BIOLOGY CHAPTER 1

BIOLOGY
The word Biology is derived from two Greek words.
1) “bios” (i.e. life) and
2) “logos” (i.e. discourse / Knowledge / study)
Literally it means the “study of life”
(The term biology was coined by Lamarck in 1802)

Modern Biology
Biology is the branch of natural science, which deals with the
(i) Origin (ii) Classification (iii) Structure (iv) Functions
(v) Reproduction (vi) Growth and (vii) Development of “living organisms”

Former Sub-Divisions
Formally, living organisms were divided into two kingdoms i.e. Plants and animals and were studied under
two sub-divisions.
1. Zoology: i.e. the study of “Animals” and
2. Botany: i.e. the study of “Plants”

Modern Divisions
The modern biology is not deals with the
(i) recognition and (ii) classification
of these species but also deal with their
(i) structure and (ii) functions also of these species

Major Branches

Some of the major fields of specialization in biology are: Biotechnology, Environmental Biology, Micro-
biology, Fresh water Biology, human Biology, Marine Biology, Molecular biology, Parasitology and Social
Biology.

1. Molecular Biology
It is the recent branch of biology, which deals with the study of biological molecules” their structure and
function. Some large molecules like Protein molecules and Nucleic acids are involved in biological processes
and form structure of cell and cell organelles.
The study of these large molecules is termed as Molecular Biology.

2. Biotechnology
It is the most recent branch of biology. It is the use of the techniques in biological processes for the solution
of problems with living organism and also with humans.
Genetically engineered bacteria (whose genes or genotypes are changed) are used in:
i) Production of Insulin (hormone), drugs and vaccines.
ii) Cleaning up Pollutants and killing insect pests
iii) Gene therapy in human (repair of faulty genes)
iv) Cloning (i.e. Culture of identical copies of cell or organisms)

3. Microbiology
It is the branch of biology, which deals with the microscopic (can not be seen) organisms such as:
i. Viruses (their division in virology)
ii. Bacteria (further studied as bacteriology) and
iii. Protozoans
iv. Some fungi (as yeast, they are studies in mycology)

4. Environmental Biology
It is the branch of biology which deals with the study of environmental and its effects on living organism. It
is the study of ecology of different ecosystems.
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5. Marine Biology
It is the branch of biology, which deals with the organism living in sea and oceans, and the
1. Physical (such as water, temperature, pressure etc)
2. Chemical (such as salts, ions and other minerals) characteristics (factors) of sea

6. Fresh water Biology

It is the branch of biology, which deals with the organism living in fresh water (such as ponds, lakes, rivers
etc) and the physical and chemical characteristics of fresh water bodies affecting it.
The water pollution is greatly affecting fresh water bodies.

7. Parasitology
It is the branch of biology, which deals with the study of Parasitic organisms (i.e. parasites are these
organism which depend on or in their living hosts for their food) their
i) Life cycles
ii) Mode of transmission and
iii) Interaction (or inter dependence) with their hosts.
Parasites are present as viruses (bacteriophage) with their hosts. (Pneumococys) protozoans (endameba),
fungi (ringworm), roundworm (ascaris) and flatworms (liver fluke) etc living inside (endoparasitically)
or outside (ectoparasite) of their hosts.

8. Human Biology
It is the branch of biology, which deals with the biology of human such as their
(i) Classification
(ii) Origin
(iii) Evolution
(iv) Anatomy
(v) Physiology
(vi) Health
(vii) Inheritance etc.

9. Social Biology
It is the branch of biology which deals with the social interaction (interdependence) of other or some species
within a population of a given:
1. Species
2. Especially humans
to study their behavior (i.e. ethology or study of behavior) are either
3. inherited or
4. culturally induced

Levels of Organization

The organisms are complex. They are arranged on grades and level on the basis of their complexity (i.e.
Simple to complex)

I. Chemical Organization
The life contains chemicals, which are grouped as atom molecules (simple and complex), are compound etc.

1. Atom
Atom is the smallest unit of element (element is a type of matter), which retains all properties of elements
e.g. H atoms. The further division of atom forms sub-atomic particles (i.e. electrons, protons etc)

2. Molecules
The two or more atoms combine to form molecules e.g. Hydrogen gas molecule. The hydrogen are of two
types:
1. Organic molecules: Carbon containing
2. Inorganic molecules: non-carbon
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The organic compounds may be

1. Simple molecules (such as sugar, glycerol, fatty acids, amino acids)
2. Complex or macromolecules (Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins)

3. Compounds
The molecules of different elements combine to form a compound.
The compound may also be inorganic (salts, water) or organic (protein, fat etc) like human blood.

