Chapter 1

Exploring Life

PowerPoint Lectures for

Biology, Seventh Edition
Neil Campbell and Jane Reece

Lectures by Chris Romero

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• Overview: Biology’s Most Exciting Era
• Biology is the scientific study of life
• Biologists are moving closer to understanding:
– How a single cell develops into an organism
– How plants convert sunlight to chemical
energy
– How the human mind works
– How living things interact in communities
– How life’s diversity evolved from the first
microbes
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 • Life’s basic characteristic is a high degree of order

• Each level of biological organization has emergent

properties

Video: Seahorse Camouflage

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 • Concept 1.1: Biologists explore life from the
microscopic to the global scale
• The study of life extends from molecules and cells
to the entire living planet
• Biological organization is based on a hierarchy of
structural levels

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 A Hierarchy of Biological Organization

1. Biosphere: all environments on Earth

2. Ecosystem: all living and nonliving things

in a particular area

3. Community: all organisms in an ecosystem

4. Population: all individuals of a species

in a particular area

5. Organism: an individual living thing

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 A Hierarchy of Biological Organization (continued)

6. Organ and organ systems: specialized body

parts made up of tissues
7. Tissue: a group of similar cells
8. Cell: life’s fundamental unit of structure and
function
9. Organelle: a structural component of a cell
10. Molecule: a chemical structure consisting of
atoms

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 The biosphere Organelles
1 µm

Ecosystems Cell
Cells

Atoms

10 µm
Molecules
Communities Tissues

50 µm
Populations

Organs and organ systems

Organisms
 A Closer Look at Ecosystems

• Each organism interacts with its environment

• Both organism and environment affect each other

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 Ecosystem Dynamics

• The dynamics of an ecosystem include two major

processes:
– Cycling of nutrients, in which materials
acquired by plants eventually return to the soil
– The flow of energy from sunlight to producers
to consumers

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 Energy Conversion

• Activities of life require work

• Work depends on sources of energy

• Energy exchange between an organism and

environment often involves energy transformations
• In transformations, some energy is lost as heat

• Energy flows through an ecosystem, usually

entering as light and exiting as heat

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-4

Sunlight

Ecosystem

Producers
(plants and other
photosynthetic
organisms)

Heat

Chemical
energy

Consumers
(including animals)

Heat
 A Closer Look at Cells

• The cell is the lowest level of organization that can

perform all activities of life
• The ability of cells to divide is the basis of all
reproduction, growth, and repair of multicellular
organisms

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-5

25 µm
 The Cell’s Heritable Information

• Cells contain DNA, the heritable information that

directs the cell’s activities
• DNA is the substance of genes

• Genes are the units of inheritance that transmit

information from parents to offspring

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-6

Sperm cell

Nuclei
containing
DNA

Fertilized egg Embryo’s cells

with DNA from With copies of
Egg cell both parents inherited DNA
Offspring with traits
inherited from both parents
 • Each DNA molecule is made up of two long chains
arranged in a double helix
• Each link of a chain is one of four kinds of
chemical building blocks called nucleotides

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-7

Nucleus DNA
Nucleotide

Cell

DNA double helix Single strand of DNA

 Two Main Forms of Cells

• Characteristics shared by all cells:

– Enclosed by a membrane

– Use DNA as genetic information

• Two main forms of cells:

– Eukaryotic: divided into organelles; DNA in
nucleus
– Prokaryotic: lack organelles; DNA not
separated in a nucleus

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-8
EUKARYOTIC CELL PROKARYOTIC CELL
DNA
(no nucleus)
Membrane
Membrane

Cytoplasm

Organelles
Nucleus (contains DNA) 1 µm
 • Concept 1.2: Biological systems are much
more than the sum of their parts
• A system is a combination of components that
form a more complex organization
• Cells, organisms, and ecosystems are some
examples of biological systems

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 The Emergent Properties of Systems

• Emergent properties result from arrangements and

interactions within systems
• New properties emerge with each step upward in
the hierarchy of biological order

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 The Power and Limitations of Reductionism

• Reductionism is reducing complex systems to

simpler components that are easier to study
• The studies of DNA structure and the Human
Genome Project are examples of reductionism

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Systems Biology

• Systems biology seeks to create models of the

dynamic behavior of whole biological systems
• An example is a systems map of interactions
between proteins in a fruit fly cell
• Such models may predict how a change in one
part of a system will affect the rest of the system

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-10

Outer membrane
and cell surface

CELL Cytoplasm

Nucleus
 • Systems biology uses three key research
developments:
– High-throughput technology: methods to
generate large data sets rapidly
– Bioinformatics: using computers and software
to process and integrate large data sets
– Interdisciplinary research teams

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 Feedback Regulation in Biological Systems

