FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
BIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
Biology – is a natural science that deals with
the living components of nature.
a. The knowledge in Biology is said to
be universal in concept
b. Unlike arts and religion (which the
knowledge is based on appreciation
and faith) the knowledge is based on
facts.
c. Sense organs i.e. seen heard, felt,
tased and/or smelled to be
considered as pieces of evidence
• Social science and abstract science –
other fields of science apart from
natural sciences
• Social science – dealing with
activities and relationships within the
society (Sociology, Politics,
Economics, etc.)
• Abstract sciences – those dealing
with inanimate objects and concepts
(Mathematics, Psychology,
Metaphysics, etc.)
• There are no boundaries between
and among the types of language and
there is always overlapping of ideas
and information necessary to
understand fully the whole scenario.
BIOLOGY
• Includes the entire field of living
organisms, ranging from the tiniest
speck of microscopic life floating in
the air to the massive whale or giant
Sequoia tree
• Sequoia tree – largest and most
enduring of all living things
• Biology comes from two Greek
words, bios (life) and logos (to study)
• Biology – deals with the investigation
of origin, history, structure, function,
identification, classification,
distribution, development,
inheritance, and significance of living
things as well as their relationships
and interactions with the
environment
• Physical science – concerned with
the forces, motion, and energy
(Physics), composition and changes
of matter (Chemistry), structure of
the earth (Geology), and different
celestial bodies (Astronomy)
SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND ITS LIMITATIONS
• Used for solving or investigating a
biological problem
• Is the logical process of learning
facts through observation and
experimentation from which,
certain conclusions or theories
are drawn.
• Observation – most basic skill of
a scientist
STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
1. Identification of the problem – any
scientific process starts with
observation using all the senses and
from these observations, a problem
may be identified.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
2. Formulation of the hypotheses – a
set of assumptions or possible
explanations to the problem should
be formulated. These hypotheses are
preliminary conclusions or
intelligent assumptions about the
problem that are merely based on
observation
LIMITATIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
3. Experimentation – the experiment is
a valid procedure used to test the
hypotheses. In an experiment, there
must be two sets of set-up: the
control set-up and the experimental
setup.
A. Variable – factor parameter to be
tested (present in the
experimental setup)
4. Analysis and interpretation of data
and results – data or results must be
gathered during and after
experimentation.
a. Data include records collected
while making observations during
an experiment
b. Use tables and graphs when
DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
anaylzing or interpreting records
of observations
5. Generalization or formulation of
conclusion – based on the analyzed
data, a theory may be formulated
supported by experimental evidence.
• Theories – may be developed into
scientific law or into a scientific
principle.
• Scientific law – statement of what
occurs in nature as found by
observation and a series of
experiments to be true.
• Scientific principle – law of nature on
which other laws are established, it
is established by certainty by
inference from adequate factual
information
• Testability – vital to the scientific
process
• Three areas of limitation of science:
a. About God and the supernatural -
scientists can only explain a
phenomenon based from natural
laws of the universe
b. About appreciation and value – no
scientific answer to subjective
questions of value and
appreciation
c. Morality – problem of deciding
what is good and bad, right or
wrong, is outside the scope of
science
• German Reinassance astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) up
to English physicist, mathematician,
and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton
(1643-1727) – their times science
focused mainly on physical sciences
• Aristotle – father of Biology to the
time of Andreas Vesalius (1543), a
Belgian anatomist on human
anatomy;
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
• William Harvey (1628), an English
physician on blood circulation
• Marcello Malpighi (1661) an Italian
biologist on blood capillaries
• Robert Hooke (1665) an English
naturalist on the discovery of the cell
- known to built his own microscope,
used a thin slice of cork as specimen
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1674) –
scientist who studied the bacteria,
blood, and protist.
a. Made a microscope which and
more powerful magnification than
Robert Hooke
• Matthias Jakob Schleiden –
professor of botany in Germany.
a. Stated that all plants are
composed of cells
• Theodor Schwann – physiology
professor at the University of
Belgium
a. Studied several slides of animal
tissues
b. Stated that animals are
composed of cells
• Rudolf Virchow (1858) – German
Pathologist on cell theory
a. Stated that all cells arise from
pre-existing cells
• Charles Darwin – English naturalist
who published “The Origin of Species”
in 1859 which marked the birth of
modern era of Biology.
• Louis Pasteur, French chemist and
microbiologist in 1865, who disproved
spontaneous generation when beef
broth was sterilized through boiling
in two flasks.
• Gregor Mendel (1866) – an
Augustinian monk on genetics, father
of Genetics who discovered the basic
principles of heredity
• Max Knoll (German Engineer) and
Ernst Ruska (German physicist) –
invented the electron microscope
• James Watson (American molecular
biologist) and Francis Crick (British
molecular biologist) – discovered the
double helix structure of the DNA
(1953)
POSTULATES OF CELL THEORY
• All organisms are made up of cells
• The basic unit of life is cell
• All cells come from pre-existing
cells
UNIFYING THEORIES IN BIOLOGY
• Cell Concept (Schleiden, 1838,
Schwann 1839, and Virchow, 1858):
“All organisms are made up of cells,
and these cells come from pre-
existing cells.”
• Biogenesis (Pasteur, 1865): “Life only
comes from life.”
a. Theory of spontaneous
generation – states that
organisms come from non-living
things
b. Francisco Redi – disproved the
theory stating that maggots
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
spontaneously generated from
meat
c. John Needham – believed on the
SGT, repeated Redi’s experiment
but got different result
d. Lazzaro Spallanzani – disagreed
to SGT after observing absence of
small organisms in chicken broth
placed in sealed flask and heated
for 30 minutes
• Homeostasis (Bernard 1858): “The
internal environment remains within
a normal range.”
• Evolution or Natural Selection
(Darwin 1858): “All living things have
a common ancestor and are adapted
to a particular way of life.”
• Gene Concept (Mendel 1866; Wilkins,
Franklin, Watson, and Crick, 1953):
“Organisms contain coded
information that dictates their
structure, function, and behavior.”
• The scope of biology is enormous; it
is the history of all living organisms
and their role on earth. But all
biological concepts are unified by the
theories.
BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY
• Biology is split into three main
branches that focus on three
different groups of organisms:
a. Zoology (animals)
b. Botany (plants)
c. Microbiology (microorganisms)
• Historical Biology
1. Evolution – origin of species
2. Paleontology – fossils/evidence
of the past
3. Phylogeny – ancestral history of
organism
• Distributional and Environmental
Biology
1. Ecology – interactions and
relationships within an
ecosystem
2. Biogeography – distribution of
living things
3. Biodiversity – variety of living
things
4. Forestry – wildlife and forest
management
5. Limnology – fresh water habitats
6. Oceanography – marine water
habitats
• Structural and functional biology
1. Biochemistry – composition of
living things
2. Cytology – cells
3. Histology – tissues
4. Organology – organs
5. Anatomy – dissection of body
parts
6. Morphology – gross structure
7. Physiology – functions
• Developmental Biology
1. Embryology – development of the
embryo
2. Genetics – heredity
3. Ontogeny – developmental history of
an individual
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
• Medical Biology
1. Medicine – diagnosis, treatment,
and prevention of diseases
2. Bioethics – moral values, rights,
and duties in medicine
3. Pathology – diseases
4. Parasitology – parasites
5. Dermatology – skin diseases
6. Oncology – cancer
7. Urology – disorders of urinary
INTRODUCTION AND THEORIES ON THE
and male reproductive organs
8. Gynecology – disorders of female
reproductive organs
9. Surgery – treatment of diseases,
deformities, and injuries through
operations
10. Anesthesiology – use of
anesthetic substance
11. Psychiatry – mental disorders
12. Pediatrics – diseases of children
13. Geriatrics – diseases of senior
citizens
• Systematic Biology
1. Systematics – classification and
phylogeny
2. Taxonomy – classification
3. Nomenclature – years old.
naming/assigning of scientific
name
4. Bacteriology – bacteria
5. Virology – viruses
6. Protozoology – protozoans
7. Phycology – algae
8. Mycology – fungi
9. Bryology – mosses
10. Helminthology – worms
11. Carcinology – crustaceans
12. Conchology – shells
13. Malacology – mollusks
14. Entomology – insects
15. Ichthyology – fishes
16. Herpetology – reptiles and
amphibians
17. Ornithology – birds
18. Mammalogy – mammals
ORIGIN OF LIFE
• Focus on for a moment of life
• Organisms – built by assembling
large molecules
• Carbohydrates and lipids –
molecules that gives us energy
• Proteins – molecules that speed up
specific chemical reactions
• Nucleic acids – molecules in which
hereditary information is stored
HISTORY OF EARTH
• The Big Bang Theory and expansion
of cosmic bodies – following this, the
universe is approximately 13 billion
• When gravity pulled the rotating and
orbiting dust and gases, Earth
started to form and take its
primordial or beginning state.
• Life seemed to appear billion years
after when Earth started to stabilize.
• 3.5 billion years old – earliest piece
of evidence when evidences of life
were proven
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander

Panspermia (means: seeds everywhere) / • took some people the other path and
Cosmozoic or Interplanetary Theory- life on believed that life is a product or
earth came from contaminated materials creation of supreme beings or deities
from space • life is believed to be created by the
Almighty God, based on the book of
• Life existed already in some parts of
Genesis according to the Holy Bible.
the universe, some was it was able to
• God created all living things
attach or cling to cosmic bodies
• When the primordial earth became Spontaneous Generation – live came from
bombarded by meteors or asteroids, non-living things and it is a common event
our planet became contaminated by
• Comprehensively postulated by
other extraterrestrial life forms
Aristotle in his book “On the
• Life is believed to have been
Generation of Animals” around 350
originated from a resistance spore
BC.
coming from outer planets propelled
• Organisms such as rats, flies, and
by radiation pressure
maggots suddenly emerged from
• Was put forward by Richter (1865)
rotting meat, hay, and other
and strongly supported by Arrhenius
decomposable items
(1908)
• Organisms do not descent from a
• Theory is divided into three:
parent organism and only require
a. Lithopanspermia or interstellar
that certain conditions in their
panspermia – the biomicrobes
environment be fulfilled
may have come in the Earth with
• Francisco Redi (1668) and Louis
the help of an Asteroid from
Pasteur (1865) disproved this
another star family
b. Ballistic panspermia or Miller-Urey Experiment – life came from
interplanetary panspermia – the non-living things through multiple
bio microbes may have come evolutionary process
here with the help of an Asteroid
• Life is believed to have been
from within our solar system
appeared in the warm, primitive
c. Directed panspermia – intentional
ocean, and was heterotrophic rather
spreading of the seeds of life from
than autotrophic
other planets by advanced
• Russian biochemist Aleksandr
extraterrestrial civilization
Oparin – proposed a theory that
Creationism/Divine Creation Theory – life suspects life on Earth is developed
came from supreme beings or deities through the gradual chemical
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander

evolution of carbon-based molecules Deep sea vents theory – suggest that live
in a “primordial soup” may have been created in the depths of the
• British biologist J.B.S Haldaine – ocean
proposed a similar theory, both
• Without the help of sunlight,
believing that organic molecules
biomolecules formed in the deep
could be formed from non-living
• Under the Earth’s ocean, there are
materials in the presence of an
vents where seawater comes in
external energy source (e.g. UV
contact with the minerals from the
radiation and that the primitive
Earth’s crust
atmosphere was reducing, having
• Hot minerals from the Earth’s crust
very low amounts of free oxygen,
react with the vent to emit black
with ammonia and water vapor)
smoke
• Abiogenesis – natural phenomenon
• Hot gas and salty water mix together
or process where life came from
making a warm, alkaline
non-living things or matter. These
environment containing hydrogen
processes are complex ones since
they involved multiple events of Chilly start – suggest that life may have
evolutionary processes. evolved from ice.
• American Chemists Harold Urey and
• Researchers proposed that repeated
Stanley Miller (1953) – tested the
cycles of freezing and thawing
theory and became what was known
accelerate some of the chemical
as Miller-Urey experiment,
reactions necessary for life
simulating the conditions of
• Organisms evolved from water to
primordial Earth3.
land
A. Results showed that they
successfully produced organic Community clay – introduced by Alexander
molecules, including amino acids, Graham Cairns-Smith
from some of the inorganic
• Suggest that first molecules come
components thought to have been
from clay
present on primitive Earth
• Over time, the biological molecules
B. Inorganic components present
learn how to do “genetic takeover”
1. Gases
without crystals
2. Water vapor
3. Methane RNA World – the first proto-life was self-
4. Ammonia replicating RNA molecules
5. Molecular hydrogen
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS • Growth process – can be

accomplished through a complex
• DNA compound – main things that all
series of chemical processes
living organisms have in common
(intussusceptions), occurring when
a. Considered as blueprints of life
constructive activities occur faster
b. Help direct the most basic needs
than destructive activities
living organisms have
a. Intussusception – growth of a cell
1. Metabolism
wall by deposition of new
2. Growth
particles
3. Reproduction
b. Accretion – gradual accumulation
• Metabolism – chemical and energy
of additional layers or matter
transformations that occur in cells
• Asexual reproduction – wherein only
as they carry out processes in life
one parent is involved and the cells
a. Can be either anabolism or
produced are essentially identical as
catabolism
in the case of bacteria
b. Anabolism – building up process
• Sexual reproduction – two different
(photosynthesis)
parents join to produce a new
c. Catabolism – breaking down
organism
process such as cellular
• Development – cycle change where
respiration
organisms experience aging
• Assimilation – changing of matter
• Aging – an organism becomes less
from an outer environment and
efficient at the process of life and the
transforming that matter as part of
ability to reproduce comes to an end
the cells so that the organism can
• Irritability – ability of living things to
benefit from the energy being
react to a stimuli
produced by metabolism and uses it
a. Can be rapid or slow usually in
for the other necessities of life.