II. Biological Organization

This is another level of organization. The arrangement of simple to complex of living are cells ,tissue, organs,
system and body.
1. Cell
The cells is the simplest structural and functional unit of life.
The cell contain genes (The functional unit of DNA) sub-cellular structures called “organelles” (like ER,
mitochondria, ribosome etc)
2. Tissue
The graph of cells, performing the same function e.g. nervous tissues, xylem tissues. (Thee colonial
protozoans differ from multicellular / tissues that the cells are similar but perform not one but several
functions)
3. Organ
The group of tissue is called organs e.g. Brain.
4. System
The group of organs form system e.g. brain , spinal cord, sense organs (eye, ear) and nerves form nervous
system.
5. Body
The group of different systems forms an individual whole body of an organism

III. Brand Level Organization

The groups of “organisms” form population, community, ecosystem and finally whole biosphere.
Population
A population is a group of same species, living together in a particular area e.g. population of dogs,
population of flies.
Species
An species is a group of same organisms, which can interbreed (can mate) e.g. human species is “sapiens”
2. Community
It is a group of (interdependent) population, lives in an area e.g. hen, dog and man are three different
populations which live in an area and forms a community.
3. Ecosystem
A community with its environmental (i.e. land, water and atmosphere) forms an ecosystem. Or
An ecosystem is defined as,
(It is) the closed system of inter-action of living organism (called biotic factors such as plants and animals)
with their non-living environment (called biotic factors such as water, land and air etc.) living together in an
area.
4. Biosphere (Ecosphere)
It is the group of all ecosystems or the earth and its life.
It is the largest biological system with all living organisms and physical environment (atmosphere or air,
lithosphere or earth and hydrosphere or water)

Living in Space

First living: 2.5 Billion years ago as simple “acellular”

Modification: Acellular modified into “new’ types.
Diversity: These spread in each and every “habitat”
Forms: Majority of living organisms live as:
i. Free living i.e. alone
ii. In association (Symbiosis Commensalisms, Mutualism, Parasitism) i.e. with other
organisms.
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World in Time

First living: as acellular discovered as “fossils”

Fossils: remains of past (ancient) organisms.
Age of Fossil: is find out by number of techniques (like carbon dating)

Geological Time Scale

The origin of different organisms is shown by a chart, which is divided into four Era (major events) and
periods (minor events)
1. Proterozoic era (2000M) : First living organisms (3000M years ago)
2. Paleozoic era (600-570M) : Ancient Animals (Era of fish)
3. Mesozoic era (225-135M) : Middle animals era (Era of mammals)
4. Cenozoic era (up to 70M) : Most recent era (origin of human)

Phyletic Lineage

The geological time scale shows “species” has common origin called “Phyletic lineage”.

Q. Quran emphasizes the study of scientific phenomenon. Elaborate your answer with verses from Holy
Book.
Ans. Scientific Phenomena: The Quran has in-numerable times emphasize the significance of biological
and scientific facts:
1. Qur Convenience: In Surah, Al-Baqra : 22
“Allah has made the earth your bad and heavens your beds and sent down rain from the heavens;
and brought forth, there with fruits for your survival”.
2. Creatures in Surah, Al-Inaam : 38
“There is not an animal (that lives) on earth or a being that flies its wing, but (forms part of)
communities like you
That all living organisms, which live on land like ant or fly like bees lives in the form of communities
or groups like the different human communities.
3. Observations in Surah, Yunus : 101
“Say! Look that is in the heavens and on earth”.
It emphasizes us to investigate, what creatures and wonders are in heavens and on earth. How cover
of sky unflows is spread on our heads.
4. Contemplation: In Surah, Al-Imran : 190-191
“Look! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and alternation of days there are indeed sign for
the mans of understanding …… And look attention (wonders of) creations in heavens and earth”
According to the translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1934), that we in think over in the day and night
formation and we must think over in the day and night formation and we must think in the creation
of earth, that who as created and what for.
In short, we have to investigate them to the best of our abilities to get knowledge.

Biological Method

The scientist do not believe in superstitions, rather they believe in facts. Certain steps can use for (scientific
or biological studies which are based on some principle as in any other field if science.

