Principles of 1

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 Chapter 1
An Introduction to Biology

Learning objectives:
1. Understand the “12 principles of biology”
2. Working knowledge of various levels of organization
3. Gain a real world appreciation of the scientific method

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 Cells
Distinguishing life vs. nonlife
Basic features of life defined by the first 8
principles
1. Cells: basic unit of life
2. Use of energy: to maintain internal order
3. Interaction with environment: response to
environmental changes
4. Homeostasis: stable internal conditions
5. Growth and development: increase in size; Rocks
defined set of characteristics
6. Reproduction: via genetic material that is
the ‘blueprint’ for life
7. Evolution: changes over many generations
resulting in survival and reproductive
success
8. Evolutionary history: shared ancestry
(Figure 1.3) 3
Four additional principles relevant to biology Figure 1.3
9. Structure related to function
10. New properties result from complex interactions
11. Biological discoveries result from experimentation
12. Biological discoveries affect society

Black-capped Chickadee eating a seed Hummingbird obtaining nectar

Differences in
beak anatomy:
Example of
structure related
to function

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Organization is an important
theme in biology (Sections 1.1 and 1.2)

Organisms are studied at

different levels (from
microscopic to
macroscopic/organismal)
to assess unity (common
ancestry) and diversity (ability
to thrive in different

https://ohhaitrish.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/study.png
conditions)

(To complement Figure 1.4)

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Descriptions of the “living world”(Section 1.2)
• Unity Evolution: change over time
• United by an evolutionary past
• Present-day life results from evolution of
pre-existing organisms

• Diversity
• Considerable variation exists in modern
organisms
• Considerable variation in different
environments

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/515451119840936463/

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 Two mechanisms to account for evolutionary change
Mechanism 1
Vertical descent with modification (i.e.,
mutation)
• Most common way to transfer genes
• Genotype vs. Phenotype
• Changes from parents  offspring
• New species emerge from
accumulation of mutations:
Heritable alterations in an organism’s
genetic material that have the potential to
change traits that can improve chances of
survival and reproduction via
natural selection (the process that underlies
vertical evolution) to help an organism
adapt Figures 1.6 and 21.5

(Section 1.2) 7
 Simple example of natural selection

(Section 1.2) Remember: natural selection is a process 8

See articles in Supporting Materials 9
Mechanism 2 Horizontal/Lateral gene
Vertical gene transfer
transfer
(Mechanism 1)
Horizontal gene transfer
(AKA Lateral gene transfer)
• Evolution results from transfer of
genetic material from organism to
organism rather than changes from
parent  offspring

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(Section 1.2)
How biologists classify organisms and study their relationships

“Tree of life” (more realistically “web of life”

because it accounts for vertical and horizontal gene
transfer)

(sections 1.2 and 21.1) http://epicofevolution.com/tree-of-life

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Terms* to know as they relate to organization of organisms
http://thebiologyprimer.com/taxonomy-and-classification/

Taxonomy
• Grouping of species: describes, names, classifies
based on an established hierarchy
Systematics
• Placement of species into taxa in order to
study/classify organisms’ evolutionary relationships
over time (King Patrick Came Over For Great Spaghetti)
• Phylogeny: evolutionary history of a species
or group of species
• Phylogenetic tree: diagram of a
species/group of species evolutionary
history that results from cladistics
*See additional terms that are bolded in sections 21.2 and 21.3

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(sections 1.2 and 21.2)
 https://study.com/academy/lesson/tree-of-life-domains-bacteria-archaea-eukarya.html
Domains of life:
Big picture taxonomy
• Prokaryotes (simple cell
structure*)
• Bacteria
• Archaea
• Eukaryotes (more complex cell
structure* relative to
prokaryotes)
• Eukarya
• Further divided into 7
supergroups

*Features of cells are the focus of chapter 4

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To complement Figure 1.7
Taxonomy involves multiple levels of classification
Each blue arrow indicates a taxon
(plural taxa)

(To complement Figures 1.8 and 21.2) 14

Naming a species: binomial nomenclature
• Genus + uniquely specific epithet
• Etiquette used for written communication of
binomial nomenclature:
• First letter of genus name is capitalized
• When typing always use italics
• When writing by hand always underline
• At first mention use full name
• After first mention abbreviate genus name
• Homo sapiens then  H. sapiens thereafter

Figure 21.2 15
How to read a phylogenetic tree

(section 21.2), Figure 21.3 16

 Different formats of the same phylogenetic tree

(section 21.2), Figure 21.3 17

Systematics often based on homology

Homology: Similarity due to

shared ancestor

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(section 21.2)
 Homology vs. Analogy

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(section 21.2)
 (section 21.3)
Terms to know Cladistics
• Character (classification of species based on evolutionary relationships)
• Character
states
• Shared primitive vs
Shared derived
character
• Ingroup vs Outgroup

http://www.macmillanhighered.com/BrainHoney/Resource/6716/digital_first_content/trunk/test/hillis2e/hillis2e_ch16_3.html

To complement Figures 21.6 and 21.7

https://wildlifesnpits.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/evolution-of-fashion-cat-spots/
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 Parsimony: simple answer is the likely answer

Which tree is more parsimonious?

https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/howscienceworks_12

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(section 21.3)
Biology as a scientific discipline (Section 1.3)

• What is science?
• Importance of model organisms
• Relevance of scientific method (aka
“hypothesis testing”) to test ideas

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Communication: Another important theme in
biology (and other disciplines!)
Terms to understand
• Hypothesis
• Prediction
• Theory
• Discovery-based science
• Hypothesis testing
Importance of experimental design • Control group
Control groups • Experimental group
Experimental Groups • Peer-review process

Importance of the
peer-review process
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(Section 1.3)
 From lab bench to society: a bird’s eye view

(To complement section 1.3) 24