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Bio Unit One Power Point

The document is an introductory overview of General Biology (Biol. 1012) for freshman students, covering the definition, scope, and scientific methods related to biology. It discusses the origin and nature of life, presenting various theories such as Special Creationism, Spontaneous Generation, and Chemical Evolution. Additionally, it outlines the scientific method as a systematic approach to experimentation and hypothesis testing.

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23 views

Bio Unit One Power Point

The document is an introductory overview of General Biology (Biol. 1012) for freshman students, covering the definition, scope, and scientific methods related to biology. It discusses the origin and nature of life, presenting various theories such as Special Creationism, Spontaneous Generation, and Chemical Evolution. Additionally, it outlines the scientific method as a systematic approach to experimentation and hypothesis testing.

Uploaded by

ephremmulu486
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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General Biology (Biol.

1012)
For Fresh man students
Academic year:2020
Chapter 1: Introduction
• At the end of this chapter you will be able to:

 Define the term biology

 Explain the scientific methods briefly

 Explain the origin and nature of life


The meaning and scope of biology
– What is meant by biology/Biological sci.?

– Who coined the term?

– What is the Scope of biology?


1.1 The meaning and scope of biology
• Biological Sciences is the study of life and living organisms.

• Biology (Gk., bios, life; logous, study) is the study of living

beings

• Also called Life Science

• The term biology was coined by Pierre-Antoine de Monet and


Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck in the late 1700s.

• Earlier study of living things was restricted to the pure Science


like Botany and Zoology that together comprise the Biology, but
as the time passed new branches evolved.
Scope of biology
• Biological Sciences is an extensive study covering the minute
workings of chemical substances inside living cells to the
broad scale concepts of ecosystems and global
environmental changes.
1.2 The origin and nature of life
• What is life?
• One of the biggest and most important of emergent
phenomena is that of the origin or emergence of life.

• The mystery of life's origin is still a big debating issue in


science.

• There are a number of theories about the origin of life.


» Special Creationism

» Spontaneous generation

» Theory of Catastrophism

» Cosmozoic Theory (Theory of Panspermia)


1.2 The origin and nature….Cont’d
1. Theory of Special Creation: according to this theory, all the
different forms of life that occur today on planet earth have
been created by God, the almighty.
1.2 The origin and nature of life
1. Theory of Spontaneous Generation:
 This theory assumed that living organisms could arise suddenly and
spontaneously from any kind of non-living matter.
 One of the firm believers in spontaneous generation was Aristotle, the
Greek philosopher
 Francesco Redi and Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous
generation and they suggested that life came from pre-existing life.
 Thus, they are biogenesists

Francesco Redi-1626- 1697 Louis Pasteur 1822- 1895


Aristotle (384-322 BC).
1.2 The origin and nature….Cont’d
3. Theory of Catastrophism:
 It is simply a modification of the theory
of Special Creation.

 It states that there have been several


creations of life by God, each preceded
by a catastrophe resulting from some
kind of geological disturbance.

 Each catastrophe completely destroyed


the existing life, each new creation
consisted of life form different from
that of previous ones.
1.2 The origin and nature….Cont’d
4. Cosmozoic Theory (Theory of
Panspermia):
 life has reached this planet Earth from
other heavenly bodies such as
meteorites, in the form of highly
resistance spores of some organisms.
 This idea was proposed by Richter in
1865 and supported by Arrhenius
(1908).
 The theory did not gain any support.
 This theory lacks evidence, hence it
was discarded.
Elise Richter-
Svante Arrhenius-Swedish
Australia
1.2 The origin and nature….Cont’d
5. Theory of Chemical Evolution:
 Also known as Materialistic Theory or
Physico-chemical Theory.
 Oparin and Haldane theory Origin of earth and primitive
ATM
 Origin of life on earth is the result of a slow
and gradual process of chemical evolution Formation of NH4, CO2 and
that probably occurred about 3.8 billion years H2O vapor
ago.
Synthesis of simple OCs
 This theory was proposed independently by
two scientists - A. I. Oparin, a Russian Synthesis of complex OCs
scientist in 1923 and J.B.S Haldane, an English
scientist, in 1928. Formation of nucleic acids

 The entire process of chemical evolution can Formation of 1st cell


be divided in the following steps/ways
Biological evolution
Nature and characteristics of life
 Life is defined as a "condition" that distinguishes animals and
plants from inorganic materials and dead organisms.

 An individual living creature is called an organism. There are


many characteristics that living organisms share. They all:

A. Irritability: the ability to be excited or detect stimuli and to


respond thereto

B. Growth and reproduction: this consists of the power of


multiplication and duplication, regeneration and
differentiation
Nature and characteristics…Cont’d
C. Adaptability: permitting both change and maintenance of
balances (homeostasis)
D. Metabolism: the transformation of energy and the use of
materials. These properties, however, can be retained for a
while by tissues after death of the organism so there is
another mystery of life which we understand only in part.
E. Excretion: the removal from the cell of waste products of
metabolism. In plant cells the major excretory products are
oxygen from photosynthesis and carbon dioxide from cell
respiration.
1.3 Scientific Methods
• What is a scientific method?
– It is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and
answer questions.

– It is also the technique used in the construction and testing of a


scientific hypothesis.
• The scientific method has five basic steps, plus one feedback step:
– Observation

– Question or problem

– Hypothesis

– Experiment

– Results/conclusions

– Recommendations
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d
1. Observation- You observe something using your senses. What
you see makes you ask a question or state a problem.
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d

2. Problem or Question: You ask a question about


what is being observed. State the problem or question.
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d

3. Hypothesis-You make an educated guess on what you


think the outcome of the experiment, or the answer to your
question will be.
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d

4. Experiment- You figure out a way to test whether the


hypothesis is correct. The outcome must be measurable. Record
and analyze data.
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d

5.Results/Conclusion. You will record the results of your


experiment, and repeat the experiment if need be. You will state if
your hypothesis was accepted or not and try to explain your results.
• Rejected Hypothesis - An explanation that has been ruled out through
experimentation.

• Accepted Hypothesis - An explanation that has not been ruled out through
excessive experimentation and makes verifiable predictions that are true.
1.3 Scientific Methods…Cont’d
• Summary of the scientific method
Step 1: Observe behavior or other phenomena
Step 2: Form a tentative answer or explanation (a hypothesis/guess
a reason)
Step 3: Use your hypothesis to generate a testable prediction
Step 4: Make systematic, planned observations (data collection)
Step 5: Results and Discussion Use the observations to evaluate
(support, refute, or refine) the original hypothesis
Step 6: Conclusion
Step 7: Recommendation
Exercise
Q1. Which step in the Scientific Method is given here?
1. If I water and feed the plants, then they will grow to be tall and healthy. 1. hypothesis
2. My hypothesis is accepted. When I watered and fed the plants daily, they grew. 2. Results/Conclusion
3. Today while walking home, I noticed that the plants in my front yard were
3. observation
starting to die.

4. Why is it that some plants are growing, and other plants are dying? What 4. Problem/Questions
affects the growth of plants?

5. To answer my questions, I watered and fed the plants daily and recorded my 5. An experiment
findings.
Chapter Two

2. Biological Molecules

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