and food web.
Tropic levels: Various levels of the food chain are called tropic levels.
 NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

Plants or primary producers are at the first level of the tropic level of the food chain.
They make food with the help of sunlight, minerals (from soil) and water.
The second level of the food chain is occupied by the primary consumers that are
the herbivores or can be omnivores which are directly dependent on plants for their
food as they eat grasses and plants directly. E.g.: dear, goat, etc
The third level of the food chain is occupied by the secondary consumers which are
the carnivores which eat the primary consumers. E.g.: snakes, wolf, etc.
The last or the fourth level is occupied by the tertiary consumers which eat the
secondary consumers. E.g.: bear, lion, humans, etc.
The energy transferred in each tropic level is not the 100 percent of what is present
in the lower tropic level, in fact only 10 percent (approx) of the total energy is
transferred to the next tropic level. This is called the ten percent law. This is because
much of the energy is consumed the organism in digestion, respiration, reproduction
and other basic functions that the body performs.
The elements that constitute the biomass are recycled between the biotic and the
abiotic. These cycles are called Biogeochemical cycles. E.g,: nitrogen cycle.
Toxics or any chemicals that accumulate in the lower tropic level gets magnified or
say increased as the tropic level increases. Pollution, mining, industrial and
agricultural wastes are the reasons for biomagnifications.

Population growth: Role of biotic and abiotic components on the population growth:

Population growth is dependent on mainly two factors namely

1. Density dependent limiting factors (Logistically regulated population).
2. Density independent limiting factors.
Other factors that influence the population growth are density independent limiting
factors such as natural calamities which do not depend on the number of organisms
present at a particular niche.
Density dependent factors: these are logistically regulated factors.

 Exponential growth produces a J-shaped curve, while logistic growth produces an S-

shaped curve.
NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

-source: khanacademy.com

Speciation :
Species can be categorised on the basis of :
1. Form
2. Ecological Niche Separation i.e different habitats.
Niche: space and time coordinates.
3. Only for higher organisms: If they can successfully mate with each other.
Under artificial conditions, closely related species may mate, while they may
not in natural conditions.

Speciation: creation of new species from a previously existing species.

1. Allopatric speciation: mutations is caused because of geographic separation.
i) Parapatric speciation: no physical geographical barrios are present but still
speciation occurs because of geographical difference or say difference in the niche.
NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

2. Sympatric speciation: caused because of mutation in gene by their own self. No

geographic separation needed.

For speciation, the most important factor is reproductive barrio so that new
adaptations are retained in the new species that are formed from mating between
the animals of same niche, that is to decrease random mating chances so as to
distort from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium:
It is clear observation that the species are evolving generation by generation. This is
because the gene undergoes mutation because of hierarchical adoptions by the
parent due to environmental changes. Our society does not support Panmixia, and
so mutations in the gene are not equal in the whole population. This constitutes to
gene flow. We do not have infinite population size which leads to non-random
mating. Geographical barriers also lead to selection for mating. This all are the
reasons why Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium not maintainable in nature thereby leading
to evolution.

Human evolution:
We studied about morphology of plants and animals i.e the study of shape, size and
structure of macroscopic organisms.
And we also studied about anatomy of the microscopic organisms.
In morphology, we talked about different types of organs present in the human body:
NAME: Dhruv Darda COURSE: BE 101 ROLL.NO:19110012

1. Vestigial Organs: These are organs which were present in our pre
evolutionary stages but are not useful to us now. E.g.: Appendix, Wisdom
Teeth, tail bone, external ear, Nictitating Membrane, tonsils, nipples, etc
2. Homologous organs: Homologous Organs are those which are similar in their
morphology, anatomy, genetics and embryology but dissimilar in their
functions. These structures are inherited from a common ancestor. E.g.: arms
of human and the wings of a bird.
3. Analogous organs: Organs of different animals which have different basic
structure but perform same function. E.g.: Wings of a bat and that of an
insect. Bat wing is a bony structure with association with underlying muscles.
Insect wing are, however, membranous extensions.