BIOLOGY 100

DISCOVERIES IN BIOLOGY

LECTURE:01
INTRODUCTION TO BIOLOGY
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: SAADIA SHAREEN
E-MAIL: saadiashareen1@gmail.com

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LECTURE OUTLINE:
THEMES AND CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGY
THE PROCESS OF SCIENCE

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 WHAT IS BIOLOGY ?
• The science of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena,
especially with reference to origin, growth, reproduction, structure,
and behavior.
• ‘Bios’- originated from Greek word meaning ‘Life”
• ‘logos’ – study of / knowledge

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 PROPERTIES OF LIFE :
• ORDER
• SENSETIVITY OR RESPONSE TO STIMULI
• REPRODUCTION
• ADAPTATION
• GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
• REGULATION AND HOMEOSTASIS
• ENERGY PROCESSING

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1. ORDER:
• Organisms are highly organized structures that consist of one or more
cells.
• Inside each cell , atoms make up molecules, these in turn make up cell
components or organelles.
• Multicellular organisms consist of millions of individual cells and have
an advantage over singe-celled organisms- their cells can be
specialized to perform specific functions.

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2. SENSITIVITY TO STIMULI
• Organisms respond to diverse stimuli. For example, plants can bend
toward a source of light or respond to touch (Figure1.1)

Figure: 1.1 The leaves of this sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) will instantly droop
and fold when touched. After a few minutes, the plant returns to its normal state.
(credit: Alex Lomas).

• Even tiny bacteria can move toward or away from chemicals (a

process called chemotaxis) or light (phototaxis).Movement toward a
stimulus is considered a positive response, while movement away
from a stimulus is considered a negative response.
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3. REPRODUCTION
• Single-celled organisms reproduce by first duplicating their DNA,
which is the genetic material, and then dividing it equally as the cell
prepares to divide to form two new cells.
• multicellular organisms (those made up of more than one cell)
produce specialized reproductive cells that will form new individuals.
• When reproduction occurs, DNA containing genes is passed along to
an organism’s offspring. These genes are the reason that the offspring
will belong to the same species and will have characteristics similar to
the parent, such as fur color .

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4. ADAPTATION
• All living organisms exhibit a “fit” to their environment.
• Biologists refer to this fit as adaptation and it is a consequence of
evolution by natural selection, which operates in every lineage of
reproducing organisms.
• Examples of adaptations are diverse and unique, for example heat-
resistant Archaea that live in boiling hot springs.

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5. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT:
• Organisms grow and develop according to specific instructions coded
for by their genes.
• These genes provide instructions that will direct cellular growth and
development, ensuring that a species’ young will grow up to exhibit
many of the same characteristics as its parents.

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6. REGULATION AND HOMEOSTASIS
• Even the smallest organisms are complex and require multiple regulatory
mechanisms to coordinate internal functions, such as the transport of
nutrients, response to stimuli, and coping with environmental stresses.
• To function properly, cells require appropriate conditions such as proper
temperature, pH, and concentrations of diverse chemicals.
• Organisms are able to maintain internal conditions within a narrow range
almost constantly, despite environmental changes, through a process
called homeostasis or “steady state”—the ability of an organism to
maintain constant internal conditions. For example, many organisms
regulate their body temperature in a process known as thermoregulation.

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7. ENERGY PROCESSING
• All organisms use a source of energy for their metabolic activities.
Some organisms capture energy from the Sun and convert it into
chemical energy in food; others use chemical energy from molecules
they take in.

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 LEVELS OF ORGANISATION OF
LIVING THINGS
•Living things are highly organized and structured, following a hierarchy on a scale from small to large.
•Atoms • All the individuals of a species living within a specific area
Molecules / Macromolecules are collectively called a population.
• A community is the set of populations inhabiting a
Organelles
particular area. For instance, all of the trees, flowers,
Cells insects, and other populations in a forest form the
Tissues forest’s community
• An ecosystem consists of all the living things in a
Organ / Organ system particular area together with the abiotic, or non-living,
Organisms parts of that environment such as nitrogen in the soil or
Population rainwater.
• the biosphere is the collection of all ecosystems, and it
Communities represents the zones of life on Earth. It includes land,
Ecosystem water, and portions of the atmosphere
Biosphere
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Figure 1.2 : From an
atom to the entire
Earth, biology
examines all aspects of
life. (credit "molecule":
modification
of work by Jane
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Whitney)
 THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE
• The science of biology is very broad in scope because there is a
tremendous diversity of life on Earth.
• The source of this diversity is evolution, the process of gradual
change during which new species arise from older species.
• Evolutionary biologists study the evolution of living things in
everything from the microscopic world to ecosystems.
• In the 18th century , a scientist named Carl Linnaeus first proposed
organizing the species of organisms into hierarchical taxonomy.

