Exploring Life

Chapter 1
 After this lecture, you should be able to
• Describe themes that help to organize biological information
• Explain the various forms of scientific inquiry
– Discovery and hypothesis-based science
• Explain how biology is studied
– Reductionism
– Systems biology
– Regulatory systems
 Overview:
• Biology is the scientific study of life
• Biologists are moving closer to understanding:
– How a single cell develops into an organism
– How plants convert sunlight to chemical energy
– How the human mind works
– How living things interact in communities
– How the diversity of life has come about
 What is Biology?
https://www.google.ca/search?q=what+is+biology+and+its+branches&newwindow=1&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwi
Wyv--9KLKAhUI2mMKHX9bD6kQsAQIPA
 New Species from 2023
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/new-species-discovered-this-year

DiCaprio’s snail- Bent-toed gecko Gekko

Roundleaf bat Stream treefrog
eating snake

Gymnures
Diminutive Palm tree
Pygmy squid
Amphipod crustacean Orb-weaving spider

New Crocodile Newt

Biologists use various forms of inquiry
• Science is derived from Latin and means “to know”
• Inquiry is the search for information and explanations
• Two main forms of Scientific inquiry:
– Discovery science and
– Hypothesis-based science
 Discovery Science
• Discovery science describes natural structures and processes
– Based on observations & analysis of data. Two categories of data
• Qualitative or descriptions rather than measurements
• Quantitative or recorded measurements (organized into tables or graphs)

• Inductive reasoning in discovery science draws conclusions

through the logical process of induction
– Repeated specific observations can lead to important generalizations
• For example, “The sun always rises in the east”
• Cells arise from pre-existing cells
 Hypothesis-Based Science
• Observations can lead us to ask questions and propose
hypothetical explanations called hypotheses

• A hypothesis is a tentative answer to a well-framed question

– Scientific hypothesis can lead to predictions that can be tested by
observation or experimentation
 Hypothesis-Based Science
Example:
• Observation:
– Your flashlight doesn’t work
• Question:
– Why doesn’t your flashlight work?
• Hypothesis 1:
– The batteries are dead
• Hypothesis 2:
– The bulb is burnt out
 “If…Then” Logic of Hypothesis Based Science
• Deductive reasoning uses general properties/premises to make
specific predictions
– Example, if organisms are made of cells (premise 1), and humans are organisms (premise
2), then humans are composed of cells (deductive prediction)

• A scientific hypothesis must lead to a prediction that is testable and

falsifiable
– Hypothesis-based science often uses two or more alternative hypotheses
– Failure to falsify a hypothesis does not prove the hypothesis
• For example, you replace your flashlight bulb, and it now works; this supports the
hypothesis that your bulb was burnt out, but this does not prove it (What other
explanation can you give?)
 READ THE Case Study:
(You are responsible for the Slides on Mimicry posted on Moodle)
Investigating Mimicry in Snake Populations
• Many poisonous species are brightly colored, which warns potential
predators
• Mimics are harmless species that closely resemble poisonous
species
• Henry Bates hypothesized that this mimicry evolved in harmless
species as an evolutionary adaptation that reduces their chances of
being eaten
 Theories in Science
• In the context of science, a theory is:
– Broader in scope than a hypothesis
– General and can lead to new testable hypotheses
– Supported by a large body of evidence compared to a hypothesis
(It is the best explanation that is supported by experimentation)
• What some examples of theories in Biology:
1. All organisms are composed of cell (Cell Theory)
2. Evolution by natural selection (Evolution)
3. Organisms maintain a near constant internal environment (Homeostasis)
4. Organisms don’t exist in a vacuum (Ecosystems)
5. All living organisms reproduce (Hereditary)
 Culture of Science
• Most scientists work in teams; often include graduate &
undergraduate students
• Good communication is important part of good science
– Scientists share results through seminars, publications, and websites. Why do
scientist publish their results in journals?

• What is peer review in science?

– We are living in the age of the internet where the line between fiction and
fiction can be blurred (rise in conspiracy theories?)
• Peer review guards against falsehood in science (fake science)
 Limitations of Science
• Limitations of science are set by its naturalism
– Science seeks natural causes for natural phenomena
– Science cannot support or falsify supernatural explanations, which are
outside the bounds of science
– Read:
• Chapter 3 “The Scientific Enterprise” in Biology Through the
Eyes of Faith (by Richard Wright)
– Identify other limitations pointed out in this chapter.
 Study of Biological Systems
• Reductionism:
– Reducing complex systems to simpler components that
are easier to study
• Examples:
– Studies of DNA structure and the Human Genome

• Systems Biology:
– Seeks to create models of dynamic behavior of whole
biological systems
• Example:
– Map of interactions between proteins in a fruit fly cell

