Introduction to Biology

 Biology (Gk., bios, life; logous, study) is the

study of living beings.

Nature and scope of Biology

 Biology is such a field of study in which there is well
defined nature and immense scope.

Nature of Biology
 Living beings and non-living beings resemble in that:
 Both are formed of atoms.

 Both are made up of same elements that combine to form molecules.

 Molecules of both are interacting.

 Both are subjected to Physical laws like Magnetism, Gravitation, Action and Reaction.
 Living beings and non-living beings differ in that living beings have
following features that are not found in non-living beings. Living beings:
 Comprise cellular structure (unicellular or multicellular) each having protoplasm (crystallo-
colloidal complex), nuclear/genetic material (transferred from generation to generation) and
bounding membrane.

 Contain organized components (possess a number of components which function in organized

way).

 Are open-systems as they exchange both matter and energy with their surroundings (compare
with closed-system in which energy is exchanged but not matter, e.g. tea in a steel flask and
isolated-system in which neither matter nor energy exchanged, e.g. tea in a thermos flask).

 Carry many life-processes (nutrition, circulation, respiration, excretion, etc.) constituting

metabolism.

 Maintain homeostasis (with that of external environment).

 Able to grow in size, attain maturity, and reproduce.

 Exhibit consciousness to their surroundings because of the presence of irritability

(=sensitivity) or conductivity, maintain healing and repair of one’s own, show adaptability to
varied environment, possess variations, and evolve with time.

 Have definite life-span (development, birth, growth, maturity, senescence/ageing and death).
 Life processes
These are the characteristic features of all living beings.
Cellular structure

 It is defining property of living beings.

 Each living being is a complex entity which is formed of one or

more cells.

 The cells are made of protoplasm, popularly called living

matter.

 Composition of living matter is known. However, we have not

yet been able to create protoplasm because of lack of
organization of biomolecules.

 Protoplasm and cellular structure are absent in viruses.

 Organization

A living being has an organization, that is, the living

being consists of several components and sub-
components which cooperate with one another for the
wellbeing of the whole organism.

A living being has multiple level organizations.

Each level of organization has its own properties which

are not found in its constituents. A cellular or­ganelle
develops a property not found in its interacting
molecular components. A living cell has its own
characteristics not found in its organelles. A tissue is able
to have a trait not found in its constituent cells.
 Metabolism
All organisms operate a network of thousands of
chemical reactions.

The sum total of all chemical reactions occurring in an

organism due to specific interactions amongst different
types of molecules within the interior of cells is called
metabolism (Gk. metabole = change).

Metabolism is defining property of living beings. All

activities of an organism including growth, movements,
development, responsiveness, reproduction, etc. are
due to metabolism. No non-living object shows
metabolism.
However, metabolic reactions can be carried out outside
the body of an organism in cell free systems. Such
reactions are neither living nor non-living. The isolated
in vitro metabolic reactions can, however, be called
biological reactions or living reactions as they involve
bio-chemicals.

It is of two types – anabolism and catabolism.

Anabolism – refers to the chemical reactions occurring

in living beings for the sake of addition, e.g.,
photosynthesis, growth, repairing, etc.

Catabolism – refers to the chemical reactions occurring

in living beings for the sake of breakdown, e. g.,
digestion, respiration, etc.
 Energy
Living beings constantly require energy not only to
perform various activities of the body but also to
overcome entropy or tendency to randomness. The
source of energy is food. It is required by every cell of
the body.
 
Nutrition
All living beings require food that is used as a source of
energy, and materials for the life processes, such as
maintenance, growth, and repairing.

Only two sources of energy are used by living beings,

namely light and chemical energy.
 Those living beings specialized for using light energy carry out
photosynthesis and contain pigments, including chlorophyll,
which absorb light, e.g., plants, algae, and photosynthetic
bacteria. These are autotrophs or holophytes and the nutrition
autotrophic.

 Those living beings which use chemical energy must obtain it

from other living beings, e.g., protozoa, animals and fungi.
These are heterotrophs and the nutrition heterotrophic.

 Heterotrophs are holozoic, saprozoic or parasitic.

 Holozoic refers to the eating, engulfing or swallowing of food

(solid) by the animals, e.g. Amoeba.