changes of metabolic processes
• Eating – process which we take
or through growth
matter from the outer environment
b. Stimulus – anything in the
inside our body so that the cells in
environment that causes an
our bodies can transform it into
organism to react
substances that our body can use to
1. Light
help us live
2. Temperature
• Reproduction – ability to make copies
3. Odor
of themselves in order to ensure that
4. Sound
life will continue
5. Gravity
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
6. Heat
7. Water
8. Pressure
• Adaptation – refers to modifications
of changes occurring not only to
individuals but to all members of a
population to promote the likelihood
of survival
Organisms that are not suited to new
conditions of their habitat either do:
A. Migration – moving to a better
environment
B. Evolution – change that can span
over many generations
• Organization – living things are
composed of different levels, starting
from subatomic particles
a. Subatomic particles (protons,
neutrons, and electrons)
b. Atoms
c. Molecules
d. Organelles – work together in
sustaining life within the cell
e. Tissues
f. Organs
g. Organ systems
h. Multicellular organisms
i. Community
j. Ecosystem (community + physical
environment)
k. Biosphere
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• There are several theories on the
origin of life. The most accepted of
which and considered to be the most
scientific is the Oparin-Haldane
Hypothesis and Miller-Urey
Experiment.
• To define life is to enumerate the
common properties of living
organisms.
• Living systems are characterized by
the processes of metabolism,
growth, irritability, reproduction,
adaptation, and organization.
• Biology is a science that attempts to
describe and understand both the
unity and diversity of life on earth.
• As a science, biology also uses the
scientific method in solving or
investigating a biological problem.
• Among the pioneers of biological
studies were Aristotle, Vesalius,
Harvey, Hooke, and Leeuwenhoek.
• The publication of Darwin's The Origin
of Species gave birth to the modem
era of biology.
BOTANY AS A SCIENCE
• Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus
longaeva) – estimated to be 5,000
years old
• Sequioa sempervirens (redwoods)
can grow up to approximately 100
meters tall.
• Rafflesia (corpse flower) – parasitic
plant that gets nutrient from its host
• Titan arum (Amorphophallus
titanium) – tallest inflorescence in
the world
 FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANY
Lesson 1: All About Life︱ BIO13 ︱September 3, 2022
By Franchez Cassandra B. Escander
• Jade Vine or Tayabak (Strongyldon
macrobotrys) – found in the back of
the new five-peso coin, Philippines’
forest chandelier
• Kapa-kapa (Medinilla magnifica) –
majestic plant with vivid pink flowers
and modified leaves, found in the
back of our new ten-peso coin
• Botany and zoology – core disciplines
of biology
• Botany – was derived from the Greek
words, botanikos and botanique
(botanical), and boskein (to feed).
WHAT IS A PLANT?
• It is just not plants that are capable
of photosynthesis (cyanobacteria and
protozoans)
• Plant – multicellular organism
capable of making its own food by
photosynthesis
a. Highly organized and is made up
of cells
b. Tissues – aggregated cells that
functions as one unit
c. Organs – tissues functioning as
one unit
• Characteristics of a plant
a. Major organs typically include
1. Roots
2. Stem
3. Leaves
4. Flowers
5. Fruits/seeds
b. They take in and use energy
through photosynthesis, a
process that includes capturing
light energy and its energy
transformation into the chemical
energy of organic molecules
(manufactured using carbon
dioxide and water)
• Species – basic unit or rank in
taxonomy and biodiversity
• Gravity – plants respond to this type
of stimuli, as seen in the downward
movement of roots.
• Plants also respond to water and
food in the soil, hence the lateral
movement of the roots
• Plants also respond to light,
particularly the young developing
seedlings
• others respond to touch, either
clinging to the host or trapping of
prey
• growth - refers to the increase in cell
number and cell size
• development – changes in an
organism from its immature to
mature life stages
• genes – hereditary units of
information