• Regulatory Systems:
– Many biological processes are self-regulating
Biology can be studied at different levels of organization:
• Biosphere
• Ecosystem
• Community
Ecologist
• Population
• Organism
• Organ system
• Organ Physiologist
• Tissues
• Cells Cell Biologist
• Organelle Molecular
• Molecule Biologist
Themes connect concepts in biology
• Biology is a subject of enormous scope
– Biology not just about memorizing factual details
• Five unifying themes organize biological information
1. Organization
2. Interactions
3. Energy and matter
4. Information
5. Evolution
Themes that Unify Biology
 1. Organization
• Subject of Biological is enormous in scope but highly organized
• New properties emergent at each level biological organization:
• Biologists explore life from microscopic to the global scale.
– New properties emerge at each step upward in the hierarchy of biological order
– Each level of biological organization has emergent properties (“The whole is
greater than the sum of its parts”)
• Organization result from arrangements and interactions within systems (e.g. water) -
reductionism
• Systems biology studies interactions between the parts to understand behavior
 Examples:
1. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. A mixture of oxygen and
hydrogen will not give you the properties of water.
– What are some properties of water that are not apparent from a mixture of hydrogen
and oxygen?
2. Photosynthesis will only take place in an intact chloroplasts. Requires
chlorophyll and other chloroplast molecules.
– However, photosynthesis will not take place in a test tube even if chlorophyll and
other chloroplasts components are mixed in a test tube.
 Hierarchy in Biological Organization
• Life can be studied at different levels; New properties arise at each level
 Example:
• Can you give specific examples at each hierarchy level? Atoms,
molecules, organelles, cells, etc.
• Arrange the following in the correct the hierarchy of biological
organization, from least to most complex.
– Digestive system, hydrogen,, intestinal cell organelle, protein,
intestinal cell, intestinal tissue

Hydrogen protein  intestinal cell organelle  intestinal cell  intestinal tissue  digestive system
 Cells: Basic units of life
• Cells: Lowest level of organization that can perform all
activities of life. All living things are composed of cell (Cell
Theory)
– The ability of cells to divide is the basis of all reproduction,
growth, and repair of multicellular organisms
• We will examine,
– Cell structure and organelles
– Cell replication
• Mitosis
• Meiosis
 Structure and function are correlated at all
levels of biological organization
• Comparative study of animals reveals close
correlation between structure & function
• Anatomy
– Study structures of organisms
• Physiology
– Study functions performed by organism
• Model organisms
– Short generation time
 Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
Bacteria: Fungi:
Escherichia coli Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Model Organisms
Plants Animals

Fruit fly:
Drosophila melanogaster

Nematode:
Caenorhabditis elegans

Plants:
Arabadopsis thaliana
Mouse: Mus musculus
 2. Interaction
• Living organisms interact with other organisms and
their environment (living and nonliving components)
– A combination of components that form a more complex
organization (e.g. Cells, organisms, and ecosystems)
– Ecosystem
• Will include producers, consumers, decomposers
• Will include two process, recycling of chemical nutrients, and the
flow of energy
 Global Warming

• Humans have modified our environment

– Half the human-generated CO2 stays in atmosphere and contributes to
global warming
• It is important to understand effects of global climate change on
the Earth and its populations
 Global Warming Tax For Fuel!!!
• Global warming fee adds ~7 cents to full retail price of gasoline in BC.
Can be up to 11 cents in places like the State of California
 3. Energy and Matter
Life requires energy transfer and transformation
• Organisms in an ecosystem will includes
producers, consumers, decomposers
• Two process related to energy:
– Recycling of chemical nutrients
– Flow of energy
• Note the flow of energy:

_____________________________________
 4. Information:
Continuity of life based on heritable information
• Cells heritable information (DNA).
– Directs the cell’s activities
• DNA is the substance of genes
• Genes are the units of inheritance that transmit information
from parents to offspring
 Genomics: Large-Scale Analysis of DNA
Sequences
• An organism’s ________ is its entire set of genetic instructions
• The human genome has been sequenced
• Using using sequencing machines
• ___________ is the study of sets of
genes within and between species
Feedback Regulation in Biological Systems
• Regulatory systems ensure a dynamic balance in living
systems
– Chemical processes catalyzed by enzymes
• Many biological processes are self-regulating:
• Negative feedback
– Accumulation of product slows down the process itself
• Concerned with Homeostasis (tendency to resist change in order to maintain a
stable, relatively constant internal environment).
• Positive feedback
– Product speeds up its own production
• Positive feedback loops amplify their initiating stimulus; move the system away
 https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/cell-communication-and-cell-cycle/feedback/a/homeostasis

Negative feedback Positive feedback

• Accumulation of product slows down • Product speeds up its own
the process itself production
• To achieve _______________
• Disruption of homeostasis can lead to
disease in humans (examples?)
 Negative and
positive regulation in
glucose regulation

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/cell-communication-and-cell-cycle/feedback/a/homeostasis
 5. Evolution:
Accounts for life’s unity and diversity
• Charles Darwin
– Published On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection in 1859
• Darwin made two main points:
– Species showed evidence of “descent with
modification” from common ancestors
– Natural selection is the mechanism behind “descent
with modification”
• Darwin’s theory explained the duality of unity and
diversity
 Biologists explore life across its great diversity of
species

• Biologists have named ~1.8 million species

• Estimates of total species range from 10 million to over 200
million
 Evolution: Accounts for life’s unity and diversity

Evolution seeks to give the As a Christian, how does

history of life as an the centrality of evolution Can evolution and the
account of a changing to Biology affect your Christian faith be
Earth that is billions of faith and study of reconciled?
years old Biology?
• Charles Darwin
published “On the
Origin of Species by
Natural Selection” in
1859.
• “Darwinism” became
almost synonymous with
the concept of evolution
 Unity of life
• Underlying life’s diversity is a striking unity, especially at lower
levels of organization
• In eukaryotes
– Unity is evident in details of cell structure
 Three Domains of Life
• At the highest level, life is classified into three domains (Based on
cell type): Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya
• Prokaryotes (pro - before; karyon – nucleus)
– Bacteria and Achaea
• Eukaryotes (eu-true)
– Protists,
– Plantae,
– Fungi, and
– Animalia