CHAPTER 1

1.1 What is Life? Characteristics of Living Systems

 The difference between living and nonliving systems depends not only on
the kinds of atoms and molecules present but also on their organization
and their interactions
o Living organisms must gather energy and materials from their
surroundings to build new biological molecules, grow in size,
maintain and repair their parts and produce offspring.
o Must also respond to environmental changes by altering their
chemistry and activity in ways that allow them to survive
o Structure and function of living systems often change with
generations
 Emergent properties = characteristics that depend on the level of
organization of matter, but do not exist at lower levels of organization
 Organization of life extends to several levels of hierarchy
o Cell (smallest unit with the capacity to live and reproduce,
independently or as part of a multicellular organism) 
 Lowest level of biological organization that can survive and
reproduce
 EMERGENT PROPERTY: cannot be broken apart
o Multicellular Organism (individual consisting of interdependent
cells) 
 Opposite of unicellular organisms such as bacteria and
protozoans
 Their cells live in tightly coordinated groups and are so
interdependent that they cannot survive on their own
 EMERGENT PROPERTY: “humans can learn biology” (?)
o Population (group of individuals of the same kind that occupy the
same area) 
 Group of unicellular and multicellular organisms
 EMERGENT PROPERY: characteristics such as birth or
death rate
o Community (populations of all species occupying the same area) 
 The bacteria, penguins, fishes, seals, whales and other
organisms that live along the coast of Antarctica taken
together, make up a community
o Ecosystem (group of communities interacting with their shared
physical environment) 
 Includes the community and the nonliving environmental
factors
 Ex: forest ecosystem is animals, soil, dirt, water, air, ect.
o Biosphere (all regions of Earth’s crust, waters and atmosphere that
sustain life)
 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
 o Large, double-stranded helical molecule that contains instructions
for assembling a living organism from simpler molecules
o Molecular building blocks arranged differently in each of these
organisms, producing differences in their appearance and function
o Information in DNA is copied into molecules of a related substance,
ribonucleic acid (RNA), which then directs the production of
different protein molecules
o Proteins carry out most of the activities, including synthesis (Fig.
1.4)
 Metabolism describes the ability of a cell or organism to extract energy to
maintain itself, grow and reproduce
o Cells carry out chemical reactions that assemble, alter and
disassemble molecules
o EX photosynthesis: electromagnetic energy in sunlight is absorbed
and converted into chemical energy; the cells of the plant store
some chemical energy in sugars and starches and use the rest to
manufacture other biological molecules
o EX cellular respiration: complex biological molecules are broken
down with oxygen, releasing some of their energy content for
cellular activities
 Energy flows and matter cycles through living systems
o Primary producers – photosynthetic organisms
o Consumers – directly or indirectly feed on the complex molecules
manufactured by pants
o Decomposers – feed on the remains of dead organisms, breaking
down complex biological molecules into simpler raw materials (Fig.
1.6)
 Although heat energy can be used by some animals to maintain body
temperature, it cannot sustain other life processes. By contrast, matter
cycles between living organisms and the nonliving components of the
biosphere, to be used again and again
 All objects, whether living or nonliving, respond to changes in the
environment but only living organisms have the ability to detect
environmental change (i.e. a rock heating under the sun and cooling at
night)
o Shivering when cold/temperature regulation
o Homeostasis = a steady internal condition maintained by responses
that compensate for changes in the external environment
 Reproduction through inheritance of DNA
 Multicellular organisms also undergo a process of development, a series
of programmed changes encoded in DNA, through which a fertilized egg
divides into many cells that ultimately are transformed into an adult (ex.