 Saprozoic, also called saprophytic refers to the absorption of

food from decaying materials either of animal or plant origin,
e.g., Euglena.
Parasitic refers to the intake of food from host, e.g.
Entamoeba, Fasciola, Ascaris, etc.

Those living beings which use light energy upon its

availability for photosynthesis as autotrophs can also
use chemical energy like heterotrophs when there is
dark, e.g., Euglena. These are called mixotrophs and the
nutrition mixotrophic.

Euglena is autotroph when there is light but heterotroph

and sprozoic or saprophytic when there is dark.

Different modes of nutrition are responsible for some of

the most fundamental differences between living beings.
 Digestion
The complex food obtained through nutrition in
animals is converted into simple food through
hydrolysis by the action of enzymes.

The simple food is used as a source of energy-

rich compounds and carried to each and every
cell.

The simple food is then passed into the process

of respiration for gaining energy.
 Circulation
It is the transportation of simple food like glucose,
formed in photosynthetic living beings as a result of
photosynthesis, from the site of its formation to the site
of its requirement or storage.

It is also the transportation of simple food like glucose,

amino acids, fatty acids, and glycerol formed in animals
as a result of digestion, from the site of its formation to
the site of its requirement or storage.

It is further transportation of gases, nitrogenous wastes,

secondary metabolites, hormones, water, minerals,
vitamins, toxic chemicals (in food), and medicine (taken).
 Respiration
All living beings require energy and much of the food
obtained through nutrition is used as a source of this
energy.

During respiration, the energy is released by the

breakdown of energy rich compounds.

The energy released is stored in the molecules of

adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP).

ATP has been found to occur in all living beings hence,

it is sometimes referred to as the universal energy
carrier.
 Excretion
It is the removal of waste products of
metabolism produced during respiration in all
living beings during the breakdown of simple
food like glucose or lipids inside cells, e. g.
carbon dioxide.

It is also the removal of waste products of

metabolism produced during respiration in
animals during the breakdown of simple food
like proteins inside cells, e. g., nitrogenous
wastes.
 
 Homeostasis
It is the maintenance of the balance of internal
environment of all living beings to that of external
environment.

It is well developed in animals than plants.

Growth
Growth is irreversible increase in mass of an
individual. A multicellular organism increases its mass
by cell division. In plants, growth continues
throughout life as they have meristematic areas where
cell divisions occur regularly.
 It is due to addition of similar materials to their outer surface. The
process is called accretion (L. accrescere — to increase).

 In living beings growth producing substances are of two types,

protoplasmic and apoplasmic.

 Pro­toplasmic substances are components of living matter like

cytoplasm and nucleus.

 Apoplasmic substances (Gk. apo- away, plastos – formed) are non-

living materials formed by the cells which become component of
tissues, e.g., cell wall, fibres of connective tissue, matrix of bone
and cartilage.

 Chemically growth is a result of difference between anabolism and

catabolism. Growth occurs when anabolism exceeds catabolism.
There will be no growth if anabolism and catabolism are equal.
Degrowth or negative growth can occur when catabolism exceeds
anabolism.
 Living beings, however, grow from within, using food that they
obtain form nutrition. The molecules are formed into new living
materials. So, living organisms show internal growth due to
addition of materials and formation of cells inside the body. Such
a method is called intussusception (L. intus = within, suscipere =
to receive).

 In animals, growth occurs to a certain age after which cells divide

only to replace worn out and lost cells. Unicellular organisms also
grow by cell division. However, cell division is also a means of
reproduction in them. In higher animals and plants, growth and
reproduction are mutually exclusive.

 Non-living beings, does not grow. However, some non-living

articles such as a crystal or stalagmite, grow by the addition of
new material to their outside surface and some non-living beings
can increase in size, e.g., mountains, boulders, stones.
 Maturity
Living beings, when grow show maturity.
Maturity confirms adultness in living beings to
reproduce.
 

Reproduction
The life span of all living beings is limited, but all of
them have the ability to perpetuate life, thereby
ensuring the survival of the species.

The resulting offspring have the same general

characteristics as the parents, whether such
individuals are produced by asexual or sexual
reproduction.
 Irritability
 It is also called sensitivity and is the characteristic feature of
protoplasm.

