1. Do Now
1. Get a packet from the desk in
the back of the room and write
your name on it.
2. In your notebooks write the date
in the margin and the following
Do Now assignment
• What is it that you think makes
something alive?

2. Chapter 1
Biology: The Study of
Life

3. Section 1.1 What is
Biology?

4. The Science of Biology
• People have always been curious
about living things
• The concepts, principles, and
theories that allow people to
understand the natural
environment form the core of
Biology

5. Biology
• The study of Life
Bio logy (greek)
Life Study of

6. Biologists study the interactions
of life.

7. Biologists study the diversity
of life.
• Throughout your
study of biology you
will come to
appreciate the great
diversity of life on
Earth

8. Biologists study the interactions
of the environment.
• No living thing exists in isolation
• The study of biology includes the
investigation of living interactions
• The study of one living thing
always involves the study of the
others in which it interacts

9. Ex.)
studying
wild rats
means you
have to
study what it
eats and
what eats it

10. Biologists study problems
and propose solutions.
• Medical treatment
• Disease prevention (humans and
other organisms)
• Endangered species prevention

11. Where are all the bees?

12. Characteristics of Living
Things
• Biologists have formulated a list
of characteristics by which we can
recognize living things

13. Organisms
• Anything that possess all the
characteristics of life

14. 1. Living things are organized

15. organization
• Orderly structure
• All organisms are composed of
one or more cells which contain
the genetic material or DNA that
provides all the information
needed to control the organisms
life processes

16. 2. Living things make more
living things

17. Reproduction
• The production of offspring
• Reproduction is not essential for
the survival of an organism, but it
is essential for the continuation of
the organisms species

18. Species
• A group of organisms that can
interbreed and produce fertile
offspring in nature

21. 3. Living things change
during their lives

22. Growth
• An increase in the amount of
living material and the formation
of new structures

23. Development
• All the changes that take place
during the life of an organism

24. 4. Living things adjust
to their surroundings

25. Environment
• An organisms surroundings
Ex.) air, water, weather,
temperature, other organisms in
the area

28. Stimulus
• Anything in an organisms external
or internal environment that
causes the organism to react

29. Response
• A reaction to a stimulus

30. Homeostasis
• Regulation of an organisms
internal environment to maintain
conditions suitable for survival
Ex.) Body temp regulation, water,
minerals
• Without this ability to adjust to
internal changes, organisms die

31. Energy
• The ability to cause change
• Organisms get their energy from
food

32. 5. Living things adapt and
evolve

33. Adaptation
• any structure, behavior, or internal
process that enables an organism
to respond to environmental
factors and live to produce
offspring
• Anything that makes an organism
better at life

34. How Adaptations Work
• Adaptations are inherited from
previous generations
• There are always some
differences in the adaptations of
individuals of a population
• As the environment changes,
some adaptations are more suited Evolution
to the new conditions than others
• Individuals with more suitable
adaptations are more likely to
survive and reproduce
• As a result, individuals with these
adaptations become more
numerous

35. Evolution
• The gradual change in a species
through adaptations over time
• Clues to the way present diversity
of life came about may be
understood through the study of
evolution

36. In Conclusion
• As we learn more about Earth’s
organisms in this course, take time to
reflect on the general characteristics
of life
• Rather than simply memorizing facts
about organisms or the vocabulary
terms, try to see how these facts and
terms are related to the
characteristics of living things

37. Do Now
• Finish answering questions on page 4. I
would like to go over the answers in about
3 minutes.

38. Section 1.2 The Methods of
Biology

39. Why does rain bring out
the worms?

40. Observing and Hypothesizing
• Curiosity is often what motivates biologists
to try to answer simple questions about
everyday observations
• The knowledge obtained when scientists
answer questions provides better
understanding of general principles or
may lead to practical applications or may
lead to new questions

41. The Methods Biologists
Use

42. Scientific Methods
• The common steps that scientists
use to gather information and
answer questions
• Scientific methods usually begin
with identifying a problem to solve

43. The Story of the Brown Tree Snake

44. Hypothesis
• An explanation for a question or a
problem that can be formally tested
• A hypothesis is not a random guess!
• The scientist has some idea of what
the answer might be through personal
observations, extensive research, or
previous investigations

45. Experiment
• An investigation that tests a
hypothesis by the process of
collecting information under
controlled conditions

46. What is a controlled
experiment?
• Some experiments involve two
groups: the control group and the
experimental group

47. Control
• The group in which all conditions
are kept the same

48. Experimental Group
• The test group in which all
conditions are kept the same
except for the single condition
being tested

49. Does fertilizer help plants grow taller?
Water + Fertilizer Water

50. Designing an experiment
• In a controlled experiment, only
one condition is changed at a time

51. Does fertilizer help plants grow taller?
Water + Fertilizer Water
Controls
•Same volume of
water
•Same
temperature
•Same sun
exposure

52. Independent variable
• The condition in an experiment
being changed

53. Dependent variable
• The condition that results from a
change in the independent
variable

54. Does fertilizer help plants grow taller?
(centimeters)
Growth
Fertilizer No Fertilizer

55. Now You Try…

56. A number of rats are divided into two groups:
One group is fed a normal diet, whereas the
other group is fed the same diet but with one
necessary mineral left out. The animals
receiving the normal diet remained healthy;
those in the other group grew weaker.
Formulate a hypothesis based on this
experiment.

57. A scientist conducted an experiment to determine the
effect of environment on the color of fur of a
Himalayan rabbit. The Himalayan rabbit typically has a
white coat except for its colder nose, feet, tail, and
ears, which are black. The scientist shaved an area of
hair on the back of each rabbit, then placed an ice
pack over the shaved area on one rabbit (A).

58. Using Tools
• To carry out investigations,
scientists need tools that enable
them to record information

64. Maintaining Safety
• Safety is another important factor
that scientists consider when
carrying out investigations

65. Safety Symbol
• A symbol that warns you about a
danger that may exist from
chemicals, electricity, heat, or
procedures you will use

66. Safety Symbols

67. Gathering Data
• To answer their questions about
scientific problems, scientists
seek information from other
investigations

68. Data
• Info obtained from investigations
or experimental results

69. Thinking about what happened
• After careful review of the results, the
scientist must come up with a conclusion
• Was the hypothesis supported by the
data?
• Was it not supported? Is more data
needed?
• Does the experiment need to be
repeated?
• After analyzing the data, most scientists
have more questions than they had before
the investigation

70. Reporting results
• Results and
conclusions of
investigations are
reported in
scientific journals

71. Verifying results
• When a hypothesis that is
supported by many separate
observations and investigations
usually over a long period of time,
becomes a theory

72. Theory
• An explanation of a natural phenomenon
that is supported by a large body of
scientific evidence obtained from many
different investigations
• A theory results from continual verification
and refinement of a hypothesis
• In addition to theories, scientists also
recognize certain facts of nature called
laws or principles
Ex.) gravity

73. Do Now
• Get your homework out (pg 8)
and place it on top of your desk
so I can check it.
• In your notebook, please describe
this class in anyway you’d like.

74. Do Now
200 carrot seeds each were used in an
investigation to test for the influence of
temperature on germination of seeds.
Group A had 150 seeds and was kept at
a temperature of 20 degrees Celcius and
Group B had 50 seeds and was kept at 10
degrees Celcius. All other conditions were
the same.

75. Section 1.3 The Nature of
Biology

76. Kinds of Information
• Scientific information can usually
be classified into one or two main
types, qualitative or quantitative

77. Quantitative information
• Numerical data
• Numerical values are compared
• Quantitative data may be used to
make graphs or tables

78. Measurements in the
International System
• Scientists use a form of the metric
system called the International
System of measurements or SI
Q: Why is it important that all scientific
measurements be done in the same
way?
A: Not everyone uses the English
system of measurements that we use

79. Advantage of SI
• Only a few basic units
• Decimal system, measurements
can be expressed in multiples of
ten or tenths of a basic unit by
applying a standard set of
prefixes to the unit
• In biology, the metric units you will
encounter most often are…

80. Metric Units
• meter
_______________ (length)
• gram
_______________ (mass)
• liter
_______________ (volume)
• second
_______________ (time)
• Celsius
_______________ (temperature)

81. Qualitative information
• Observational data
• Some phenomena aren’t easily
expressed as quantitative
information

82. Science and Society
• Some people blame scientists for the
existence of controversial things in
science
• To comprehend the nature of science,
people must understand that knowledge
gained through scientific research is never
inherently good or bad
• Society as a whole must take
responsibility for the ethical use of
scientific discoveries

83. Ethics
• The moral principles and values
held by humans

84. Can science answer all
questions?
• No, some questions are simply not in
the realm of science
• Ex.) good vs. evil, ugly vs. beautiful
• These questions cannot be tested
using scientific methods
• However, this does not mean that
these questions are unimportant

85. Technology
• The application of scientific
research to societies needs and
problems

86. Technology has helped us
in many ways
• Increase production of food
• Decrease the amount of manual
labor
• Aided in the reduction of wastes
and environmental pollution

87. The advances of technology has
resulted in some serious problems too
• Too much fertilizer can
contaminate water
• Automobiles have led to
increased air pollution

88. In Conclusion
• Science and technology will never answer
all of the questions we ask, nor will they
solve all of our problems
• However, during your study of Biology you
will have many of your questions
answered, and you will explore new
concepts
• Don’t forget, you are part of this living
world and you can use the process of
science to ask and answer questions
about that world