Steps of Method
The biological studies involved following six steps
1) Biological Problems 2) Hypotheses 3) Observation & data collections
4) Experimentation 5) Theory 6) Law
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1. Problem
There must be a problem for which solution is sought out (e.g. malaria)
2. Hypothesis
The first logical step in biological statement is formulation of hypothesis. I.e. logical explanation to a
problem.
A hypothesis is “a statement, which have no experimental prove (e.g. Malaria is caused by bad air)
3. Observation and Data (formulation)
The observations are made for creativity i.e.
1. Facts are recorded as data (inductive reasoning)
2. Certain, deduction are made from observation and data (deductive reasoning) (for e.g. Malaria is
common in swampy areas and malaria is related with swamps is deduction)
4. Experimentation
The experiments are conducted to test the hypothesis (e.g. drainage of swamps reduces malaria)
5. Theory
A theory is made if the hypothesis is proved experimentally. “A theory is a statement (or hypothesis) with an
experimental proof”. (e.g. Mosquito theory, cell theory, Darwin’s theory etc.)
6. LAW (general purpose)
After repeated experimentation (and elimination of personal biases) theory becomes law. “A law is a
statement (hypothesis or theory) with experimental and wide acceptance i.e. generally accepted (e.g.
Mendel’s law of inheritance i.e. characters are transmitted by genes)”.

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Former system (Two system classification) The Swedish Naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) devised the former
classification in his book “Systema Naurae” (1758)
Formerly, the living organisms were classified into two Kingdoms by Linnaeus namely,
i) Plant Kingdom
ii) Animal Kingdom

Modern System (Five system classification) Robert Whittaker in 1969 suggested a modern/New/Recent
system of Taxonom. According to it, the living organisms are divided into Five Kingdoms namely.
Kingdom (1) Monera (2) Protista (3) Fungi (4) Plantae (5) Animalia

1. Kingdom Monera: (Bacteria, Virus, Blue-green algae) It include

i) Acellular (unicellular) organism
ii) Prokaryotes i.e. with incipient nucleus (nucleus without nuclear membrane)
iii) Heterotrophic like virus and bacteria
iv) Autotrophs like cynobacteria (non-chloroplast) or blue green algae

2. Kingdom Protista: (Protozoans & Algae) It includes

i) Acellular organism
ii) Eukaryotes (true nucleus)
iii) Heterotrophs (non chlorophyllous) Amoeba, Paramecium and other protozoans.
iv) Autotrophs (chlorophyllous) like Euglena, clamydomonas, Volvox etc.

3. Kingdom Fungi: (All fungi) It includes,

i) Both unicellulary (Yeast) and most multicultural organism
ii) Eukaryotic, thalloid
iii) Cell wall of cellulose and chitin.
iv) Non chlorophyllous
v) Heterotrophs both parasitic (Tinea causing ring-worm disease) and saprophytic (yeast, slime mould,
mushroom) etc.

4. Plantae Kingdom (All plants) It includes

i) All multicellular plants
ii) Mostly chlorophyllous (autotrophic) except a few parasitic (like Cuscuta)
iii) True cell wall of cellulose
iv) Lower plant like ulva (algae), Marchantic (bryophyte), Fern and Selaginella (Pteridophyte) and higher
plants like Mint (herb), lemon (shrub), pea (climber), Neem (tree) etc.

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5. Kingdom Animalia (All animals except protozoans) it includes

i) Multicellular organisms
ii) Non-chlorophyllous
iii) No cell wall
iv) Heterotrophs
v) All animals can breath, locomote and eat.
Example: Earthworm, Hydra (invertebrates) fish, frog (vertebrates) etc.

Applications of Biology in Welfare

The biological knowledge is used in various ways:

