Introduction to Biology
What is Biology
Biology is the study of living things and their
relationship to their environment.
A. Living things can be studied on many
different levels.
Levels of
Organization
Biotic vs. Abiotic
Living organisms interact with their
environment:
 Biotic is the term that refers to
living organisms
 Abiotic refers to the nonliving factors
Biotic vs. Abiotic-Let’s Practice
Examine the diagram below and list as many
BIOTIC and ABIOTIC factors as you can
BIOTIC
Frog
Trees
Slug
Mole (mouse)
Grass
mushrooms
ABIOTIC
Water
Air
Oxygen
Soil
Carbon dioxide
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO
BE ALIVE?
EIGHT Characteristics of Living
Organisms
1.
All Living organisms are made of one or
more cells.
 Simplest cells are found in bacteria
They do not contain membrane bound
organelles ( prokaryotic )
CELLS-eukaryotic
 Animals and plants are also made up of cells
that do contain organelles ( eukaryotic )
Typical Animal Cell
Typical
Plant Cell
Note the differences in the cell types
Prokaryotic
Eukaryotic
CELLS-unicellular vs. multicellular
• Protists are single celled organisms
• Most animal and plants are multicellular
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Energy
2. All Living organisms need energy
 Plants use the energy from the sun in
photosynthesis and make organic
compounds
 Animals obtain their energy from eating
plants.
 Both plants and animals chemically release
energy from food through the process of
cellular respiration
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Energy continued
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Growth
3. All living organisms grow
 Increase in the size of a cell
 Increase in the number of cells
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Genetic Code
4. All living things have a genetic code
 Found in DNA and RNA
 Passes on your heritable traits
 Controls the cell
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Change over Time
5. All living things
change over time
 Organisms mature from young to
adult
 Species evolve over millions
of years
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Reproduction
6.
All living things reproduce
 Asexually
 Sexually
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Respond
7. All living things respond to their environment
All living organisms can respond by going
toward or away from something they detect
in their environment
 Plants for example bend toward the
light
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Respond-continued
 Animals can move toward food or away
from predators
 Organisms also respond to their internal
environment.
Characteristics of Living Organisms
Homeostasis
8. All living things maintain
homeostasis
 This is also called a steady state
 Unicellular organisms maintain homeostasis
through their organelles working together.
 Multicellular organisms maintain homeostasis
through the use of organ systems
working together.
Stop and Jot
In this box in your
notes list the 8
characteristics of life
Life Functions
The characteristic of life are life functions
which all living organisms must be able to
do in order to stay alive
Nutrition
The life process by which an organism obtains
and processes food
 Ingestion -process of taking in of food
 Digestion -process of breaking down food
physically or chemically
 Egestion -getting rid of food you could
not digest
Nutrition continued
Do you remember the difference between an
autotroph and a heterotroph?
 Autotroph -makes their own food from
inorganic materials (plant)
 Heterotroph -must depend on other
organisms for their food (animals)
Transport
The life process involved with the circulation
and absorption of materials into cells
 Circulatory system - moves materials in
the blood which travels through blood
through the vessels to all cells in the body
Transport continued
 Cytoplasm of a cell transports materials
within the cell.
Cyclosis : movement of cytoplasm
around the cell
Respiration
The process of converting energy from food
into a usable form (ATP)
 Chemical respiration occurs in the cell
either with the use of oxygen ( aerobic )
or without the use of oxygen
( anaerobic )
Respiration-continued
 Physical respiration is the process of
breathing to obtain oxygen for aerobic
respiration
Synthesis
The process of producing complex
substances from simple substances
 Materials digested and now combined into
the molecules and organism needs for its
own structure and survival.
Proteins are made from amino acids
Carbohydrates are made
from glucose
Growth
Growth can result from synthesis. It can
include
 Increase in cell size
 Increase in cell number
 Increase in the overall size of the
organism
Excretion
• The removal of cellular wastes that are
harmful to the organism. The wastes are the
result of all the chemical reactions occurring in
your body ( metabolic waste )
• Urine (urea), water and salts exhaling CO2
• exhaling CO2
NOTE:
Egestion-removal of undigested waste
Excretion is the removal of chemical
waste
Regulation
Allows the organism to respond to its external
and internal environment
Two systems are responsible for regulation
Nervous System
Endocrine System
Reproduction
The production of new individuals either
sexually or asexually
 Not necessary for the survival of the
individual
 Is necessary for the
survival of the species
Stop and Jot
In this box in your
notes list the 8 life
functions
Metabolism
 Metabolism
 Sum total of all the chemical reactions
(life functions) occurring in an organism
 Controlled by enzymes
(organic catalysts)
Homeostasis
 Homeostasis
 State of balance
 Organisms maintain homeostasis by
using feedback
(Similar to a thermostat in a house)
Classification
Classification-Introduction
Scientists like to group and classify everything they
are studying. When things are classified they are
placed into groups with common characteristic.
Large groups can then be broken down into
smaller groups with more specific
characteristics in common. When living
organisms were first classified they were divided
into two groups: plants and animals
.
As
technology improved they needed to create a
third group consisting of singled celled
organisms. Now there are multiple system of
classification.
Classification-Introduction
• We will study the FIVE KINGDOM
system; however they now have added
DOMAINS as a group larger than
kingdoms.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of naming and
classifying organisms.
• What type of characteristics can be used to
classify living organisms?
