Chapter 1

THEMES IN THE STUDY OF

LIFE

Overview: Biologys Most Exciting

Era
Biology
Is the scientific study of life

Some properties of life

LIFES HIERARCHICAL
ORDER
The hierarchy of life
Extends through many levels of
biological organization

From the biosphere to the

organisms

 From cells to molecules

LIFES HIERARCHICAL
ORDER

Cells are an organisms basic units

of structure and function

Lowest level of structure capable of performing all activities of life.

All organisms are composed of cells.

May be unicellular or multicellular organisms.
The invention of the microscope led to the discovery of the cell and the
formulation of the cell theory.

Robert Hooke: discovered cells

Antonie van Leeuwenhok: used the microscope to observe living

Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann:reasoned from their own

microscopic studies and those of others, that all living things are made of
cells. This formed the basis for the cell theory.

The cell theory: all cells come from preexisting cells.

Cells are bounded by plasma membranes that regulate passage of

materials between the cell and its surroundings.

All cells, at some stage, contain DNA.

Based on structural organization, there are two major kinds of cells:
prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell

Prokaryotic cell = Cell lacking membranebound organelles and a membrane-enclosed

Found only in the archaebacteria and bacteria
smaller than eukaryotic cells
Contains DNA that is not separated from
the rest of the cell, as there is no membranebound nucleus
Lacks membrane-bound organelles
Almost all have tough external walls


Eukaryotic cell = Cell w/membrane-enclosed nucleus & membrane-enclosed
organelles.

Found in protists, plants, fungi, and animals

Subdivided by internal membranes into different functional compartments

called organelles

Contains DNA that is segregated from the rest of the cell. DNA is organized with
proteins into chromosomes that are located within the nucleus, the largest organelle
of most cells.

Cytoplasm surrounds the nucleus and contains various organelles of different

functions

Some cells have a tough cell wall outside the plasma membrane (e.g., plant
cells). Animal cells lack cell walls.

DNA
Biological instructions for an
organism's complex structure and
function are encoded in DNA.
Each DNA molecule is made 4
nucleotides (nt)
Encode precise info in a gene
Unit of inheritance from parent to
offspring

Inheritance is based on: A complex

mechanism for copying DNA. Passing
the information encoded in DNA from
parent to offspring.
All forms of life use essentially the
same genetic code.
A particular nt sequence provides
the same info to one organism as it
does to another.
Differences among organisms reflect
differences in nucleotide sequence.

Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological

organization
There is a relationship between an organism's structure and how it
works. Form fits function.
Biological structure gives clues about what it does and how it works.
Knowing a structure's function gives insights about its construction.
This correlation is apparent at many levels of biological
organization.

Energy conversion
Activities of life
Requires organism to perform work,
which depends on an energy source
Both organisms and environment are
affected by interaction between them

 The exchange of energy between an

organism and its surroundings
Often involves the transformation of one
form of energy to another
Ecosystem dynamics included 2 major
processes:
1. nutrient cycling
2. energy flow

Feedback Regulation
Regulation of biological processes is critical for maintaining the ordered
state of life.
Many biological processes are self-regulating; that is, the product of a
process regulates that process

Positive feedback speeds a process up

Negative feedback slows a process down

Negative feedback

Positive feedback

Part II
EVOLUTION, UNITY,
DIVERSITY

Unity in the Diversity of Life

Taxonomy

Classifying life

The Three Domains of Life

Evolution accounts for lifes unity

and diversity

The evolutionary view of life