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Life: Biological Principles

and the Science of Zoology
Chapter 1
Prepared by:
Cyrelle M. Besana
Dept. of Biological Sciences, CSM,USM

Some questions before we

start:

What is life?

What is the difference between

invertebrates and vertebrates?

What is the difference between

prokaryotes and eukaryotes?

What is the difference between

animal cells and plant cells?

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Zoology
• The scientific study of animal
life.

• Exploration of the animal

world is gained by actively
applying important guiding
principles to our
investigations.

• Exploration of the animal

world depends critically on
our questions, methods, and
A zoologist studying the behavior of yellow
baboons (Papio cynocephalus) in the
principles.
Amboseli Reserve, Kenya

Principles of Modern Zoology

Principles of modern zoology

come from:

• Laws of physics and chemistry

• Scientific method

Because life shares a common evolutionary origin,

principles learned from the study of one group often
provide insight to other groups as well.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

What is life?

• No simple definition.
• The history of life shows extensive and ongoing
change called evolution.
• Answer must be based on the common history of
life on Earth.

Fundamental Properties of Life

A common history

…can be traced
backward through time
from the diverse forms
observed today and in
the fossil record to their
common ancestor that
arose almost four billion
years ago.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

General Properties of Living

Systems

CHEMICAL UNIQUENESS
Complex molecular organization
• Nucleic Acids
• Proteins
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids

Fundamental Properties of Life

COMPLEXITY → life is
organized from the
simplest to the most
complex

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Volvox globator is a multicellular flagellate Electron micrograph of ciliated epithelial

that illustrates three different levels of the cells and mucus-secreting cells lining the
biological hierarchy: cellular, organismal, interior of a rat oviduct.
and populational.

Hierarchical Levels of Complexity

TABLE 1.1
Different Hierarchical Levels of Biological Complexity That Display Reproduction, Variation, and
Heredity
Level Timescale of Reproduction Fields of Study Methods of Study Some Emergent
Properties

Cell Hours (mammalian cell = ~16 Cell biology, molecular Microscopy (light, electron), Chromosomal replication
hours) biology Biochemistry (meiosis, mitosis),
Synthesis of
Macromolecules (DNA,
RNA, proteins, lipids,
polysaccharides)

Organism Hours to days (unicellular);
days to years (multicellular)
Population Up to thousands of years
Organismal anatomy,
physiology, genetics
Population biology,
population genetics, ecology
Dissection, genetic crosses
clinical studies, physiological
experimentation
Statistical analysis of
variation, abundance,
geographical distribution
Structure, functions and
coordination of tissues,
organs and organ systems
(blood pressure, body
temperature, sensory
perception, feeding)
Social structures, systems of
mating, age distribution of
organisms, levels of variation,
action of natural selection

Species Thousands to millions of years Systematics and evolutionary Study of reproductive Method of reproduction,
biology, community ecology barriers, phylogeny, reproductive Barriers
paleontology, ecological
interactions

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Fundamental Properties of Life

REPRODUCTION → living systems can

reproduce themselves.

At each level of the biological hierarchy, living forms

reproduce to generate others like themselves:

• Genes replicate themselves to produce new

genes
• Cells divide to produce new cells
• Organisms reproduce sexually or asexually to
produce new organisms
• Populations fragment to produce new populations
• Species split to produce new species

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Reproductive processes observed at four different levels of

biological complexity.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

POSSESSION OF A GENETIC PROGRAM →

provides fidelity of inheritance

Genetic code: Correspondence between base sequences

in DNA and the sequence of amino acids in a protein.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

METABOLISM→Living organisms maintain

themselves by acquiring nutrients from their
environments.
Metabolic processes include:
Digestion,
Energy production (respiration), and
Synthesis of molecules and structures required by organisms.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

DEVELOPMENT→All organisms pass through a

characteristic life cycle.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION→All animals

interact with their environment.

Ecology →the study of organismal

interaction with an environment.

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Fundamental Properties of Life

DEVELOPMENT→Living systems and their parts

show precise and controlled movements
arising from within the system.

