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Biology is the study of living organisms and their vital processes, integrating principles from various scientific fields such as chemistry and physics. It encompasses multiple branches, including cell biology, population biology, and biochemistry, all interconnected by fundamental biological principles. Key concepts include homeostasis, the unity of living organisms, and the common origin of life, which is explained by the theory that all living cells arise from pre-existing cells.

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8 views11 pages

Untitled Document

Biology is the study of living organisms and their vital processes, integrating principles from various scientific fields such as chemistry and physics. It encompasses multiple branches, including cell biology, population biology, and biochemistry, all interconnected by fundamental biological principles. Key concepts include homeostasis, the unity of living organisms, and the common origin of life, which is explained by the theory that all living cells arise from pre-existing cells.

Uploaded by

unknown.33
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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biology, study of living things and their vital processes.

The field deals with


all the physicochemical aspects of life. The modern tendency toward
cross-disciplinary research and the unification of scientific knowledge and
investigation from different fields has resulted in significant overlap of the
field of biology with other scientific disciplines. Modern principles of other
fields—chemistry, medicine, and physics, for example—are integrated with
those of biology in areas such as biochemistry, biomedicine, and biophysics.

Biology is subdivided into separate branches for convenience of study, though


all the subdivisions are interrelated by basic principles. Thus, while it is
custom to separate the study of plants (botany) from that of animals (zoology),
and the study of the structure of organisms (morphology) from that of
function (physiology), all living things share in common certain biological
phenomena—for example, various means of reproduction, cell division, and
the transmission of genetic material.

Biology is often approached on the basis of levels that deal with fundamental
units of life. At the level of molecular biology, for example, life is regarded as a
manifestation of chemical and energy transformations that occur among the
many chemical constituents that compose an organism. As a result of the
development of increasingly powerful and precise laboratory instruments and
techniques, it is possible to understand and define with high precision and
accuracy not only the ultimate physiochemical organization (ultrastructure) of
the molecules in living matter but also the way living matter reproduces at the
molecular level. Especially crucial to those advances was the rise of genomics
in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Cell biology is the study of cells—the fundamental units of structure and
function in living organisms. Cells were first observed in the 17th century,
when the compound microscope was invented. Before that time, the individual
organism was studied as a whole in a field known as organismic biology; that
area of research remains an important component of the biological sciences.
Population biology deals with groups or populations of organisms that inhabit
a given area or region. Included at that level are studies of the roles that
specific kinds of plants and animals play in the complex and self-perpetuating
interrelationships that exist between the living and the nonliving world, as
well as studies of the built-in controls that maintain those relationships
naturally. Those broadly based levels—molecules, cells, whole organisms, and
populations—may be further subdivided for study, giving rise to
specializations such as morphology, taxonomy, biophysics, biochemistry,
genetics, epigenetics, and ecology. A field of biology may be especially
concerned with the investigation of one kind of living thing—for example, the
study of birds in ornithology, the study of fishes in ichthyology, or the study of
microorganisms in microbiology.

Basic concepts of biology


Biological principles
Homeostasis

The concept of homeostasis—that living things maintain a constant internal


environment—was first suggested in the 19th century by French physiologist
Claude Bernard, who stated that “all the vital mechanisms, varied as they are,
have only one object: that of preserving constant the conditions of life.”
Britannica Quiz

Science Quiz

As originally conceived by Bernard, homeostasis applied to the struggle of a


single organism to survive. The concept was later extended to include any
biological system from the cell to the entire biosphere, all the areas of Earth
inhabited by living things.

Unity
cellsAnimal cells and plant cells contain membrane-bound organelles, including a distinct
nucleus. In contrast, bacterial cells do not contain organelles.

(more)

All living organisms, regardless of their uniqueness, have certain biological,


chemical, and physical characteristics in common. All, for example, are
composed of basic units known as cells and of the same chemical substances,
which, when analyzed, exhibit noteworthy similarities, even in such disparate
organisms as bacteria and humans. Furthermore, since the action of any
organism is determined by the manner in which its cells interact and since all
cells interact in much the same way, the basic functioning of all organisms is
also similar.
Get Unlimited Access

Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.

Subscribe

There is not only unity of basic living substance and functioning but also unity
of origin of all living things. According to a theory proposed in 1855 by
German pathologist Rudolf Virchow, “all living cells arise from pre-existing
living cells.” That theory appears to be true for all living things at the present
time under existing environmental conditions. If, however, life originated on
Earth more than once in the past, the fact that all organisms have a sameness
of basic structure, composition, and function would seem to indicate that only
one original type succeeded.

A common origin of life would explain why in humans or bacteria—and in all


forms of life in between—the same chemical substance, deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA), in the form of genes accounts for the ability of all living matter to
replicate itself exactly and to transmit genetic information from parent to
offspring. Furthermore, the mechanisms for that transmittal follow a pattern
that is the same in all organisms.

