Introduction to Biology

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What is Biology ?
The study of Living Things

Bio = life
logy = knowledge

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Biology The Study of Life
Life arose more than 3.5
billion years ago.

First organisms (living
things) were single celled.

They were the only life
on Earth for millions of
years.

Organisms changed over
time (evolved).
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Aristotle (384 322 BC)

Proposed the theory of spontaneous generation

Also called abiogenesis.

Idea that living things can
arise from nonliving matter

Idea lasted almost 2000 years.

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Spontaneous Generation
For centuries, people based their beliefs on their
interpretations of what they saw going on in the
world around them without testing their ideas.
They didnt use the scientific method to arrive
at answers to their questions.
Their conclusions were based on untested
observations.
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Examples of Spontaneous Generation
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Observation: Every year in the spring, the Nile River
flooded areas of Egypt along the river, leaving behind
nutrient-rich mud that enabled the people to grow
that years crop of food.

However, along with the muddy soil, large numbers of
frogs appeared that werent around in drier times
Conclusion: It was perfectly obvious to people
back then that muddy soil gave rise to the frogs


How life began
Our planet soon after it was formed some 4500 million
years ago, now seems like an alien world where no living
thing could survive. The earths atmosphere comprised of:
Little or no oxygen
Toxic gases like carbon monoxide, methane and
ammonia, together with nitrogen and hydrogen.
These above and dense clouds of water vapour were
blasted into the sky from numerous active volcanoes and
hot springs.
The world was also exposed to UV light and intense heat
from the sun, flashes of lightning during frequent
violent thunderstorms, and radioactive leaking from
inside the planet.

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Lifes Beginnings

The chemicals of life accumulated in lakes and
ponds, where they changed, combined, and re-
combined in millions of different ways over
vast periods of time.
Complexity increased until cell like structures
appeared with the first major characteristics
of life: the ability to reproduce and grow,
feeding on materials from the primordial
soup in which they formed.
About a thousand million years later, cells
appeared which changed the course of
evolution. They developed the green pigment
chlorophyll, which enabled them to use
sunlight energy to make food from water and
carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen into the
Earths atmosphere for the first time.

These, the first plants gave rise to the Plant
Kingdom we know today. They not only
maintain an oxygen rich atmosphere, but make
the food upon which all other life depends.

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Needs of living things
Light and Carbon Dioxide:
All life forms need energy to survive. Living things use
energy to grow, to defend themselves, and to move
around this energy is provided by the Sun the primary
source of energy.

Plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air to
create their own food by photosynthesis.

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Many animals then eat the plants, taking this energy into
their own bodies. Other animals then eat these plant
eaters, passing the Sun's energy from one organism to
another.

The food organisms take in provides them with energy,
and also provides them with the resources, and raw
materials they need to build up their bodies, grow, and
repair damage.

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All organisms need substances such as
nutrients, water, and gases from the
environment.

The stability of the environment depends on
the healthy functioning of organisms in that
environment.
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Water

Living things need water to survive. Earth are comprised entirely of
water. Your own body is about 66% water.
Water in your blood helps transport food, and chemicals to the
cells.
helps remove waste products from the body.
is used to cool down and to warm up the
body
to carry out the chemical reactions.
Plants use water to grow, to transport
food, and to carry out chemical reactions.
Plants use water as part of photosynthesis,
to create their own food.
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Oxygen
Most life forms use oxygen as the main ingredient in many of
the chemical reactions needed for life.

Land animals breath oxygen directly from the air, while
ocean bearing animals use the oxygen dissolved in the water
to survive.

Minerals:

The Earths soil contains minerals, which are essential for
health and growth.

Plants take in minerals through their roots.

Animals get minerals by eating plants and/or other animals.
.

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Warmth:

If it gets too hot or cold, the chemical changes
which are necessary for life will stop.

In many parts of the Earth, temperatures lie between
25deg Celsius and 30deg Celsius.

Most living things are adapted to live at these
temperatures.
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Autotrophs
Organisms that make their own
food are called Autotrophs.

Phototrophs: Use solar energy
(photosynthesis) to get energy.

Convert H
2
O and CO
2
into sugar
and O

Chemotrophs use different
chemical processes to get energy
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Heterotrophs
Organisms that must take in food to meet
their energy needs are called Heterotrophs.
Consume autotrophs (herbivores), other
heterotrophs (carnivores)
or both (omnivores) for their
energy needs.

Complex chemicals are broken down and
reassembled into simpler chemicals needed by
organisms.