• Regulatory systems ensure a dynamic balance in

living systems
• Chemical processes are catalyzed (accelerated)
by enzymes
• Many biological processes are self-regulating: the
product regulates the process itself

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 • In negative feedback, the accumulation of a
product slows down the process itself
• In positive feedback (less common), the product
speeds up its own production

Animation: Negative Feedback Animation: Positive Feedback

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-11

A A
Negative
feedback
Enzyme 1 Enzyme 1

B B

Enzyme 2

C C

Enzyme 3
D

D D D D
D

D
D
D D
D
LE 1-12

W W

Enzyme 4 Enzyme 4

X Positive X
feedback
Enzyme 5 Enzyme 5

Y Y

Enzyme 6 Enzyme 6

Z
Z Z Z Z
Z Z Z Z
Z Z
Z Z
Z Z Z Z Z
Z
 • Concept 1.3: Biologists explore life across its
great diversity of species
• Biologists have named about 1.8 million species

• Estimates of total species range from 10 million to

over 200 million

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Grouping Species: The Basic Idea

• Taxonomy is the branch of biology that names and

classifies species into a hierarchical order
• Kingdoms and domains are the broadest units of
classification

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-14
Species Genus Family Order Class Phylum Kingdom Domain
Ursus
americanus
(American
black bear)
Ursus

Ursidae

Carnivora

Mammalia

Chordata

Animalia

Eukarya
 The Three Domains of Life

• At the highest level, life is classified into three

domains:
– Bacteria (prokaryotes)

– Archaea (prokaryotes)

– Eukarya (eukaryotes)
Eukaryotes include protists and the kingdoms
Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-15

Bacteria 4 µm Protists 100 µm Kingdom Plantae

Archaea 0.5 µm Kingdom Fungi Kingdom Animalia

 Unity in the Diversity of Life

• Underlying life’s diversity is a striking unity,

especially at lower levels of organization
• In eukaryotes, unity is evident in details of cell
structure

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-16a

15 µm 5 µm

Cilia of Paramecium Cilia of windpipe cells

LE 1-16b

0.1 µm

Cross section of cilium,

as viewed with an
Cilia of Paramecium electron microscope Cilia of windpipe cells
 • Concept 1.4: Evolution accounts for life’s unity
and diversity
• The history of life is a saga of a changing Earth
billions of years old

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• The evolutionary view of life came into sharp focus
in 1859, when Charles Darwin published On the
Origin of Species by Natural Selection
• “Darwinism” became almost synonymous with the
concept of evolution

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• The Origin of Species articulated two main points:
– Descent with modification (the view that
contemporary species arose from a
succession of ancestors)
– Natural selection (a proposed mechanism for
descent with modification)
• Some examples of descent with modification are
unity and diversity in the orchid family

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Natural Selection
• Darwin inferred natural selection by connecting
two observations:
– Observation: Individual variation in heritable
traits
– Observation: Overpopulation and competition

– Inference: Unequal reproductive success

– Inference: Evolutionary adaptation

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-20

Population
of organisms

Hereditary Overproduction
variations and competition

Differences in
reproductive success

Evolution of adaptations
in the population
 • Natural selection can “edit” a population’s heritable
variations
• An example is the effect of birds preying on a
beetle population

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-21

Population with varied inherited traits

Elimination of individuals with certain traits

Reproduction of survivors

Increasing frequency of traits that enhance

survival and reproductive success
 • Natural selection is often evident in adaptations of
organisms to their way of life and environment
• Bat wings are an example of adaptation

Video: Soaring Hawk

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 The Tree of Life
• Many related organisms have similar features
adapted for specific ways of life
• Such kinships connect life’s unity and diversity to
descent with modification
• Natural selection eventually produces new species
from ancestral species
• Biologists often show evolutionary relationships in
a treelike diagram

[Videos on slide following the figure]

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
LE 1-23
Large
ground finch
Large
Small tree finch
ground
Large cactus finch
ground finch

Camarhynchus
Geospiza psittacula
magnirostris Geospiza Green Gray
fuliginosa warbler warbler
Sharp-beaked Woodpecker Medium finch finch
ground finch Geospiza finch tree finch
Medium
conirostris ground
finch
Certhidea Certhidea
Geospiza Camarhynchus fusca
olivacea
difficilis Cactus Cactospiza
ground finch pauper
pallida Small
Mangrove tree finch
Geospiza finch
fortis

Geospiza
Camarhynchus
scandens Cactospiza parvulus
heliobates
Vegetarian
Seed eater Cactus flower Seed eaters
finch
eaters

Platyspiza
crassirostris

Insect eaters Bud eater

Ground finches Tree finches Warbler finches

Common ancestor from

South American mainland
 Video: Albatross Courtship Ritual

Video: Blue-footed Boobies Courtship Ritual

Video: Galapágos Islands Overview

Video Galapágos Marine Iguana

Video: Galapágos Sea Lion

Video: Galapágos Tortoise

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 • Concept 1.5: Biologists use various forms of
inquiry to explore life
• Inquiry is a search for information and explanation,
often focusing on specific questions
• The process of science blends two main
processes of scientific inquiry:
– Discovery science: describing nature

