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Evolution, the Themes of Biology, and Scientific Inquiry 1 Evolution, the Themes of Biology, and Scientific Inquiry 1 Figure 1.1 What can this beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) teach us about biology? KEY CONCEPTS Inquiring About Life There are few hiding places for a mouse among the sparse clumps of beach grass 1.1 The study of life reveals unifying themes that dot the brilliant white sand dunes along the Florida seashore. However, the beach mice that live there have light, dappled fur, allowing them to blend into 1.2 The Core Theme: Evolution their surroundings (Figure 1.1). Mice of the same species (Peromyscus polionotus) accounts for the unity and diversity of life also inhabit nearby inland areas. These mice are much darker in color, as are the soil and vegetation where they live. For both beach mice and inland mice, the 1.3 In studying nature, scientists close color match of coat (fur) and environment is vital for survival, since hawks, make observations and form and test hypotheses herons, and other sharp-eyed predators periodically scan the landscape for prey. How has the color of each group of mice come to be so well matched, or adapted, to 1.4 Science benefits from a the local background? cooperative approach and diverse viewpoints An organism’s adaptations to its environment, such as the mouse’s protective camouflage, are the result of evolution, the process of change over time that has AP® BIG IDEAS: The study of life offers resulted in the astounding array of organisms found on Earth. Evolution is the boundless opportunity for discovery, yet fundamental principle of biology and the core theme of this book. underlying it all are four Big Ideas. Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the Although biologists know a great deal about life on Earth, many mysteries diversity and unity of life. remain. Posing questions about the living world and seeking answers through Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, scientific inquiry are the central activities of biology, the scientific study of and to maintain dynamic homeostasis. life. Biologists’ questions can be ambitious. They may ask how a single tiny cell Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes. Big Idea 4: Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex When you see this blue icon, log in to MasteringBiology properties. Get Ready for This Chapter and go to the Study Area for digital resources. 2 URRY3691_11_AP_C01_PRF.indd 2 08/11/16 5:27 pm becomes a tree or a dog, how the human mind works, or While limited to a handful of images, Figure 1.2 reminds how the different forms of life in a forest interact. When us that the living world is wondrously varied. How do biolo- questions occur to you as you observe the natural world, you gists make sense of this diversity and complexity? This open- are thinking like a biologist. More than anything else, biol- ing chapter sets up a framework for answering this question. ogy is a quest, an ongoing inquiry about the nature of life. The first part of the chapter provides a panoramic view of At the most fundamental level, we may ask: What is life? the biological “landscape,” organized around some unifying Even a child realizes that a dog or a plant is alive, while a themes. We then focus on biology’s core theme, evolution, rock or a car is not. Yet the phenomenon we call life defies a which accounts for life’s unity and diversity. Next, we look at simple, one-sentence definition. We recognize life by what scientific inquiry—how scientists ask and attempt to answer living things do. Figure 1.2 highlights some of the properties questions about the natural world. Finally, we address the and processes we associate with life. culture of science and its effects on society. Figure 1.2 Some properties of life. ▼ Order. This close-up of a sunflower illustrates the highly ordered structure that characterizes life. ▲ Regulation. The regulation of blood flow through the blood vessels of this jackrabbit’s ears helps maintain a constant body temperature by ▲ Evolutionary adaptation. The overall adjusting heat exchange with the appearance of this pygmy sea horse surrounding air. camouflages the animal in its environment. Such adaptations evolve over countless generations by the reproductive success of those individuals with ▼ Reproduction. heritable traits that are best suited to Organisms (living their environments. things) reproduce their own kind. ▲ Energy processing. This butterfly obtains fuel in ▲ Response to the the form of nectar from environment. flowers. The butterfly The Venus flytrap will use chemical energy on the left closed stored in its food to its trap rapidly in power flight and other response to the work. environmental stimulus of a ▲ Growth and development. grasshopper Inherited