 It gives consciousness to living beings to adjust in the environment.

 Living beings have the ability to respond to changes in both the

internal and external environments and thus ensure that they
maximize their chances of survival.

 Living beings like animals respond to stimuli exhibiting behaviour

and thus leading to orientation or movement known as taxes, kineses
or tropism.

 It refers to conductivity in higher animals having nervous system.

 Such animals possess receptors of different kinds – photo-, thermo-,

chemo-, thigmo-, etc.
 Movement
 Some living beings, such as animals and some bacteria, have the
ability to move from place to place.

 Movement from place to place is called locomotion and seems to

be necessary in order to obtain their food, unlike other living
beings, such as plants, which can manufacture their own food
from raw materials obtained in one place.

 Nevertheless, some movement of whole body structures can

occur in plants, as when a leaf grows towards the sun or a
flower closes at night.

 Locomotion (displacement of animal in space and time) is

movement but all movement (swaying body being sedentary
animal and moving tentacles being sessile animal) is not
locomotion.
 Healing and repair
 Living beings can repair and heal the broken and injured parts.
 
Adaptation
 Useful inheritable variations or changes inform function and
behaviour which help an organism to adjust well and successfully
in its environment are called adaptations. An organism is
considered best adapted to an envi­ronment when it possesses
inherited traits that enhance its survival and ability to reproduce
in that environment.

 Adaptations allow the organisms to overcome seasonal and other

changes in the environment. They are of two types, short term
adaptations (e.g., hiber­nation in most amphibians and reptiles and
some mammals) and long term adaptations (e.g., the claws of
different birds are well adapted to suit their perching habits).
 Variation
Living beings possess variations and have the ability to
evolve with time.
 
Evolution
It is the gradual development of something, i.e., the
process by which different kinds of living organism are
believed to have developed from earlier forms during the
history of the earth.
 
Development
It is the process of developing or being developed or an
event constituting a new stage in a changing situation.
 Emerging or hatching or birth
 Every organism at the beginning of their life either emerge (plants) or
hatch (insects) or born (men) after which they start their life-cycle.
 
 
Life-cycle
 Also called life-history

 Each organism should have to pass different stages during the

process

 
Senescence/ageing and death
 All living beings face senescence or ageing during their life-cycle.

 They exhibit death after the completion of their life-history.

 Scope of Biology
 Literary scope – writing book, journal, article, periodical, magazine, etc.

 Scope in art and craft – aquarium, zoological park, national park,

preparation of permanent slides, stuffing, preparation of museum
specimens, rearing pet animals, etc.

 General scope – lecturer, teacher

 Professional scope – doctor, nurse, etc.

 Vocational scope – dairy technologist, agronomist, etc.

 Other scopes – in daily life, for burning questions, for human body, in
diseases, for population, in economically important living beings, for
genetically modified organisms, in case of curiosity, in terms of pesticide
and fertilizers, about pollution, in natural resources, place in biosphere,
for scientific attitude and scientific methods, for feeding, for clothing, for
shelter, etc.
 Careers in Biology
 It contains streams like general, professional, vocational, and
others.

 General stream – continuation in any branch of basic science –

anthropology, botany, zoology, microbiology, physiology, fishery,
entomology, endocrinology, parasitology, psychology, etc.

 Professional stream – joining a professional/technical institute for

gaining professional knowledge – medical science (M.B.B.S.,
B.D.S., B.Sc. Nursing, pathology, surgery, diagnostic techniques,
medicine), veterinary Science (B.V. Sc. and A.H.), agriculture, soil
science, dairy science, bioinformatics/computational
biology/computer simulations, environmental management,
genetic engineering, DNA finger printing, biotechnology,
biomedical engineering, forestry science, human reproductive
biology, occupational therapy, orthopaedics, paediatrics,
psychiatry, radiotherapy, etc.
Vocational stream – direct employment after
obtaining technical knowledge – agronomy,
apiculture, breeding, forensic science,
pharmacy, pharmacology, physiotherapy,
poultry farming, sericulture, aquaculture,
animal husbandry, dietetics, floriculture,
horticulture, medical transcription,
olericulture, ophthalmology, shellfish culture,
radiology, etc.

Other streams – stuffing, permanent slide

making, museum specimen making, aquarium,
etc.