UNIT I. WHAT IS BIOLOGY?

Text 1.1 The Characteristics Of Life

■ Essential targets:
By the end of this text you should be able to:
 discuss the main features of living things;
 discuss the stages of development of the science
of biology.
Pre-reading
■ Working in pairs,Try to match the definition with the correct word.
Guess if you are not sure! Then scan the text quickly to see if you were
right.
Exercise A.
1. feature A. a substance in general that everything in the world
consists of
2. matter B. a useless material or substance
3. heat C. natural world in which people and animals live
4. chemical D. the smallest unit of living matter
5. cell E. outer form or outline
6. environment F. a form of energy
7. shape G. substance used in chemistry
8. waste product H. something important or typical of a place or thing

■ Read the given text and make your essential assignments:

Biology is the study of life and living organisms. For as long as people
have looked at the world around them, people have studied biology. Even in
the days before recorded history, people knew and passed on information about
plants and animals.
Modern biology really began in the 17th century. At that time, Anton van
Leeuwenhoek, in Holland, invented the microscope and William Harvey, in
England, described the circulation of blood. The microscope allowed scientists
to discover bacteria, leading to an understanding of the causes of disease, while
new knowledge about how the human body works allowed others to find more
effective ways of treating illnesses. All these new knowledge needed to be put
into order and in the 18th century the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified
all living things into the biological families we know and use today.

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 In the middle of the 19th century, unnoticed by anyone else, the Austrian
monk Gregor Mendel, created his Laws of Inheritance, beginning the study of
genetics that is such an important part of biology today. At the same time,
while traveling around the world, Charles Darwin was formulating the central
principle of modern biology – natural selection as the bases of evolution.
It is hard to believe, but the nature of viruses has
become apparent only within the last half of the 19 th century
and the first step on this path of discovery was taken by the
Russian botanist Dmitry Ivanovsky in 1892.
In the 20th century biologists began to recognize how
plants and animals live and pass on their genetically coded
information to the next generation. Since then, partly because
of developments in computer technology, there have been
great advances in the field of biology; it is an area of ever-
growing knowledge.
During the past few hundred years biology has changed
from concentrating on the structure of living organisms to
looking more at how they work or function. Over this time
biologists have discovered much about health and disease,
about the genes which control the activities of our bodies and how humans can
control the lives of other organisms. We need to understand how our activities
affect the environment, how humans can take responsibility for their own
health and welfare and how we must be careful to make appropriate rules for
the use of our genetic information.
Nowadays biologists are making fantastic discoveries which will affect
all our lives. These discoveries have given us the power to shape our own
evolution and to determine the type of world we will live in. Recent advances,
especially in genetic engineering, have dramatically affected agriculture,
medicine, veterinary science, and industry, and our world view has been
revolutionized by modern developments in ecology. There has never been a
more exciting nor a more important time to study biology.
Biology is the scientific study of life. But what is life? When we see a
bird on a rock it may seem obvious that the bird is alive and the rock is not, but
what precisely makes the bird alive and the rock not? Throughout history,
thinkers in many fields tried to define life. Although they have failed to
provide a universally accepted definition, most scientists agree that all living
things share certain basic characteristics:

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 ■ Living things are made of organized structures.
■ Living things reproduce.
■ Living things grow and develop.
■ Living things feed.
■ Living things respire.
■ Living things excrete and waste.
■ Living things respond to their surroundings.
■ Living things move.
■ Living things control their internal conditions.
■ Living things are able to evolve.
Non-living systems may show some of the characteristics of living things,
but life is the combination of all these characteristics.
Organization. All things are made of chemicals, but in living things the
chemicals are packaged into highly organized structures. The basic structure of
life is the cell. Cells themselves contain small organelles that carry out specific
functions. A cell may exist on its own or in association with other cells to form
tissues and organs. Because of their highly organized structure, living things as
organisms.
Reproduction. Reproduction is the ability to produce other individuals of
the same species. It may be sexual or asexual. Reproduction involves the
replication of DNA. This chemical contains genetic information which
determines the characteristics of an organism, including how it will grow and
develop. The continued existence of life depends on reproduction, and this is
perhaps the most characteristic feature of living things. Reproduction allows
both continuity and change. Over countless generations this has allowed
species to become well suited to their environment, and life to evolve gradually
to more complex forms.
Growth and development. All organisms must grow and develop to
reach the size and level of complexity required to complete their life cycle.
Growth is a relatively permanent increase in size of an organism. It is brought
about by taking in substances from the environment and incorporating them
into the internal structure of the organism. Growth may be measured by
increases in linear dimensions (length, height, etc.), but is best measured in
terms of dry weight as this eliminates temporary changes due to intake of water
which are not regarded as growth. Development involves a change in a shape
and form of an organism as it matures. It is usually accompanied by an
increase in complexity.
Feeding. Living things are continually transforming one form of energy
into another to stay alive. Although energy is not destroyed during these