Movements at the cellular level are required for:

Reproduction
Growth
Responses to stimuli
Development in multicellular organisms
On a larger scale:
Entire populations or species may disperse from one geographic
location to another over time.
Movement of nonliving matter:
Not precisely controlled by the moving objects
Often involves external forces

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Fundamental Properties of Life

Life obeys physical laws

First Law of Thermodynamics

(Law of Conservation of Energy):
• Energy is neither created
nor destroyed but can be
transformed from one
form to another.
• All aspects of life require
energy and its
transformation.

What other energy

transformations can you
think of?

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Fundamental Properties of Life

Life obeys physical laws

Second Law of Thermodynamics:

Physical systems tend to proceed

toward a state of greater disorder
or entropy.

• The ultimate fate of materials

in cells is degradation and
dissipation of their chemical
bond energy as heat.
• Organismal complexity is
achieved and maintained
only by the perpetual use and
dissipation of energy flowing
into the biosphere from the
Sun.

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Zoology as Part of Biology

Animals originated in the Precambrian seas over 600 million years
ago.

Characteristics of animals:

• Eukaryotes: Cells contain membrane-enclosed nuclei.

• Heterotrophs: They are not capable of manufacturing their
own food and must rely on external food sources.
• Animal cells lack cell walls.

Some organisms are

neither animals nor
plants, such as single-
celled Euglena.

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Nature of Science

Science is guided by natural law

Science has to be explained by reference to

natural law

Science is testable against the observable

world

The conclusions of science are tentative and

therefore not necessarily the final word.

Science is falsifiable

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Scientific Method

• Scientific method
→ Hypothetico-deductive method:

Scientific process of making a conjecture and then seeking

empirical tests that potentially lead to its rejection.

Assignment/ Activity: What are the steps involved in the

scientific method? Why is it important?

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The Nature of Science

• We can ask different types of questions about

animals.
– Questions about proximate (or immediate)
causes.
– Questions about ultimate causes.

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Proximate Cause

▪ Questions about the proximate (or immediate)

causes that underlie the functioning of a biological
system can be studied using the “scientific method”.

▪ How does an animal perform its metabolic,

physiological or behavioral functions?
o Molecular biology
o Cell biology
o Endocrinology
o Developmental biology
o Community ecology

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The Scientific Method

Observations
• This simplified
flow diagram of
the scientific
method shows Hypothesis
the important
components
involved in a Conclusion
scientific study. Experiment/
Observations

Scientific
Theory

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The Scientific Method

▪First is the observation phase, where new

observations are made.
▪ This is also the time where previous data are
examined.
▪Next, a hypothesis is formulated to attempt to
explain the available data and observations.

▪ A hypothesis must be testable!!!

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Principles of Science

▪Hypothesis:
▪Potential answers to questions being
asked.
▪Derived from prior observations of nature
or from theories based on such
observations.
▪Often constitute general statements
about nature that may explain a large
number of diverse observations.
▪If a hypothesis is very powerful in
explaining a wide variety of related
phenomena, it attains the level of a
theory.

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The Scientific Method

▪ The hypothesis is then tested through a series of

experiments and/or observations.
• These experiments and observations must be
repeatable!

• The factual information resulting from these

experiments and observations are called data.

• An important part of an experiment is the

control, which is a replicate set up exactly like
the experiment, except it does not have the
factor being tested.

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The Scientific Method

• Scientists can then draw a conclusion based on

the data.
– The conclusion may involve accepting or
rejecting the initial hypothesis.
– Further experiments may require an
adjustment to the conclusions.
• Hypotheses are said to be supported, but
not proven.

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The Scientific Method

• New hypotheses are generated from the

conclusions, and the process starts again.
• A theory results when a group of related
hypotheses are supported by many experiments
and observations.
– Theories are the ideas that scientists are MOST
SURE OF!
• Theory of gravity
• Theory of natural selection

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Example Experiment

▪ Observation: Light moths more common in clean

areas, dark moths more common in polluted areas.

