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UNIFYING
THEMES IN THE
STUDY OF LIFE
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In your study of Biology , there is
an array of biological properties
and certain themes about how the
living world works that are
discussed. These properties are
shared by all living things, passed
down over billions of years from
the first organisms to have evolved
on Earth.
The properties common to alll iving
things that are considered in the
study of life are:
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CELLULAR ORGANIZATION
All cells have the same basic structure: a
membrane that encloses the celland controls
all materials that move in and out ;an internal
fluid where the organelles are suspended ;
and a nucleus that contains the hereditary
genes called DNA .
Organisms can either be made up of only one
cell (unicellular) or made up of many cells
(multicellular)
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METABOLISM

All living things use energy. To get the energy

needed, plants or plant eating animals are
consumed in a process called metabolism.
All organisms use energy to grow, and all
organisms transport this energy from one
place to another whitin cells using special
energy carrying molecules called ATP
molecules.
z HOMEOSTASIS
All living things maintain stable internal
conditions. When the environment varies a
lot organisms act to keep their interior
conditions relatively constant in a process
called homeostasis. The human body will
maintain an internal temperature of 37°c
(98.5°F) however hot or cold the weather
might be.
REPRODUCTION
All living
z things reproduce. Reproduction involves the transfer
of genetic information from parents to offspring. Reproduction
can be asexual or sexual.

HEREDITY
All organisms possess a genetic system that is based on the
replication of a long molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA). The information that determines what an individual
organism will be like is written in a code dictated by the
sequence of the DNA molecule. Each set of instruction within
the DNA is called a gene. Because DNA is faithfully copied
from one generation to the next, any change in a gene is also
preserved and passed on to future generations. The
transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring is
called heredity.
OTHER UNIFYING THEMES
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LEVEL OF ORGANIZATON
There is a hierarchy of increasing complexity
within cells , from the molecular level of DNA ,to
the cell.
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THE FLOW OF ENERGY

Energy is used to grow and do work. Without it

life stops. Almost all the energy that livjng
things need is obtained from the sun. Plants
capture the energy of sunlight and use it to
make complex molecules in a process called
photosynthesis. These molecules then serve
as the source of fuel for animals that eat them.
The flow of energy among organisms helps
determine how organisms interact within their
environment which is anoyher concept studied
in biology.
z EVOLUTION

Life forms are slowly changing and have

apparently been changing. Charles Darwin
proposed the Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection, which propose organisms with more
favorable traits will be more likely to survive and
reproduce.These favorable traits are called
adaptations. In time, organisms that lack the
necessary adaptations will die out and
individuals with favorable adaptations live. This
process changes the species overtime.
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INTERACTING SYSTEMS
Living things interact with each other in the
environment.A living community is higly
structured and independent. This
interdependence is the result of a long
process of evolution in which selection has
favored cooperation. For example, animal
cells possess organelles that are
descendants of symbiotic bacteria, and
symbiotic fungi helped plants first invade the
land from the sea. The coevolution of
flowering plants and insects has been
responsible for the diversity of both species.
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STRUCTURE DETERMINES FUNCTION

A relationship exists between structure and

functionat all levels of biological
organization.Within the many kinds of of
organisms in the living world, body structures
seem carefully designed to carry out their
functions. For example, hummingbird sucks
nectar from a deep flower through its tongue.
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ECOLOGY
Ecology is the study of complex communities of
of organisms in relation to their
environment.Organisms need the physical to
survive. They need substances like water,
nutrients, and gases from the environment.The
stability of the environmentin turn depends on
the healthy functoning of organisms in the
environment. However, this complex web of
interactions is easily disrupted when the
environment is polluted and individual species
become extinct as is happening in much of the
world today.