– Hypothesis-based science: explaining nature

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 Discovery Science
• Discovery science describes nature through
careful observation and data analysis
• Examples of discovery science:
– understanding cell structure

– expanding databases of genomes

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 Types of Data

• Data are recorded observations

• Two types of data:

– Quantitative data: numerical measurements

– Qualitative data: recorded descriptions

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Induction in Discovery Science

• Inductive reasoning involves generalizing based

on many specific observations

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 Hypothesis-Based Science

• In science, inquiry usually involves proposing and

testing hypotheses
• Hypotheses are hypothetical explanations

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 The Role of Hypotheses in Inquiry

• In science, a hypothesis is a tentative answer to a

well-framed question
• A hypothesis is an explanation on trial, making a
prediction that can be tested

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-25a

Observations

Question

Hypothesis #1: Hypothesis #2:

Dead batteries Burnt-out bulb
LE 1-25b

Hypothesis #1: Hypothesis #2:

Dead batteries Burnt-out bulb

Prediction: Prediction:
Replacing batteries Replacing bulb
will fix problem will fix problem

Test prediction Test prediction

Test falsifies hypothesis Test does not falsify hypothesis

Deduction: The “If…then” Logic of Hypothesis-Based Science

• In deductive reasoning, the logic flows from the

general to the specific
• If a hypothesis is correct, then we can expect a
particular outcome

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 A Closer Look at Hypotheses in Scientific Inquiry

• A scientific hypothesis must have two important

qualities:
– It must be testable

– It must be falsifiable

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 The Myth of the Scientific Method
• The scientific method is an idealized process of
inquiry
• Very few scientific inquiries adhere rigidly to the
“textbook” scientific method

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 A Case Study in Scientific Inquiry: Investigating
Mimicry in Snake Populations
• In mimicry, a harmless species resembles a
harmful species
• An example of mimicry is a stinging honeybee and
a nonstinging mimic, a flower fly

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-26

Flower fly (nonstinging)

Honeybee (stinging)
 • This case study examines king snakes’ mimicry of
poisonous coral snakes
• The hypothesis states that mimics benefit when
predators mistake them for harmful species
• The mimicry hypothesis predicts that predators in
non–coral snake areas will attack king snakes
more frequently than will predators that live where
coral snakes are present

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-27

Scarlet king snake

Key

Range of scarlet
king snake
Range of eastern
coral snake

North Eastern coral

Carolina snake

South
Carolina

Scarlet king snake

 Field Experiments with Artificial Snakes

• To test this mimicry hypothesis, researchers made

hundreds of artificial snakes:
– An experimental group resembling king snakes

– A control group resembling plain brown snakes

• Equal numbers of both types were placed at field

sites, including areas without coral snakes
• After four weeks, the scientists retrieved the artificial
snakes and counted bite or claw marks
• The data fit the predictions of the mimicry hypothesis

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

LE 1-28

(a) Artificial king snake

(b) Artificial brown snake that has been attacked

LE 1-29

17%

In areas where coral snakes

were absent, most attacks 83%
were on artificial king snakes.

Key

% of attacks on
North
artificial king snakes Carolina
% of attacks on
brown artificial snakes
Field site with South
artificial snakes Carolina
16%

84%

In areas where coral

snakes were present,
most attacks were on
brown artificial snakes.
 Designing Controlled Experiments

• Scientists do not control the experimental

environment by keeping all variables constant
• Researchers usually “control” unwanted variables
by using control groups to cancel their effects

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 Limitations of Science

• The limitations of science are set by its naturalism

– Science seeks natural causes for natural
phenomena
– Science cannot support or falsify supernatural
explanations, which are outside the bounds of
science

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 Theories in Science
• A scientific theory is much broader than a
hypothesis
• A scientific theory is:
– broad in scope

– general enough to generate new hypotheses

– supported by a large body of evidence

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 Model Building in Science

• Models are representations of ideas, structures, or

processes
• Models may range from lifelike representations to
symbolic schematics

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LE 1-30
From From
body lungs

Right Left
atrium atrium

Right Left
ventricle ventricle

To lungs To body
 The Culture of Science

• Science is an intensely social activity

• Both cooperation and competition characterize

scientific culture

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Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Science, Technology, and Society

• The goal of science is to understand natural

phenomena
• Technology applies scientific knowledge for some
specific purpose

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 • Concept 1.6: A set of themes connects the
concepts of biology
• Biology is the science most connected to the
humanities and social sciences
• Underlying themes provide a framework for
understanding biology

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings