Introduction to

Life
Earth & Life Science Reynaldo M. Reyes Jr.
 What is biology?
• Scientific study of life
• The science that deals with all forms of life, including their
classification, physiology, chemistry, and interactions
• Biology is a quest of ongoing inquiry about the nature of
life and even the origin of life.

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 Let’s Practice
Tell if the object is living or nonliving.

Nonliving
Living
Living

Nonliving

Living Living Living

 The most fundamental question in biology
• What is life?
•Life is a phenomena
•We recognized life by what living things do, apparently by the
characteristics/properties associated with life.

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 Bellringer: How do you
know if an object is
ALIVE?
It has to have ALL
The Characteristics of Life!!!!!!
4 Pics 1 Word
 Characteristics of life

G O N A O T
Z A N I R I
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 Characteristics of life

ORGANIZATION
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 Characteristics of life

T D N A O A
Z A N P T I
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 Characteristics of life

ADAPTATION
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ALL LIVING THINGS CHANGE TO
FIT THEIR
ENVIRONMENT(ADAPT)
Organisms must adapt to changes in their
environment or risk becoming extinct.

Adaptations occur over a very long period of

time (millions of years).
 Characteristics of life

O M T A O S
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S S N H E I
 Characteristics of life

HOMEOSTASIS
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Maintaining internal balance
Despite changing
conditions around
them, organism must
keep their internal
conditions
stable/balanced.

**Homeostasis =
the process of keeping the internal
environment stable/balance/constant
Homeostasis & Metabolism
-Keeping “dynamic equilibrium”
-Like a thermostat
-Metabolism: all the chemical reactions
inside an organism
-Breaking down
-Building up
 Characteristics of life

G E T E O Y
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S
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J P N R I
 Characteristics of life

ENERGY
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 ALL LIVING THINGS USE ENERGY

The SUN is the main source of energy on

Earth!!!

The Sun makes light that is used by plants!!!!!!

What is the name of this process by which
plants convert the energy from the sun into
food?
 Characteristics of life

R E G E T Y
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H W P N O I
 Characteristics of life

GROWTH
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All living organisms grow and develop during their life
spans. 3. Growth & Development

•Growth: an increase in the size of an organism

due to an increase in the size and number of
cells
•Development: all of the changes that take
place throughout the life span of an organism
 Characteristics of life

E P G R O Y
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M S P S N E
 Characteristics of life

RESPONSE
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Response to the environment
**Organisms detect and respond to STIMULI
(or signals) from their environment.

**Internal stimuli =
signal comes from **External stimuli =
inside the organism signal comes from
outside the organism
Responding to Stimuli
a. dogs pant when hot
b. pupils dilate in lower light levels
c. humans sweat when body gets too
hot
d. reflexes – touch hot stove, fight/flight
 Characteristics of life

P U T R S O D
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O E I N C R
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X
 Characteristics of life

REPRODUCTION
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 ALL LIVING THINGS
REPRODUCE

Reproduction must occur for a species to survive.

Reproduction can be either sexual or asexual.
Characteristics of life
 Characteristics of life

High Degree of Organization

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 Characteristics of life

Evolution and adaptation

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 Characteristics of life

Homeostasis and Metabolism

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 Characteristics of life

Energy Processing/ Acquisition and use of energy

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 Characteristics of life

Growth and Development

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 Characteristics of life

Response to the environment/ Ability to respond to stimuli

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 Characteristics of life

Reproduction

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 Introduction to Life
• Now we know what is life based on its characteristics/
properties, it is time to address questions, such as how did
life started?
• What are some theories and evidences pertaining to life?

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 Theories about Origin of Life
• Prepare a poster based on the topic chosen or assigned to
your group. Read through the resource materials provided
as guide in making your own synthesis. The poster should
be attractive and should contain important information.
•Topic/Title
•Proponents
•Leading questions (Where did life form emerge?; Does life
come from life or non life?)
•Content/ details

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 Theories about Origin of Life
• Do a gallery walk
• Look at each posters and read the information
• Rate each posters according to the rubrics
• Write possible questions regarding the topic. (At least 3
per topics)

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 Theory of Special Creation
• The greatest supporter of this theory was Father Suarez.
• Life was created by supernatural power, a special single entity
known as God.
• Living organisms were created in their current, present day form.
• Faith is the foundation of this theory; not scientific
• This theory cannot be proved nor disproved therefore it remains
at a deadlock so it continues to be a valid concept.

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 Spontaneous Generation
• Spontaneous Generation or Abiogenesis-
• 1st proposed by Aristotle
• held that complex, living organisms are generated by
decaying organic substances,
• e.g. that mice spontaneously appear in stored grain or
maggots spontaneously appear in meat.

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 Spontaneous Generation
• Dirt give rise to rats, rotting logs in water give rise to
crocodiles, wet soil give rise to toads, snakes, and
mice.
• Was widely believed until the 19th century.