information carried by landing on the genes controls the pattern of open trap. Animation: Signs of Life growth and development of organ- Video: Sea Horse Camouflage isms, such as this oak seedling. CHAPTER 1 Evolution, the Themes of Biology, and Scientific Inquiry 3 URRY3691_11_AP_C01_PRF.indd 3 08/11/16 5:27 pm Here are five unifying themes—ways of thinking about life CONCEPT 1.1 that will still hold true decades from now. The study of life reveals Organization unifying themes Information Energy and Matter Biology is a subject of enormous scope, and exciting new Interactions biological discoveries are being made every day. How can you Evolution organize into a comprehensible framework all the informa- tion you’ll encounter as you study the broad range of topics In this section and the next, we’ll briefly define and explore included in biology? Focusing on a few big ideas will help. each theme. Figure 1.3 Exploring Levels of Biological Organization ◀ 1 The Biosphere ▼ 6 Organs ▼ 7 Tissues Even from space, we can see signs of Earth’s life—in the green mosaic of the forests, for The structural hierarchy of life continues to Viewing the tissues of a leaf requires a microscope. Each tissue is a group of example. We can also see the entire biosphere, which consists of all life on Earth and all the unfold as we explore the architecture of a cells that work together, performing a specialized function. The leaf shown places where life exists: most regions of land, most bodies of water, the atmosphere to an complex organism. A leaf is an example of an here has been cut on an angle. The honeycombed tissue in the interior of altitude of several kilometers, and even sediments far below the ocean floor. organ, a body part that is made up of multiple the leaf (left side of photo) is the main tissues and has specific functions in the body. location of photosynthesis, the process Leaves, stems, and roots are the major organs of that converts light energy to the ◀ 2 Ecosystems plants. Within an organ, chemical energy of sugar. The jigsaw Our first scale change brings us to a North American mountain each tissue has a distinct puzzle–like “skin” on the surface of the meadow, which is an example of an ecosystem, as are tropical arrangement and contributes leaf is a tissue called epidermis (right forests, grasslands, deserts, and coral reefs. An ecosystem particular properties side of photo). The pores through the consists of all the living things in a particular area, along with all to organ function. epidermis allow entry of the gas CO2, a the nonliving components of the environment with which life raw material for sugar production. interacts, such as soil, water, atmospheric gases, and light. 50 μm Cell 10 μm ▶ 3 Communities ▶ 8 Cells ▼ 9 Organelles ▼ 10 Molecules The array of organisms inhabiting a particular The cell is life’s Chloroplasts are examples Our last scale change drops us into ecosystem is called a biological community. The fundamental unit of organelles, the various a chloroplast for a view of life at the community in our meadow ecosystem includes of structure and functional components molecular level. A molecule is a chemical many kinds of plants, various animals, mushrooms function. Some present in cells. The image structure consisting of two or more units and other fungi, and enormous numbers of diverse organisms consist below, taken by a powerful called atoms, represented as balls in this microorganisms, such as bacteria, that are too small of a single cell, microscope, shows a computer graphic of a chlorophyll molecule. to see without a microscope. Each of these forms of which performs single chloroplast. Chlorophyll is the life belongs to a species—a group whose members can all the functions pigment that makes a only reproduce with other members of the group. of life. Other leaf green, and it organisms are multicellular and absorbs sunlight ▶ 4 Populations ▲ 5 Organisms feature a division of labor among during photosynthe- specialized cells. Here we see sis. Within each Individual living things A population consists of all the a magnified view of a cell in a chloroplast, millions are called organisms. individuals of a species living within the leaf tissue. This cell is about 40 of chlorophyll bounds of a specified area. For example, our Each plant in the Atoms meadow is an organism, micrometers (μm) across—about 500 molecules are meadow includes a population of lupine (some of them would reach across a small organized into of which are shown here) and a population of and so is each animal, Chlorophyll fungus, and bacterium. coin. Within these tiny cells are even molecule systems that convert mule deer. A community is therefore the set of Chloroplast smaller green structures called 1 μm light energy to the populations that inhabit a particular area.
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