Chapter 1

Exploring Life

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

What is life???

 Lifes basic characteristic is a high degree of order Each level of biological organization has emergent properties

 Concept 1.1: Biologists explore life from the microscopic to the global scale
The study of life extends from molecules and cells to the entire living planet Biological organization is based on a hierarchy of structural levels

A Hierarchy of Biological Organization

1. Biosphere: all environments on Earth

2. Ecosystem: all living and nonliving things in a particular area 3. Community: all organisms in an ecosystem 4. Population: all individuals of a species in a particular area 5. Organism: an individual living thing

A Hierarchy of Biological Organization (continued) 6. Organ and organ systems: specialized body parts made up of tissues
7. Tissue: a group of similar cells
8. Cell: lifes fundamental unit of structure and function 9. Organelle: a structural component of a cell

10 Molecule: a chemical structure consisting of atoms

A Hierarchy of Biological Organization (continued)

11. Atoms

12.
13.

Elementary particles
Quarks

14.

??

A Closer Look at Cells

The cell is the lowest level of organization that can perform all activities of life

The ability of cells to divide is the basis of all reproduction, growth, and repair of multicellular organisms

Two Main Forms of Cells

Characteristics shared by all cells: Enclosed by a membrane Use DNA as genetic information Two main forms of cells: Eukaryotic: divided into organelles; DNA in nucleus

Prokaryotic: lack organelles; DNA not separated in a nucleus

LE 1-8 EUKARYOTIC CELL PROKARYOTIC CELL DNA (no nucleus) Membrane Cytoplasm Membrane

Organelles Nucleus (contains DNA)

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

1 m

The Three Domains of Life

At the highest level, life is classified into three domains:

Bacteria (prokaryotes)
Archaea (prokaryotes)

Eukarya (eukaryotes) Eukaryotes include protists and the kingdoms Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia

LE 1-15

Bacteria

4 m

Protists

100 m

Kingdom Plantae

Archaea

0.5 m

Kingdom Fungi

Kingdom Animalia

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Concept 1.4: Evolution accounts for lifes unity and diversity

The history of life is a saga of a changing Earth billions of years old