I. Properties of life

II. When did biology begin?

A. some evidence of biological studies, ca 2000 B.C.
B. Alcmaeon, anatomy and emryology, ca 500 B.C.
C. Hippocrates, On the Sacred Disease, ca 400 B.C.
D. Aristotle, natural history and classification, ca 350 B.C.

III. Biological questions and the disciplines that investigate these questions

A. what is life made of?
1. gross anatomy
2. microstructure
3. molecular biology
B. How does life work?
1. physiology (organisms, cells, etc.)
C. What different types of life are there?
1. taxonomy - class: flying organisms
2. phylogenetic systematics - classifying by history
3. biodiversity studies - capture and study
4. paleontology - extinct
D. How do organisms interact with their environment?
1. ecology
E. How do organisms change during their lives?
1. development
2. embryology
F. How can we explain geographic distribution of organisms
1. biogeography
G. Why does life change over time?
1. evolutionary biology - "unifying theme"
H. How is biological information passed from parents to offspring?
1. genetics
I. How do we understand the behavior of organisms?
1. ethology
J. How can knowledge of biology be applied to human purposes?
1. medicine
2. agriculture
3. wildlife management
4. law enforcement - forensic
5. conservation biology

IV. Levels of structural organization and emergent properties

V. Biodiversity

A. how many species are there?
B. ca 1.5 million described
1. ca. 260,000 plants
2. ca. 50,000 vertebrates
3. ca. 750,000 insects
C. possibly 10-100 million total

VI. Levels of Classification

A. domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
B. example
C. sub+, super-, infra, etc
D. Carolus Linnaeus
E. binomial system (Crotalus atrox)

VII. 3 Domains and 6 kingdoms

A. Domain Bacteria
1. Kingdom Eubacteria
B. Domain Archaea
1. Kingdom Archaebacteria
C. Domain Eukarya
1. Kingdom Protista
2. Kingdom Fungi
3. Kingdom Plantae
4. Kingdom Animalia

VIII. Traditional five-kingdom system

IX. Evolution is considered the unifying theme of biology

A. natural selection
1. Charles Darwin
2. Alfred Wallace
3. reasoning involved
a) variation in populations
b) many born, few survive
c) differential reproductive success
4. Famous example: peppered moths
B. Genetically based change in a population over time
C. History of life

X. Science and the scientific method

A. a way of knowing
B. observation, curiosity, reason
C. scientific method
1. observation
2. question
3. hypothesis (and predictions)
4. experiment
5. conclusions
D. communicating results
1. journal articles
2. books
3. conferences
E. repeatability
1. methods clearly recorded
F. Jules Henri Poincare:
"The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he has delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful."
G. Training new scientists
1. teaching
2. training
3. post doctoral work
H. educating non-scientists
1. museums
2. popular articles
3. public lectures
4. teaching
I. How does science affect your life?