development of the moth)
o These sequential stages through which individuals develop, grow,
maintain and reproduce are known as the life cycle
  Populations of all organisms change from one generation to the next,
because some individuals experience changes in their DNA and they pass
these modified instructions along to their offspring (biological evolution)
1.2 Biological Evolution
 All research in biology is undertaken with the knowledge that biological
evolution has shaped life on Earth
 Our understanding of the evolutionary process reveals several truths
about the living world:
o All populations change over time
o All organisms are related through a shared ancestry
o Evolution has produced the diversity that exists today
 Darwin and Wallace explained how populations of organisms change
through time
o Darwin
 Extinct fossils that resemble current animals with similar
traits
 Organisms change from one form to another over time
 Studied domesticated animals—especially pigeons
 Darwin noted that pigeon breeders who wanted a bird
to have a specific trait would only mate the birds that
had the trait they wanted to the bad characteristic
would be eliminated—known as artificial selection (the
equivalent of nature’s natural selection)
o Wallace
 Variety of plants and animals in the Amazon basin and
Malaysia
o Conclusions explaining biological evolution
 Most organisms can produce numerous offspring, but
environmental factors limit the number that actually survive
and reproduce
 Heritable variations allow for some individuals to compete
more successfully for resources
 These successful individuals somehow pass the favorable
characteristics to their offspring
 As a result, the favorable traits become more common in the
next generation
o Although they understood the importance of variability, they could
not explain how these variations came to be
 Mutations in DNA are the raw materials that allow evolutionary change
o DNA is organized into functional unites called genes and each gene
contains the code for a protein molecule or one of its parts
o Variability arises through mutation (random changes in string of
DNA)
o Many mutations are neutral
  Adaptations enable organisms to survive and reproduce in the
environments where they live
o Favorable mutations may produce adaptations (characteristics that
help an organism survive longer or reproduce more under a
particular set of environmental conditions, i.e. camouflage/cryptic
coloration in rock pocket mouse)
o Michael W. Nachman & Hopi E. Hoekstra
 Research on genetic mutations that produce adaptations
 Found that nearly all the dark mice were found on rocks and
light mice found in the sand
 Mc1r gene
1.3 Biodiversity
 Fig 1. 11
 Scientists have developed classification systems that attempt to arrange
organisms, living and dead, into groups that reflect their relationships and
evolutionary origins
o (BIGGEST) Domain  Kingdom  Phylum  Class  Order 
Family  Genus  Species (SMALLEST)
 Biologists consider the species to be a fundamental unit in a hierarchy of
categories
o Most biologists consider the species to be the most fundamental
grouping in the diversity of life
o Species = a group of populations in which the individuals are so
closely related in structure, biochemistry and behavior that they can
successfully interbreed (EX: Dalmatians)
o Genus = group of similar species that share recent common
ancestry (EX: dogs)
o Each species is assigned a two-part scientific name; the first part
identifies the genus and the second is the particular species
 Biologists classify organisms into three domains and several kingdoms
o Three domains: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya
 Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotes (no nucleus)
 Eukarya are eukaryotes (have nucleus)
 The nucleus and other specialized internal compartments of
eukaryotic cells are called organelles
o The Domain Bacteria
 Unicellular organisms
 Generally visible only under the microscope
 Live as producers and decomposers
 Share a relatively simple cellular organization of DNA and
internal structure with the archaea and photosynthesis is
unique to this domain
o The Domain Archaea
 Similar to bacteria (unicellular, microscopic, live as
producers and decomposers)
  Inhabit extreme environments (hot springs, salty ponds, ect.)
 Photosynthesis unique to their own domain
 Some molecular and biochemical characteristics typical of
eukaryotes, including DNA and RNA organization/protein
synthesis
o The Domain Eukarya
 All remaining organisms on Earth
 Four kingdoms: Protoctista, Plantae, Fungi, Animalia
 The Kingdom Protoctista
 Single-celled and multicellular
 Primarily unicellular and algae
 Consumers and decomposers
 The Kingdom Plantae
 Multicellular organisms that (with a few exceptions)
carry out photosynthesis
 Producers
 Except for their reproductive cells (pollen and seeds)
they stay put
 The Kingdom Fungi
 Unicellular and multicellular species
 Yeasts and molds
 Decomposers
 The Kingdom Animalia
 Multicellular organisms tat live as consumers by
ingesting organisms in all three domains
 Motility – the ability to move actively from one place to
another during some stage of their life cycles
1.4 Biological Research
 Importance of scientific method
 Attitude of inquiry and skepticism
 Biologists confront the unknown by conducting basic and applied research
o Basic research – search for explanations about natural phenomena
to satisfy their own curiosity and to advance our collective
knowledge of living systems
o Applied research – goal of solving specific practical problems
 Biologists conduct research by collecting observational and experimental
data
o Observational data – basic information on biological structures or
the details of biological processes (a.k.a. descriptive science)
o Experimental data – information that describes the result of a
careful manipulation of the system under study
 Researchers often test hypotheses with controlled experiments
o Null hypothesis = a statement of what they would see if the
hypothesis being tested was not correct
 o Alternative hypothesis = another reason why the experiment turned
out the way it did
o VOCAB: hypothesis, variables, predictions, the control,
experimental variable
o Replicates = multiple subjects that receive either the same
experimental treatment or the same control treatment
 When controlled experiments are unfeasible, researchers use null
hypotheses to evaluate observational data
o Hertz’s study of lizard species and their thermoregulatory behaviors
o Fig 1.15
 Biologists often use model organisms to study fundamental biological
processes
o Model organisms have rapid development, short life cycles and
small adult size
o EX: Escherichia coli showed the mechanisms that control whether
the information in any particular gene is used to manufacture a
protein molecule
 Molecular techniques have revolutionized biological research
o Beadle and Tatum used bread as a model organism to show genes
provide the instructions for constructing certain proteins
o Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA
o DNA “fingerprinting”
o Biotechnology = manipulation of living organisms to produce useful
products has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry
 Scientific theories are grand ideas that have stood the test of time
o When every conceivable test has confirmed a hypothesis that
addresses many broad questions, it may become regarded as a
scientific theory
**Self-Test Questions and Review on pgs. 19, 20**