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transformations, heat is always formed. Heat is a form of energy which cannot
be used to drive biological processes, so it is sometimes regarded as `wasted
energy`.
Living things have to renew their energy stores periodically from their
environment, to continue transforming energy and to replace the `wasted
energy`. They also have to obtain nutrients – chemicals that make up their
bodies or help them carry out their biological processes. Living things acquire
energy and nutrients by feeding, either by eating other organisms, or by
making their own food out of simple inorganic chemicals using energy from
sunlight or from chemical reactions.
Respiration. Living things need energy to stay alive and to do work.
Although food contains energy, this is not in a directly usable form. It has to be
broken down.
The energy released during the breakdown is used to make ATP
(adenosine triphosphate) in a process called respiration. ATP is an energy rich
molecule and is the only fuel that can be used directly to drive metabolic
reactions in living organisms.
Excretion. The energy transformations that take place in an organism
involve chemical reactions. Chemical reactions that occur in organisms are
called metabolic reactions.
Waste products are formed in these reactions, some of which are
poisonous, so they must be disposed of in some way. The disposal of
metabolic waste products is called excretion.
Responsiveness. All living things are sensitive to certain changes in their
environments (stimuli) and respond in ways that tend to improve their chances
of survival.
The degree of responsiveness depends on an organism`s complexity: a
bacterium may be limited to simple responses, such as moving towards
favorable stimuli or away from harmful ones; people can make highly
sophisticated responses to a wide variety of stimuli which they may perceive
either directly or with the aid of technological devices.
Movement. Responses usually involve some form of movement.
Movement of whole organisms from one place to another is called locomotion.
Plants and other organisms that are fixed in one place do not display
locomotion, but they can move parts of their bodies. Movements of living
things differ from those of non-living things by being active, energy-requiring
processes arising from within cells.
Homeostasis. All living things are, to some extend, able to control their

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internal conditions so that their cells have a constant chemical and physical
environment in which they can function effectively. The regulation and
maintenance of a relatively constant set of conditions within an organism is
called homeostasis. Homeostasis is a feature of all living systems, from a
single cell to a whole biosphere (the part of Earth containing life).
Evolution. Living things are able to change into new forms of life. This
evolution usually takes place gradually over successive generations in response
to changes in the environment.

■ Glossary of essential terms for you to know

№ English term Indonesian equivalent
1. to accept Menerima
2. to accompany untuk menemani
3. to acquire untuk memperoleh
4. advance kemajuan (maju), kemajuan
5. to allow Membiarkan
6. apparent jelas, eksplisit
7. to arise timbul; muncul
8. arrangement alat; lokasi
9. to arrange membuang; mengatur
10. because of karena, karena
11. blood Darah
12. to bring about panggilan
13. capacity kemampuan
14. to carry out melakukan; menyadari
15. cause (n.) sebab
16. to cause (v.) menyebabkan
17. certain tertentu; beberapa; beberapa
18. circumstance keadaan
19. coded information informasi yang dikodekan
20. to complete (v.) mengakhiri; melengkapi;
21. complete (adj.) lengkap;
22. to contain berisi
23. to define Mendefinisikan
24. to determine menetapkan; memecahkan;
25. to develop mengembangkan
26. to describe menggambarkan
27. to destroy menghancurkan;
28. dimension Ukuran; dimensi