Whenever a change in a gene (a mutation) occurs, there is a change of some


kind in the organism that contains the gene. It is this universal phenomenon
that gives rise to the differences (variations) in populations of organisms from
which nature selects for survival those that are best able to cope with changing
conditions in the environment.

biology, study of living things and their vital processes. The field deals with
all the physicochemical aspects of life. The modern tendency toward
cross-disciplinary research and the unification of scientific knowledge and
investigation from different fields has resulted in significant overlap of the
field of biology with other scientific disciplines. Modern principles of other
fields—chemistry, medicine, and physics, for example—are integrated with
those of biology in areas such as biochemistry, biomedicine, and biophysics.

Biology is subdivided into separate branches for convenience of study, though


all the subdivisions are interrelated by basic principles. Thus, while it is
custom to separate the study of plants (botany) from that of animals (zoology),
and the study of the structure of organisms (morphology) from that of
function (physiology), all living things share in common certain biological
phenomena—for example, various means of reproduction, cell division, and
the transmission of genetic material.

Biology is often approached on the basis of levels that deal with fundamental
units of life. At the level of molecular biology, for example, life is regarded as a
manifestation of chemical and energy transformations that occur among the
many chemical constituents that compose an organism. As a result of the
development of increasingly powerful and precise laboratory instruments and
techniques, it is possible to understand and define with high precision and
accuracy not only the ultimate physiochemical organization (ultrastructure) of
the molecules in living matter but also the way living matter reproduces at the
molecular level. Especially crucial to those advances was the rise of genomics
in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Cell biology is the study of cells—the fundamental units of structure and


function in living organisms. Cells were first observed in the 17th century,
when the compound microscope was invented. Before that time, the individual
organism was studied as a whole in a field known as organismic biology; that
area of research remains an important component of the biological sciences.
Population biology deals with groups or populations of organisms that inhabit
a given area or region. Included at that level are studies of the roles that
specific kinds of plants and animals play in the complex and self-perpetuating
interrelationships that exist between the living and the nonliving world, as
well as studies of the built-in controls that maintain those relationships
naturally. Those broadly based levels—molecules, cells, whole organisms, and
populations—may be further subdivided for study, giving rise to
specializations such as morphology, taxonomy, biophysics, biochemistry,
genetics, epigenetics, and ecology. A field of biology may be especially
concerned with the investigation of one kind of living thing—for example, the
study of birds in ornithology, the study of fishes in ichthyology, or the study of
microorganisms in microbiology.

Basic concepts of biology


Biological principles
Homeostasis
The concept of homeostasis—that living things maintain a constant internal
environment—was first suggested in the 19th century by French physiologist
Claude Bernard, who stated that “all the vital mechanisms, varied as they are,
have only one object: that of preserving constant the conditions of life.”

Britannica Quiz

Science Quiz

As originally conceived by Bernard, homeostasis applied to the struggle of a


single organism to survive. The concept was later extended to include any
biological system from the cell to the entire biosphere, all the areas of Earth
inhabited by living things.

Unity

cellsAnimal cells and plant cells contain membrane-bound organelles, including a distinct
nucleus. In contrast, bacterial cells do not contain organelles.

(more)

All living organisms, regardless of their uniqueness, have certain biological,


chemical, and physical characteristics in common. All, for example, are
composed of basic units known as cells and of the same chemical substances,
which, when analyzed, exhibit noteworthy similarities, even in such disparate
organisms as bacteria and humans. Furthermore, since the action of any
organism is determined by the manner in which its cells interact and since all
cells interact in much the same way, the basic functioning of all organisms is
also similar.
Get Unlimited Access

Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.

Subscribe

There is not only unity of basic living substance and functioning but also unity
of origin of all living things. According to a theory proposed in 1855 by
German pathologist Rudolf Virchow, “all living cells arise from pre-existing
living cells.” That theory appears to be true for all living things at the present
time under existing environmental conditions. If, however, life originated on
Earth more than once in the past, the fact that all organisms have a sameness
of basic structure, composition, and function would seem to indicate that only
one original type succeeded.

A common origin of life would explain why in humans or bacteria—and in all


forms of life in between—the same chemical substance, deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA), in the form of genes accounts for the ability of all living matter to
replicate itself exactly and to transmit genetic information from parent to
offspring. Furthermore, the mechanisms for that transmittal follow a pattern
that is the same in all organisms.
Whenever a change in a gene (a mutation) occurs, there is a change of some
kind in the organism that contains the gene. It is this universal phenomenon
that gives rise to the differences (variations) in populations of organisms from
which nature selects for survival those that are best able to cope with changing
conditions in the environment.

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