Pat Akrabawi
Michael Cullen
Brian Ernsting
Joyce Stamm

Introduction to General Biology
As a result of this lecture and the assigned reading, you should understand the following:
Properties of Life: a. order b. evolutionary adaptation c. response to the environment d. regulation/homeostasis e. energy utilization f. growth and development g. reproduction

Some Properties of Life

Examples of Order

Examples of Reproduction

Introduction to General Biology
Themes in the Study of Life:
1. Cells form the simplest, independent units of organization of living organisms. Cells arise from other cells.
2.
Biological information is carried in DNA.
3. Life is associated with emergent properties . These properties are the consequence of the hierarchies of structure.
4. Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological organization.

Atoms Molecules (organelles) CELLS
Organisms Organ Systems Organs Tissues
Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere

The Hierarchy of Biological Organization

Biologists Study Life on Many Different Scales of Size and Time

5.
Living organisms regulate their systems.
6.
Organisms do not live in isolation, they interact with their environment (including other organisms) to survive.
7.
All organisms transform energy to do work.
8.
Living things are unified and diverse.

9.
Evolution is the central theme of biology. It explains both the unity and diversity of life.
10. Science involves repeated observations and testable hypotheses.
11. Science and technology are human endeavors.

Review of
Unifying
Themes in
Biology

Idealized Version of the Scientific Method

Applying Hypotheticodeductive Reasoning to a Campground Problem

Controlled experiments to test the hypothesis that selective predation affects the evolution of guppy populations