▪ Prediction 1: Moths better able to survive if they match

their background.
▪ Supported by experimental studies with predatory birds.

▪ Prediction 2: If polluted areas are cleaned, light moths

should become more common (as lichen grows on
trees).

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Ultimate Cause

▪Some scientists ask questions about ultimate

cause.
▪The comparative method is used more than
experimentation.
▪Comparative biochemistry
▪Molecular evolution
▪Comparative cell biology
▪Comparative anatomy
▪Comparative physiology
▪Phylogenetic systematics

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Ultimate Cause

▪ In evolutionary biology, characteristics of

molecular biology, cell biology, organismal
structure, developmental biology and ecology
are compared.

▪ Resulting patterns of similarity can be used to test

hypotheses of relatedness.

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Evolution and Heredity

▪ Powerful theories that guide extensive research

are called paradigms.
▪ The refutement and replacement of a paradigm
is known as a scientific revolution.

▪ Two major paradigms that guide zoological

research:

1.Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

2.The Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance

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Theory of Evolution

• Charles Darwin –
On the Origin of
Species by Means
of Natural
Selection, 1859.

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Theory of Evolution

▪Perpetual Change – The world and the

organisms living in it are always changing.

▪ Supported by the fossil record.

▪ The properties of organisms undergo transformation
across generations throughout time.
▪ Theory upon which the remaining 4 are based.

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Theory of Evolution

▪Common Descent – All forms of life descended

from a common ancestor through a branching of
lineages.

▪ Life’s history has the structure of a branching evolutionary

tree, known as a phylogeny
▪ Serves as the basis for our taxonomic classification of
animals
▪ Descent with modification.
▪ Supported by molecular work.

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Theory of Evolution

• Multiplication of Species – New species are

produced by the splitting and transforming of older
species.
• Gradualism – Large differences result from the
accumulation of small changes over long periods of
time.
– Occasionally, changes can happen more
quickly.

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Theory of Evolution

• Natural Selection –
Differential success in
the reproduction of
different phenotypes
resulting from the
interaction of
organisms with their
environment.

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Theory of Evolution

• Natural selection requires:

– Variation within the population.
– This variation must be heritable.
– Organisms with a particular variation will have
more offspring.
• Over time, these successful variations will spread
through the population.

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Adaptation

▪Natural selection explains why organisms are

constructed to meet the demands of their
environments.

▪Adaptation results when the most favorable

variants accumulate over evolutionary time.

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Unity in Diversity

• All mammalian forelimbs share an

underlying structure utilizing the same
parts, but have evolved a diverse array of
adaptations, as seen in the wing of a bat,
the flipper of a whale, and a human arm.

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Mendelian Heredity

• Darwin knew that some traits were heritable,

but he didn’t have an understanding of the
mechanism of heredity.

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Mendelian
MendelianHeredity
Heredity

• Gregor Mendel
performed
experiments on
garden peas
leading to an
understanding of
how chromosomal
inheritance works.

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Mendel’s Peas

• Mendel chose peas to study inheritance

because they possess several contrasting
traits without intermediates.
– Green vs. yellow peas
– Tall vs. short plants
– Wrinkled vs. smooth peas
– Purple vs. white flowers

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Mendel’s Peas

• The peas can self-fertilize or outcross.

– Mendel could control who the parents were.
• Mendel always started with true-breeding parents.
– E.g. self-fertilized white flowered parents always
produced white flowered offspring.

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Mendel’s Peas

▪He could cross true

breeding white with
true breeding purple
– this is the parental
generation.

▪Resulting in all purple

offspring – this is the
F1 generation.

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Mendel’s Peas
▪ Allowing the hybrid F1
generation to self
pollinate gives the F2
generation with 3
purple: 1 white
offspring.

▪ He kept careful
quantitative records
that allowed him to
find patterns.

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Contributions of Cell Biology

• Microscopes allowed scientists to study the

production of gametes (eggs & sperm).
• They could watch the movement of
chromosomes.
• Result: the chromosomal theory of inheritance.
– Heritable information is contained on
chromosomes.

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