ZOOLOGY—STUDY OF ANIMALS

Life began over 600 million years ago

Evolution of
-multicellularity, coelom, vertebrae, homeothermy
 Fundamental Properties of Life
• Does Life Have Defining Properties?
– What is life?

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 Fundamental Properties of Life
• Does Life Have Defining Properties?
– What is life?
• No simple definition
• The history of life shows extensive and
ongoing change called evolution
• Answer must be based on the common
history of life on earth

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
1. Chemical Uniqueness:
Living systems demonstrate a unique and
complex molecular organization
– Small molecules are assembled into
macromolecules:
1. Nucleic Acids
2. Proteins
3. Carbohydrates
4. Lipids

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
• Although living systems are composed of
the same kinds of atoms obeying the
same fundamental laws of chemistry as
nonliving matter, the organizational
structure of the macromolecules makes
them unique

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
2. Complexity and Hierarchical Organization:
Living systems demonstrate a unique and
complex hierarchical organization
• In living systems there exists a hierarchy of
levels that includes:
Macromolecules
Cells
Organisms
Populations
Species
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8 General Properties of Living Systems
3. Reproduction:
Living systems can reproduce
themselves
 At each level of the biological hierarchy
living forms reproduce to generate others
like themselves:
 Genes replicated to produce new genes.
 Cells divide producing new cells.
 Organisms reproduce, sexually or
asexually, to produce new organisms
 Populations may fragment to produce new
populations
 Species may split to produce new species
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8 General Properties of Living Systems
4. Possession of a Genetic Program:
A genetic program provides fidelity of
inheritance
– DNA: Long, linear, chain of nucleotides containing
genetic information
– Sequence of nucleotide bases in DNA determines
the order of amino acids in proteins
– Genetic Code: correspondence between base
sequences in DNA and the sequence of amino
acids in a protein

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
5. Metabolism:
Living organisms maintain themselves by
acquiring nutrients from their environments
– Metabolic processes include:
• Digestion
• Energy production (Respiration)
• Synthesis of required molecules and structures
by organisms

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
• Metabolism is often viewed as an interaction
of destructive (catabolic) and constructive
(anabolic) reactions

• The most fundamental anabolic and catabolic

chemical processes used by living systems
arose early in the evolutionary history of life

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
6. Development:
All organisms pass through a characteristic life
cycle
– Development describes the characteristic changes
that an organism undergoes from its origin to its
final adult form

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
7. Environmental Interaction:
All animals interact with their environments
– Ecology: The study of organismal interaction with
an environment
– All organisms respond to environmental stimuli

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
8. Movement:
Living systems and their parts show precise
and controlled movements arising from within
the system
– Living systems extract energy from their
environments permitting the initiation of
controlled movements

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8 General Properties of Living Systems
– Movements at the cellular level are required for:
Reproduction
Growth
Responses to stimuli
Development in multicellular organisms
– On a larger scale:
Entire populations or species may disperse from
one geographic location to another over time

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 Zoology As Part of Biology
• Characteristics of Animals:
1. Multicellular
2. Eukaryotes: cells contain membrane-enclosed
nuclei
3. Heterotrophs: Not capable of manufacturing
their own food and must rely on external food
sources
4. Cells lack cell walls and photosynthetic
organelles
And most can
5. Reproduce sexually
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6. Move
 Principles of Science
• The scientific method may be summarized as
a series of steps:
1. Observation
2. Question
3. Hypothesis Formation
4. Empirical Test
– Controlled Experiment
Includes at least 2 groups
Test Group
Control Group
5. Conclusions
Accept or reject your hypothesis
6. Publications
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 Principles of Science
– Hypothesis:
• Potential answers to questions being asked
• Derived from prior observations of nature or
from theories based on such observations
• Often constitute general statements about
nature that may explain a large number of
diverse observations
• If a hypothesis is very powerful in explaining a
wide variety of related phenomena, it attains
the level of a theory

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 Principles of Science
• Powerful theories that guide extensive
research are called paradigms
• The refutement and replacement of a
paradigm is known as a scientific revolution
• Two major paradigms that guide zoological
research:
1. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
2. The Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance

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