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29. to display menunjukkan; memperlihatkan; Temukan
30. to dispose singkirkan sesuatu; membuang
31. due to karena, sebab
32. either … or atau atau; atau salah satunya
33. to eliminate Menghancurkan
34. internal Internal
35. to evolve Mengembangkan
36. to fail Gagal, kalah, rusak
37. feature ciri; sifat
38. to govern mengatur; untuk mengatur
39. to grow tumbuh, meningkat
40. gradually Bertahap
41. generation Generasi
42. height tinggi, pertumbuhan
43. harmful Berbahaya
44. inheritance Keturunan
45. to involve termasuk; melibatkan
46. to increase meningkatkan; memperkuat
47. in terms of berbasis; berdasarkan sesuatu
48. input of sth. Memakan
49. to include Termasuk
50. law Hukum
51. matter zat, materi
52. to move minggir, pindah
53. to occur terjadi, terjadi
54. to pass meneruskan, mengirimkan
55. to put into order Letakkan sesuai urutan; mempersingkat
56. to perform lakukan, melakukan
57. to possess Memiliki
58. starch Pati
59. to survive bertahan; telah melalui
60. way Cara

■ Your Essential Assignments

I. Quick check
A. Decide if the following statements are true or false.
1.) The earliest people must have known about plants or
they would have died.
2.) The microscope allowed biologists to treat illnesses.

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 3.) Darwin`s theory was one of the most important in biology.
4.) The study of biology has not changed at all over the centuries.
B. What is the difference between:
1.) the growth of a crystal and the growth of a plant
2.) the movement of a cloud and the movement of an animal?

II. Use monolingual English dictionary and write down what could
the words given below mean:

a) nutrient; b) sunlight; c) poison; d) breakdown; e) harmful.

III. Answer the following questions. Use all information given before:
1. Have scientists provided a universally accepted definition of life?
2. What is a living thing?
3. What is a non-living thing?
4. What can living things do that non-living things can not?
5. What do cells contain?
6. What does genetic information determine?
7. How is growth brought about?
8. Can heat be used to drive biological processes?
9. How do living things acquire energy and nutrients?
10. What do living things need to stay alive?
11. What does the degree of responsiveness depend on?
12. How do movements of living things differ from those of non-living?
13. What is homeostasis?
V. Match the sentence halves. Make complete sentences:
1. Biologists are making A. those of non-living things by being
discoveries energy-requiring processes arising from
within cells.
2. Growth is accompanied by B. one of the main features of living things.
3. DNA contains genetic C. are transforming one form of energy into
information which another.
4. Movements of living things D. all living things share certain basic
differ from characteristics.
5. Reproduction is E. chemicals are packed into highly
organized structures.
6. To stay alive living thing F. an increase in complexity.
7. Most scientists think that G. determines the characteristics of an

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 organism, including how it will grow and
develop.
8. In living things H. which will affect all our lives.

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 Text 1.2. What Do Biologists Do?

■ Essential targets: By the end of this text you should be

able to:
● describe what biologists do;
●define the different levels of biological organization;
● list the main elements of a scientific method.
Pre-reading
■ Working in pairs, discuss these questions with your partner. Then scan
the text to find the answers and compare them with your discussion.
1. What do biologists study?
2. What careers in biology can you think of?
3. What areas of biology do you consider as the most important for human
society nowadays? Give your reasons.
4. Could you name the key elements of biological investigations?

■ Read the given texts and make your essential assignments:

Part A. The levels of biological organization:
Biologists study every aspect of life at every level of its organization, from
the atoms that make up biological molecules to the ecosystems that form the
biosphere.
Here are the levels of biological organization from atoms, the smallest
components of living things, to the biosphere, the entire living planet:
▪ Biosphere
▪ Ecosystem
▪ Population
▪ Individual
▪ Organ system: digestive system
▪ Organ: stomach
▪ Tissue: smooth muscle
▪ Cell: smooth muscle cell
▪ Organelle: Mitochondrion
▪ Macromolecules: proteins
▪ Chemical building blocks or monomers: amino acid

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 ▪ Atoms: carbon

Part B. Aspects of biology:

Modern biology is an enormous subject that has many branches. Specialists in

some branches include:
● molecular biologists and biochemists who work at the chemical level, with
the aim of revealing how DNA, proteins, and other molecules are involved in
biological processes;
● geneticists who study genes and their involvement in inheritance and
development;
● cell biologists who study individual cells or groups of cells, often by
culturing them outside organisms; thee investigate how cells interact with each
other and their environment;
● physiologists who find out how organ systems work in a healthy body;
● pathologists who study diseased and dysfunctional organs;
● ecologists who study interactions between organisms and their environment.
Some focus their attention on whole organisms; others study populations,
individuals of the same species living together at one location.
There are also biologists who specialize in particular groups of
organisms; for example, bacteriologists study bacteria, botanists study plants,
and zoologists study animals.
Biologists are employed in many fields including conservation and
wildlife management, industry, health care, horticulture, agriculture, zoos,
museums, information science, and marine and freshwater biology. In addition,
many biologists are employed as teachers, lecturers, or research workers.

Part C. A letter to students who study biology:

Dear Students,
I am writing this letter to welcome all of you who
are about to begin your first year course in Biology
here at the university. You might think it is a little
early for me to ask you to think about what you will do
when you leave here in three years` time. However,
our science, like any other, has so many different
areas it is impossible to study them all. The first thing
you will have to think about is specializing. This letter is to offer you some

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suggestions to think about for your future.

As you know, there are four main areas of biology that we shall
concentrate on in the coming years. Biology can be divided into zoology, the
study of animal life, and botany, the study of plant life. We shall also study
molecular biology, the study of how the building blocks of living things, the
cells, work. Another topic of interest is genetics, how biological information is
passed on from one generation to the next: that is, inheritance. You should
specialize, but you will also need to know about all of these four areas of
study. Plants and animals do not live separately from each other; all living
things are made up of cells and one of things genetics tells us is how plants
and animals adapt to the conditions around them.

So what about after the course is over and you have graduated in
Biology? Can you have a career in biology? For those who choose to
specialize in genetics or molecular biology there are important career
opportunities in medicine. At the present time, there is a great deal of research
going on in gene therapy where biologists are working with doctors and
chemists to find new ways of treating diseases. Other biologists are looking at
ways of changing the genetic composition of the plants we grow for food; of
making them more able to fight diseases and at the same time produce more
food.
We are experiencing a period of climatic change too, and this is having an
effect on the way animals and plants live. The science of ecology is becoming
more and more important; biologists who specialize in zoology are working in
many parts of the world. Some are working to protect species like the tiger,
which are seriously threatened by climate change. Others are investigating
wildlife from the smallest insects to the largest mammals, trying to understand
how they all live together. Botanists are looking at the effect new types of food
crops have on the environment and how changes in that area can affect our
general health. There is even a new area of biology called astrobiology, which
is looking at the possibilities of life on other planets – but perhaps that is
something for the more distant future.
Whatever you specialize in, as long as there is life on this (or any other)
planet, there is work for a biologist.
Good luck and enjoy your studies!

Jean Shearer

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 Professor of Biology.

Part D. The scientific method:

The definition of biology states that it is a `scientific study`. This distinguishes

biology from other ways of studying life. However, there is no single rigid
scientific method that biologists use: there are numerous ways of studying life
scientifically. Nevertheless, biological investigations usually include one or
more of the following key elements:
- observing: making observations and taking measurements
- questioning: asking questions about observations and posing a
problem
- hypothesizing: formulating a hypothesis, a statement that explains a
problem and can be tested
- predicting: stating what would happen if the hypothesis were true
- testing: testing the hypothesis, usually by carrying out a controlled
experiment aimed at producing data that will either support or contradict the
hypothesis
- interpreting: interpreting the test results objectively and drawing
conclusions that accept, modify, or reject the hypothesis.
A biologist may start an investigation by making observations or by
using observations described by other biologists. Such observations may be
obtained directly by the senses, such as listening to a bird song, or indirectly
through instruments such as recording the song on a computer system. On the
other hand, an investigation may start simply by a biologist having an idea that
something happens in a particular way, and then the idea will be tested by
making observations or carrying out experiments to see if it is valid. A
hypothesis is suggested and then tested in all investigations. One essential
aspect of a scientific experiment is that it can be repeated by other scientists
working independently.
A typical hypothesis makes a clear link between an independent or
manipulated variable and a dependent variable. Variables are conditions or
factors (such as light, temperature, or time) that can vary or may be varied. In
an experiment, the independent or manipulated variable is the one that is
systematically changed; the dependent variable is the effect or outcome that is
measured. For example, when investigating the activity of an enzyme at
different temperatures, temperature is the independent variable that is
manipulated by the scientist; rate of reaction is the dependent variable that is

