Integrated Principles of Zoology - Chapter 1

What is zoology?

The scientific study of animal life that utilizes technologies and methods from all branches of science and seeks to document and systematically organize the diversity of animal life

What are the two important theories that guide zoology research?

Theory of evolution and chromosomal theory of inheritance

What is life?

There is no simple definition, the answer must be based on the shared history of life on Earth, the history of life shows extensive and ongoing change called evolution

What are the general properties of living systems?

Chemical uniqueness, Complexity and hierarchical organization, Reproduction, Possession of genetic program, Metabolism, Development, Environmental Interaction, and Movement

Chemical Uniqueness

Living systems demonstrate a unique and complex molecular organization

Complexity and Hierarchical Organization

Living systems demonstrate a unique and complex hierarchical organization

The hierarchy of levels in living systems

1. Macromolecules
2. Cells
3. Organisms
4. Populations
5. Species

Reproduction

A component of the definition of life that, at each level of the biological hierarchy, living forms reproduce to generate others like themselves. Examples are genes replicating to produce new genes, cells dividing to produce new cells, and populations fragmenting to produce new populations

Possession of genetic program

Provides fidelity of inheritance such as nucleic acids, DNA, and genetic code

Nucleic acids

Encode the structures of the protein molecules needed for organismal development and functioning

DNA

Long, linear chain of nucleotides that store genetic information

Genetic code

Correspondence between base sequences in DNA and the sequence of amino acids

Metabolism

Living organisms maintain themselves by acquiring nutrients from their environments. Processes include digestion, energy production (respiration), and synthesis of molecules and structures required by organisms

Development

All organisms pass through a characteristic life cycle that describes the characteristic changes that an organism undergoes from its origin to its final adult form

Environmental Interaction

All animals interact with their environments

What is ecology?

The study of organismal interaction with an environment

All organisms respond to environmental stimuli, a property called

Irritability

Movement

Living systems and their parts show precise and controlled this arising from within the system. They do this to extract energy from their environments. This is needed in reproduction, growth, responses to stimuli, and development in multicellular organisms at the cellular level and entire populations or species that disperse from one geographic location to another over time on a larger scale

Movement of nonliving matter often involves _

external forces

First Law of Thermodynamics

Law of Conservation of energy; Energy is neither created nor destroyed but can transform from one form to another and all aspects of life require energy and its transformation

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 the degradation and dissipation of their chemical bond energy as heat; organismal complexity is achieved and maintained only by the perpetual use of dissipation of energy flowing into the biosphere from the sun

Animals originated in _

the Precambrian seas over 600 million years ago

What are the characteristics of animals?

Eukaryotes, Heterotrophs, and animal cells that lack cell walls

Eukaryotes

Cells contain membrane-enclosed nuclei

Heterotrophs

Cannot make their own food and must rely on external food sources

What are the principles of science?

• Science is guided by natural law
• Has to be explained by reference to natural law
• Testable against their observable world
• The conclusions of science are tentative and therefore not necessarily the final word
• Falsifiable

What is the scientific method?

It is a hypothetico-deductive method that requires the generation of hypotheses to potentially answer questions and using this method, in general, the hypotheses may predict future observations and be falsified