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THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE (Cont..)

Figure: 1.3 This diagram shows the levels of taxonomic hierarchy for a dog, from the broadest category—
domain—to the most specific—species .
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THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE (Cont..)
• In this system, species that are most similar to each other are put
together within a grouping known as a genus.
• similar genera (the plural of genus) are put together within a family.
• This grouping continues until all organisms are collected together into
groups at the highest level.
• The highest level, domain, is a relatively new addition to the system
since the 1990s.
• Scientists now recognize three domains of life, the Eukarya, the
Archaea, and the Bacteria.

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 THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE (Cont..)
• The domain Eukarya contains organisms
that have cells with nuclei. It includes the
kingdoms of fungi, plants, animals, and
several kingdoms of protists.

• Both the Archaea and the Bacteria are

prokaryotes, an informal name for cells
without nuclei.

• The Archaea, are single-celled organisms

without nuclei and include many
extremophiles that live in harsh
environments like hot springs.

Figure:1.4 This phylogenetic tree was constructed by microbiologist Carl Woese using genetic relationships. The tree
shows the separation of living organisms into three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Bacteria and Archaea
are organisms without a nucleus or other organelles surrounded by a membrane and, therefore, are prokaryotes.
(credit: modification of work by Eric Gaba) 17
 THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE (Cont..)

Figure: 1.5 These images represent different domains. The scanning electron micrograph shows (a) bacterial cells
belong to the domain Bacteria, while the (b) extremophiles, seen all together as colored mats in this hot spring,
belong to domain Archaea. Both the (c) sunflower and (d) lion are part of domain Eukarya. (credit a: modification
of work by Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH;

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 THE PROCESS OF SCIENCE
• Biology is a science.
• But what exactly is science ?
• What does the biology share with other scientific disciplines?

• Science (from Latin word ‘scientia’ meaning knowledge) can be

defined as knowledge about the natural world.
• Science is a specific way of learning , or knowing about the world .

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 NATURE OF SCIENCE.
• SCIENTIFIC METHODS:
• A method of research with defined steps that include experiments
and careful observations.
• One most important aspect of this method is the testing of
hypothesis.
• What is hypothesis? – it is a suggested explanation for an event ,
which can be tested.

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 NATURE OF SCIENCE (cont..)
• Observation: the room appears dark.
• You ponder why ? In an attempt to find explanations your mind unravels
several different hypothesis.’
• Hypothesis 1 : the lights are turned off.
• Hypothesis 2 : Room’s light bulb has burnt out.
• Hypothesis 3 : worst yet ! You could be going blind.
• To discover the truth you carry out experiments.
• Experiment 1 :You find a light switch and turn it on. – no light ?
• You repeat the experiment . – flicker the switch back and forth- still
nothing?
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 NATURE OF SCIENCE (cont..)
• This means your first hypothesis (lights are turned off) has been
rejected.
• You devise more experiments to test your hypothesis.
• Experiment 2 : Utilizing a flashlight to prove you are not going blind.
• In order to prove the last truth, you could predict that changing the
light bulb will fix the problem. You change the bulb and it is fixed .
• So you conclude your 2nd hypothesis is valid and is accepted.

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NATURE OF SCIENCE (cont..)

Figure: 1.5 The scientific method is a series of defined steps

that include experiments and careful observation. If a
hypothesis is not supported by data, a new hypothesis can be
proposed.
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You should now be able to:

• Identify and describe the properties of life.

• Describe the levels of organization among living things.
• Understand the process of scientific enquiry.

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The end !
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