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measured at each temperature. Other variables called controlled variables are
kept constant or controlled at set levels.
At the end of an experiment, the results must be interpreted as
objectively as possible. Sometimes they are so clear that it is obvious whether
they support or contradict the hypothesis. Often, however, results are variable
and need statistical analysis before conclusions can be made. The conclusions
may lead to the hypothesis being accepted, modified, or rejected. Even if
results support hypothesis, it is accepted only tentatively because it can never
be proved completely. However, it only needs a single contrary observation to
refute a hypothesis (prove it wrong or incomplete). A hypothesis is therefore
only the best available explanation at any time. This makes biology a highly
dynamic subject and not merely a collection of facts.
A typical sequence of events in a scientific investigation:
▪ Observations
▪ Questions
▪ Hypothesis (accept, modify, reject)
▪ Predictions
▪ Experiments
▪ Test experiments
▪ Control experiments
▪ Results
▪ Interpretation
▪ Conclusion (accept, modify, reject)

■ Glossary of essential terms for you to know

№ English term Indonesian equivalent
1. Enormous Besar
2. Branch cabang;
3. to be involved (in sth) berpartisipasi (dalam sesautu hal)
4. Involvement Partisipasi
5. Inheritance pewarisan (sifat)
6. individual (n) Individu
7. the same Sama
8. Species Spesies
9. to be employed Diperkerjakan
10. Conservation Konservasi

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11. Horticulture Berkebun; hortikultura
12. in addition Bahkan
13. to state nyatakan, tegaskan
14. to distinguish Berbeda, membedakan
15. Way cara, gambar
16. Rigid keras, tidak fleksibel
17. Nevertheless Namun
18. to pose a problem mengatur tugas
19. to predict Meramalkan
20. to contradict Bertentangan
21. to draw a conclusion Untuk membuat kesimpulan
22. to modify Mengubah
23. to reject Tolak
24. to observe Mengamati
25. to obtain (syn. to get, to receive) Menerima
26. to happen terjadi, terjadi
27. Valid berbobot, masuk akal, valid
28. Essential penting, perlu
29. to manipulate Memanipulasi
30. effect (n) Efek
31. Outcome Konsekuensi; luaran
32. to measure mengukur
33. Rate kecepatan, langkah
34. at set levels pada level tertentu
35. Obvious Jelas
36. Tentatively Untuk sementara
37. to refute Menyangkal
38. Merely Hanya

■ Your Essential Assignments

I. Quick check
1 What is the difference between a physiologist and a pathologist?
2 What is the highest level of biological organization on Earth?

II. Find synonyms among the pool of words:

Pool of words Synonyms
1) 1.enormous/2.valid/3.reject/4.great/5.refute/6.important

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2) 1.reveal/2.open /3.differ/4. take place/5.vary/6.happen
3) 1.work /2.be involved /3.take part /4.be employed
4) 1.carry out /2.experimentally /3.fulfill /4.tentatively
5) 1.change /2.investigation /3.modify /4.research

III. Use monolingual English dictionary and write down what could
the words given below mean:
a) inheritance; b) interpretation; c) species; d) hypothesis; e) to refute.
IV. Match the words with their definitions:
№ Word Definition
1. individual A. very strict and difficult to change
2. horticulture B. the protection of natural environment
3. rigid C. the natural world in which people, animals and
plants live
4. predict D. to say that sth a person has said or written is
wrong or untruthful
5. conservation E. a single person or thing, considered separately
from the class or group to which he, she, or it
belongs
6. contradict F. to say that sth will happen in the future
7. variable G. the art, practice or science of growing fruit,
flowers and vegetables
8. environment H. a thing or quantity that can change and be changed

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