1. Awareness
The people are now aware of its importance
2. Agriculture
A new technique of hydroponics is applied in agriculture
3. Medical
In medical vaccination, chemotherapy, radiotherapy are applied.
4. Human Welfare
The cloning technique is also used in welfare of man-kind.
VACCINATION
Vaccines are the modified micro-organism of (any disease) inoculated (injected) into the body to produce
immunity (defense against diseases)
Discovery
The first vaccine was introduced by Edward Jenenr in 1795
Introduction
1. Vaccine is injected in animals or human for infections like Polio, small pox, hepatitis etc to prevent
diseases.
2. The body produces antibodies to kill germs (antigens)
Protection
The vaccine may or may not be life e.g. in smallpox it is life long.
ANTIBIOTICS
Antibiotics are chemicals (natural or synthetic), used in small amount to stop (inhibit) growth of
microorganisms.
Discovery:
The first antibiotics was Penicillin (from fungus Penicillium notatum) discovered by Fleming (Florey and
chain and received an Nobel Prize in 1945)
Protection:
Antibiotics are used against T.B, leprosy, anthrax etc (which are successfully controlled by them)
CHEMOTHERAPY
It is the method of using chemicals to prevent diseases like cancer, AIDS etc are cured by chemotherapy.
RADIOTHERAPY
It is the method of using (radioactive) rays like X-rays, γ-rays, α-rays, β-rays etc for diagnosis and treatment
of disease like cancer, tumor. Etc.
HYDROPONICS (water culture)
Soil-less or water culture (hydroponics) is the science (technique) of growing land (terrestrial) plants in an
aerated (O2) solution.
Farming
The vegetables and crops farming is used to meet food demand
Advantages
The hydroponics is useful in various ways such as:
1. Weed Control: It controls weeds (useless, self growing plants)
2. Soil Diseases: The problem of soil diseases is also controlled.
3. Less area: It requires small area. (Like green houses)

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4. Arid farm: It is used in desert (arid) plants.

5. Food problems: The food problems is solved for growing population.

CLONING (Duplicate Copies)

It is a technique (of biotechnology) of producing an identical copies (called clone) of
1. genetic material (cloned genes)
2. cells (cloned cells) or
3. organisms (whole multicellular organisms) or Cloned organisms

Asexual Reproduction
It is a type of asexual reproduction because it requires only genes of one animal.
Discovery
The scientist (of Roslyn Institute, Scotland) in 1996 had produced Dolly sheep (a cloned lamb)
Natural Clones
Some examples of identical cloned copying are
(i) Identical twins or triplets (in humans)
(ii) Asexual reproduction in plants and animals
(iii) Regeneration
(iv) Tumor and
(v) Cancers
Advantages
The uses of artificial cloning are:
i) It is used in Agriculture and Medicines.
ii) Vegetative reproduction of fruits (citrus fruit) and nut
iii) Treatment if diseases
iv) Production of insulin, growth hormones, interferon (protein against virus) and antithrombin (prevent
blood clot during surgery)
v) Human organs like lever cells, skin cells and blood cells are formed by human cloning.
STEPS (of artificial cloning)
It involves the following steps
1. Enucleate: The nucleus is removed from an egg cell.
2. Injection: A 2n nucleus of adult (donor) is injected into it
3. Electric current:: is introduced (to receive nucleus by egg cell) (The electric current makes tiny, self
sealing holes in plasma membrane, through which genetics material can enter)
4. (In mammals) the cells are placed in (host) female for development.
5. The offspring (cloned) has good quality of donor cell (i.e. either pest, parasite or disease resistant)

Application of Biology

The biology helps to solved problems in various ways.

I. In Medical
The biological techniques are being used in:
1. Antibiotics

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2. Vaccination
3. Chemotherapy
4. Radiotherapy
5. Hydroponics
6. Cloning

II. Protection / Conservation

The environment can be protected by using biology techniques
1. Pollution: (in any form like acid rain, stone cancer, green house effect or Ozone depletion) is identify,
their sources (air, land and water) are prevented to reduce pollution.
The major cause of pollution are
i) Growing population
ii) Deforestation (also causes soil erosion and flooding)
iii) Industrialization (Industries releases toxic waste in air, water and land)
2. Forest Conversation: maintains balance in ecosystem and reduces soil erosion and flooding (some plants
also has medicinal and other importance)

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

The disease management (control) is integrated (combined) with biological control to pathogens as follows:
1. Biological control:
It uses natural enemies to control pathogens e.g. Malaria is controlled by fish in ponds.
2. Pest Control:
The pest of crops like locust are killed by their parasites (bacteria) or eaten by their predator like
dragonflies.
3. Crop rotation:
The growing of different crops on same ground reduces
(i) Weed parasites (ii) Plant diseases (iii) Soil disease
4. Soil fertility:
is increased using leguminous plants containing (N2 – fixers)
5. Interplanting:
is a growing of plants in climates un-suitable for pathogens.
6. Green Houses:
gives protected conditions to plants.

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