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It is not always an easy thing to tell the
difference between living, dead, and non-living
things There a few set of rules which are followed
by scientists to classify something as living:

Living things are made of cells.
Living things obtain and use energy.
Living things grow and develop.
Living things reproduce.
Living things respond to their environment.
Living things adapt to their environment.


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Basic characteristics of
living things
Nutrition
Respiration
Excretion
Growth
Reproduction
Movement

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Nutrition: Take food for energy, growth and repair.
Plants make their own food in their leaves by a process
called photosynthesis.

Carbon dioxide + Water Glucose + Oxygen

Animals cannot make their own food,
and hence, they rely on plants, and/or
other animals for their source of food.


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Respiration: It is the oxidation of food to produce energy.
Living things respire. They get energy from food by a
process called respiration.
This usually needs oxygen.

Food + Oxygen Energy + Waste
(Water + Carbon Dioxide)


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Excretion: Removal of metabolic wastes (not feces).
Living things excrete. All living things produce waste. The
removal of waste from their bodies is called excretion.

Animals excrete through their
lungs and kidneys, and through
their skin, when they sweat.

Plants store waste in old
leaves, which fall in the autumn.


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Growth: Permanent increase in size and complexity.
Living things reproduce and grow. Animals lay eggs, or
have babies, whereas seeds
from plants grow into new
plants.

Animals stop growing when they
reach their adult size.

Plants grow all their lives.


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Movement:

Animals: Whole organism moves from
place to place.
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Plants: Only part of its organ can
move about. Plants move by growing.
They do not have sense organs but
respond to the environment roots
show positive geotropism, and
hydrotropism as they grow
downwards in response to gravity
and water, and shoots show positive
phototropism in response to water.
Stability and Homeostasis
Organisms must Maintain very stable
internal conditions. This process is known as
Homeostasis.

Temperature, water content, chemical
content, etc. must be maintained.
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Reproduction and Inheritance
Reproduction: All organisms produce new organisms like
themselves. Reproduction is the production of new
independent organisms which are similar to their original
parents.
Organisms transmit hereditary information to their
offspring. It is called Inheritance.


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Sexual Reproduction
Hereditary information from
two different organisms of the
same species are combined.

Egg and sperm zygote
(fertilized egg).

Zygote contains hereditary
information from both parents.
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Asexual Reproduction
It is the genetic information
from single parent.

Hereditary information from
one, usually unicellular
organism divides.

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Cells
Most organisms are composed of many cells (multicellular).
Cells are different (undergo differentiation).
Cells are highly organized.
The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living
organisms.
It is the smallest unit of an organism that is
classified as living, and is sometimes called the building block
of life.
Our skin, muscles, brain are all made of cells.
Humans have an estimated 100 trillion cells.
The largest known cell is an ostrich egg.


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Cell membrane semi permeable protection around
the cell.

Cytoplasm Jelly-like substance, containing hundreds
of chemicals, where lots of chemicals reactions take
place. It fills the cell.

Nucleus it controls what a cell does, and how it
develops.
Mitochondria power house of cell.

Vacuole this is a space within the cell containing air,
liquids, or food particles. Animals cells usually have
several small vacuoles.



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INSIDE AN ANIMAL CELL:
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Cell Structure and Function
Cells are the basic unit of life.
All organisms are made of and
develop from cells.
Some are composed of only a
single cell(unicellular) which is
usually identical to the parent.
They contain a set of instructions
called DNA (genetic information).

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Cells are not all the same shape.

There are about 20 different cells in our bodies,
which are specialized to do different jobs.

Red blood cells: Disc shaped and their job is to carry
oxygen round the body.

White blood cells: They can change their shape as they
attack germs. They provide immunity and fight against
diseases.
Nerve cells: Have long thin fibers, which carry nerve
impulses (messages) around the body.

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DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
Genetic. Information in all cells is
called Deoxyribonucleic Acid
DNA contains instructions for
traits genes.
Make the structures and complex
chemicals necessary for life called
proteins.
DNA in every body cell (somatic
cells) are exactly alike.
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INSIDE A PLANT CELL:
Cell wall: Made of cellulose. It covers the cell membrane.

Cell Membrane:Semi permeable protection around the cell.

Cytoplasm:Jelly-like substance, containing hundreds of chemicals,
where lots of chemicals reactions take place. It fills the cell.

Vacuole: present in all plant cells. Contains liquid called cell sap.

Chloroplasts: Tiny discs full of green substance called chlorophyll. They
trap the light energy that plants need to make food by
photosynthesis.

Stored food: Mainly starch.

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PLANT CELL
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