AP Biology 2007-2008

Study of Life

Intro to AP Biology

AP Biology

AP Biology Big Ideas

Big Idea 1: The process of

evolution drives the diversity and unity of life.

Big Idea 2: Biological systems utilize free energy and

molecular building blocks to grow, to reproduce, and to

maintain dynamic homeostasis.

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

properties

AP Biology

Science Practice 1: The student can use representations

and models to communicate scientific phenomena and

solve scientific problems.

Science Practice 2: The student can use mathematics

appropriately.

Science Practice 3: The student can engage in scientific

questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations

within the context of the AP course.

Science Practice 4: The student can plan and implement

data collection strategies appropriate to a particular

scientific question.

Science Practices for AP Biology

AP Biology

Science Practice 5: The student can perform data

analysis and evaluation of evidence.

Science Practice 6: The student can work with scientific

explanations and theories.

Science Practice 7: The student is able to connect and

relate knowledge across various scales, concepts, and

representations in and across domains.

Science Practices for AP Biology, cont.

AP Biology

Themes

Science as a process of inquiry

questioning & investigation

Evolution

Energy transfer

Continuity & Change

Relationship of structure to function

Regulation

Interdependence in nature

Science, technology & society

AP Biology

Biological organization is based on a hierarchy of

structural levels, each building on the levels below.

• At the lowest level are atoms that are ordered into

complex biological molecules.

• Many molecules are arranged into minute structure

called organelles, which are the components of cells.

• “The whole is greater than the sum of the

parts”.

Theme: Each level of biological organization

has emergent properties

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Fig. 1.2(1) Fig. 1.2(2)

AP Biology

Life can be

organized into a

hierarchy of

structural levels.

At each successive

level additional

emergent

properties appear.

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Fig. 2.1

AP Biology

Science is a process of inquiry

Built on repeatable observations &

testable, falsifiable hypotheses

AP Biology

Evolution

THE core theme of biology and

geology, astronomy, etc….

AP Biology

Jean Baptiste LaMarck

Organisms adapted to their environments by acquiring traits

change in their life time Disuse

organisms lost parts because they did not use them — like the missing eyes & digestive system of the tapeworm

Perfection with Use & Need the constant use of an organ leads that organ to increase in size — like the muscles of a blacksmith or the large ears of a night-flying bat

transmit acquired characteristics to next generation

AP Biology

Evolution by means of Natural Selection

This is the CORE theme of biology

Charles Darwin

Change occurs due to the interaction of gene

changes along with and differential reproduction of

survivors.

AP Biology

These are the unifying threads of

biology:

Descent with modification

Natural selection

AP Biology

Natural selection

Evolutionary change is a product of the process of natural selection

Organisms don’t adapt;

Organisms have adaptations.

AP Biology 2007-2008

"Nothing in biology

makes sense except in

the light of evolution."

-- Theodosius Dobzhansky March 1973

Geneticist, Columbia University

(1900-1975)

AP Biology

Evolution explains unity & diversity

Unity

what do organisms have in common & why do similarities exist? common biochemistry & physiology

evolutionary relationships

connected through common ancestor

Diversity

but why are there differences? natural selection

adaptations allow different individuals to survive in different environments

AP Biology

AP Biology

This is not just a

process of the

past…

It is all

around

us today

Artificial selection

AP Biology

Selective

breeding

the raw genetic

material (variation)

is hidden there

AP Biology

Selective breeding

Hidden variation

can be exposed

through selection!

AP Biology

Organizing systems

Making sense out of the diversity

Hierarchical

scheme

Eastern gray squirrel Sciurus carolinensis

AP Biology

3 Domains of Life Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya

Eukarya Bacteria Archaea

AP Biology

Energy transfer

Life is an open system

need input of energy

energy flows through

energy comes in,

energy goes out

need a constant input

need input of materials

nutrients are recycled

around & around

ENTROPY RULES! DECOMPOSERS

RULE, too!

nutrients

AP Biology

Energy utilization

You think they’re eating…

They’re harvesting energy!

AP Biology

Continuity & change

Continuity of life is based on heritable

information in the form of DNA

DNA – the genetic

material – carries

biological information

from one generation

to the next

You can make more, a lot like you!

T

R

A

I

T

AP Biology

Form follows function

The alignment of structure & function is

seen at all levels of biology

organism

cell organelle

organ

AP Biology

Regulation

Organisms need to maintain a “steady state”

in the face of changing conditions

maintain homeostasis

achieve this through feedback

monitor the body like a thermostat

turn on when it’s needed, off when its not

AP Biology

Interdependence

No organism is an island standing alone

communities, ecosystems

AP Biology

Science, technology & society Science & technology must function within

the rules of society

ethics

AP Biology

Themes

Emergent properties

Science as a process of inquiry

questioning & investigation

Evolution

Energy transfer

Continuity & Change

Relationship of structure to function

Regulation

Interdependence in nature

Science, technology & society

AP Biology

Why study themes of Biology?

Biology is an ever expanding body of

knowledge

too much to memorize it all

need to generalize

create a framework upon which to

organize new knowledge

themes are the key to understanding

the nature of living organisms

AP Biology 2007-2008

ANY QUESTIONS?