 The number of cells (single or multicellular)
 The type of cell (prokaryotic or eukaryotic)
 The type of nutrition (autotroph or heterotroph)
 The type of structure (does it have a backbone )
Five Kingdom Classification
FIVE KINGDOM SYSTEM
 Monera ( bacteria )
 Protista ( amoeba )
 Fungi ( mushroom)
 Plantae ( tree )
 Animalia ( human )
Kingdom Monera
 Most primitive
 Prokaryotic cell-organelles are not bounded
by a membrane
 Few/no organelles inside the cell
 Examples
Bacteria
Heterotrophic - Eats others for food)
Blue green algae
Autotrophic – Makes own food)
Monera Ecological Importance
 Ecological Importance
 Decomposers
Used in food processing
 Pathogens (can cause disease)
Kingdom Protista
 More advanced
 Eukaryotic cell-organelles are surrounded by a
membrane
 Posses many organelles inside the cell
 Single celled or multicellular
Kingdom Protista Examples
 Examples
 Algae (plant-like)
 Amoeba (animal-like)
 Paramecia
(animal-like)
Slime molds (fungi-like)
Protista Ecological Importance
 Ecological Importance
Source of food
Main producers of oxygen
photosynthesis
Pathogens
through
Kingdom Fungi
 Eukaryotic cell-organelles are surrounded by a
membrane
 Single celled or multicellular
 External digestion-food is digested outside of the
body
 Saprophytes-feed on dead material
 Examples
 Mushrooms
 Molds
 Yeast
Fungi Ecological Importance
 Ecological Importance
Source of food
 Decomposers
Pathogens
Source of antibiotics
Kingdom Plantae
 Eukaryotic
 Multicellular
 Autotrophic
-make their own food
 Photosynthetic-use light to make their own food
 Examples
 Moss (no true root, stem or leaf)
Trees
Flowers
Plantae Ecological Importance
• Ecological Importance
 Food
Oxygen production
 Medicine
Home for animals
Recycling of materials
Kingdom Animalia




Eukaryotic
Multicellular
Heterotrophic-must eat food
Locomotion -move from place to place
Kingdom Animalia-examples
 Examples
Annelids (earthworm)
Arthropods (insects)
Coelenterates (jellyfish)
Chordates (fish, amphibians, reptiles,
birds and mammals)
Stop and Jot
In this box in your
notes list the 5
kingdoms
Subdivisions of a Kingdom
Kingdom is the broadest (most general)
category. Under each kingdom are more
subsections to help divide all the organisms
and they are more detailed as they progress to
the most specific which is species.
Do You Remember?
King Phillip Came Over From Germany Surfing
Subdivisions of a kingdom-continued
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
King
Phillip
Came
Over
From
Germany
Surfing
Human Classification
Classification
Group
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Human
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Primates
Hominidae
Homo
sapien
Naming of Organisms
• Many organisms have many different
common names. For example you
may have different names for the
organism pictured at the right.
• Carolus Linnaeus devised a
scientific way to name all living
organisms
Naming of OrganismsBinomial Nomenclature
 Binomial Nomenclature System
 Scientific name of organisms is composed two
names
 Genus name s written first with a capital letter
and is underlined
 Species name is written second with a lower case
letter and is underlined
 Names are bases on the Latin language
 No two organisms will have the same scientific
name
Let’s Practice (1)
1.What are the eight life functions?
1) Nutrition
5) Synthesis
2) Transport
6) Growth
3) Respiration
7) Regulation
4) Excretion
8) Reproduction
Let’s Practice (2-3)
2. What is the scientific name of humans?
Homo sapien
3. List the classification groups from the
largest to the smallest.
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order,
Family, Genus, species
Let’s Practice (4)
4. The table below gives both the common and scientific
names of seven N.Y. S. vertebrates. Use it to answer
the following questions:
Vertebrate
Common name
Scientific name
A
White perch
Morone americana
B
Grass pickerel
Esox americanus
C
Rock fish
Morone saxatilius
D
Varying hare
Lepus americanus
E
American toad
Bufo americanus
F
Muskellunge
Esox masquinony
G
Striped bass
Morone saxatilius
Let’s Practice (4)
Vertebrate
Common name
Scientific name
A
White perch
Morone americana
B
Grass pickerel
Esox americanus
C
Rock fish
Morone saxatilius
D
Varying hare
Lepus americanus
E
American toad
Bufo americanus
F
Muskellunge
Esox masquinony
G
Striped bass
Morone saxatilius
a) Which two organisms are the same?
C & G (Rock fish and Striped bass)
Let’s Practice (4)
Vertebrate
Common name
Scientific name
A
White perch
Morone americana
B
Grass pickerel
Esox americanus
C
Rock fish
Morone saxatilius
D
Varying hare
Lepus americanus
E
American toad
Bufo americanus
F
Muskellunge
Esox masquinony
G
Striped bass
Morone saxatilius
b) Which species are closely related to each other?
A, C and G
also
B &F
Let’s Practice (4)
Vertebrate
Common name
Scientific name
A
White perch
Morone americana
B
Grass pickerel
Esox americanus
C
Rock fish
Morone saxatilius
D
Varying hare
Lepus americanus
E
American toad
Bufo americanus
F
Muskellunge
Esox masquinony
G
Striped bass
Morone saxatilius
c) Are B, D and E related to each other? Defend your
answer.
No. unless the more general group,
genus, is the same it won’t matter if
the species is the same or not.