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 Spontaneous Generation
• Was widely believed until the 19th century.
• Several scientists performed experiments that disproved
spontaneous generation
•Francisco Redi
•Lazzaro Spallanzani
•Louis Pasteur

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 Spontaneous Generation
• John Needham challenged Redi’s findings by conducting an
experiment in which he placed a broth, or “gravy,” into a
bottle, heated the bottle to kill anything inside, then sealed it.
• Days later, he reported the presence of life in the broth and
announced that life had been created from nonlife.
• In actuality, he did not heat it long enough to kill the
microbes.

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 Spallanzani’s Experiment

Lazzaro Spallanzani
1746
 Theory of Biogenesis
• In 1858, scientist Rudolf Virchow challenged the
spontaneous generation with his concept of
biogenesis.
• He claimed “that living cells can arise only from
preexisting living cells”.

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 Theory of Biogenesis
• Biogenesis- is the process of life forms producing other life
forms
• e.g. a spider lays eggs, which form into spiders.
• The term is also used for the assertion that life can only be
passed on by living things.
• Although Virchow was correct, he lacked the needed
experimental evidences.

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 Theory of Biogenesis
• Louis Pasteur was the first scientist to provide
experimental evidences that non living things cannot
give rise to living things.

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 Pasteur’s Experiment

Louis Pasteur
1859
 The Miller-Urey Experiment
• An experiment that simulated hypothetical conditions present on
the early Earth.
• The experiment is considered to be classic experiment on the
origin of life.
• Conducted by Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey.

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 The Miller-Urey Experiment
• Water was heated and the water vapor
mixed with hydrogen, ammonia, and
methane. Carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen.
• The mixture of gases was sparked with
electricity to simulate lightning.
• The gases were cooled using a glass
tube filled with circulating cold water
and a dark mixture containing amino
acids and other complex molecules
were formed.
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 Theory of Panspermia
• Proposed by Richter (1856).
• Protoplasm reached the Earth in the form of spores or germs or
other simple particles from some unknown part of the universe.
• Helmholz (1884) speculated that protoplasm in some form
reached the Earth with falling meteorites.
• Arrhenius stated that organisms existed throughout the universe
and their spores could freely travel through space from one star
to another.

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 Theory of Catasthrophism
• Georges Cuvier (1762-1832), Father of “Modern Paleontology”
and Orbigney (1802-1837)
• Cataclysms (great destruction) or catastrophic (concerning
disastrous event) revolution occurs upon Earth from time to time
which completely destroys all organisms (living beings).
• New organisms, then, suddenly form from inorganic matter.
• Each creation consists of life quite different from that of the
previous one.

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Unifying Themes in
Life Science
Unifying Themes in Life Science
➢Life science is unified by certain themes.
➢Level of Organizations
➢Flow of Energy
➢Evolution
➢Interacting Systems, Structure and function
➢Ecology
➢Science and Society
Levels of Organizations
➢Cell as the basic unit of life
➢Hierarchy of increasing complexity within cells
➢From molecular level of DNA (where the
chemistry of life occurs) – organelle level (where
the cellular activities are organized) – cellular
level (smallest level of organization)
Organizational Level of Living Things

Simple Complex
Atoms Inorganic Biological Organelles Cells
Molecules Molecules

Multi Cellular
Population Organ System Organs Tissues
Organism

Community Ecosystem Biosphere

Flow of Energy
➢Energy is used by organisms to grow and to do
work
➢Almost all the energy that living things needed
is obtained from the sun
➢Plants captured the energy from the sun to
make complex molecules-photosynthesis
➢The flow of energy among organisms helps
determine how organisms interact.
Evolution
➢Theory of evolution helps explain how all kinds
of organisms came into existence
➢Explains why organisms look the way they do
and how they are related to the organisms of the
past
➢Life forms are slowly changing and have
apparently been changing
Evolution
➢Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
➢Proposes by Charles Darwin
➢Organisms with favorable traits would be more likely to
survive and reproduce in a certain environment -
Adaptation
Interacting System
➢Living things interact w/ each other and w/ the
environment.
➢A living community is highly structured and
interdependent
➢This interdependence is the result of a long process of
evolution in w/c selection has favored cooperation.
➢E.g. flowering plants &insects
Structure and Function
➢A relationship exists between structure and function at
all levels of biological org.
➢In biology, structure is always related to function.
➢Hence, the hierarchy of structural levels in basis for the
biology organization
➢Body structures designed to carry out their functions
➢E.g. Hummingbird sucking nectars, wood pecker, tiger
Ecology
➢Study of interdependence of organisms w/ each other
and with the environment
➢The study of complex communities of organisms in
relation to their environment
➢Organisms need the physical environment to
survive.(water, nutrients, and gases from envi.)
➢The stability of environment depends on healthy
functioning of organisms in that environment.
Ecology
➢E.g. all organisms depend on the O2-CO2 cycle
➢However, this complex web of interaction is easily
disrupted when the environment is polluted and
individual species become extinct.
Science and Society
➢Knowledge from biological science can be applied to
specific problems in society to improve human life.
➢E.g. development of vaccine against poliomyelitis virus in
the 1950s.
➢Applications of scientific discoveries and breakthroughs
provide comfort and improvement to human life.