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Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
Sprache: Englisch

Beschreibung

An Interactive, Easy-to-Use Introductory Guide to Major Biology Concepts

For students looking for a solid introduction to Biology, the new 3rd Edition of Biology: A Teaching Guide is the perfect learning tool. The latest edition has been updated to include the most up-to-date information on everything from photosynthesis to physiology.

For students preparing for exams or individuals who want to review material from years past, the step-by-step format is designed to help students and teachers alike easily understand complex concepts, key terms, and frequently asked questions. The guide includes a comprehensive glossary and self-test questions in each chapter, allowing students to reinforce their knowledge and better understand the concepts.

In A Teaching Guide, learn about the foundational aspects of biology, including:

● How photosynthesis occurs

● Whether viruses are living or dead

● The reproductive sexual terms behind cloning

● Comprehensive treatment of all aspects of life science

Thoroughly updated with self-teaching practice exams and questions, this comprehensive guide is designed to give students the tools they need to master the fundamental concepts and critical definitions behind biology.

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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

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Leseprobe

Cover

How to Use This Book

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Origin of Life

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION

CONDITIONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

EXPERIMENTAL SEARCH FOR LIFE'S BEGINNINGS

PROBING SPACE FOR CLUES OF LIFE'S ORIGINS ON EARTH

PANSPERMIA

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

2 Cell Structure

MICROSCOPES

CELLS

CELL THEORY

CELL STRUCTURE AND CELL SIZE

CYTOPLASM AND NUCLEOPLASM

CELL MEMBRANE

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE CELL MEMBRANE

PLANT CELL WALL

PLASMODESMATA AND GAP JUNCTIONS

CELLS' INTERNAL STRUCTURES

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

3 Cell Division

CELLULAR REPRODUCTION

MITOSIS

SEX AND SEXUALITY

MEIOSIS

MEIOSIS I

MEIOSIS II

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

4 Reproduction

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

ALTERNATION OF GENERATION

HUMAN REPRODUCTION

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

5 Cellular Respiration

GLYCOLYSIS

ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION

AEROBIC RESPIRATION

CYTOCHROME SYSTEM

RESPIRATION OF FATS AND PROTEINS

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

6 Photosynthesis

HISTORY

PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS

PHOTOSYNTHETIC AUTOTROPHS

NUTRIENTS

CHLOROPLASTS

CHLOROPHYLL AND OTHER PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS

LIGHT ABSORPTION

PASSING THE ELECTRONS

NONCYCLIC PHOTOPHOSPHORYLATION

CYCLIC PHOTOPHOSPHORYLATION

CARBON FIXATION AND CARBOHYDRATE SYNTHESIS

LEAVES

KEY TERMS

SELF-TEST

ANSWERS

7 Homeostasis

FLUID ENVIRONMENT OF THE EARLIEST CELLS

PLANT CELLS VS. ANIMAL CELLS

INVERTEBRATE EXCRETION

List of Tables

Chapter 8

Table 8.1 Major sources of human hormones and their functions.

Chapter 13

Table 13.1 Compatibility of blood types.

Chapter 14

Table 14.1 Water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins.

List of Illustrations

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 Light microscope (left) and stereomicroscope (right). The resolvi...

Figure 2.2 Linearly arranged cell walls in the annual growth rings of a pine...

Figure 2.3 The top three boxes illustrate

diffusion

. Water is represented by...

Figure 2.4 Active transport: (a) A cell concentrates certain kinds of molecu...

Figure 2.5 Cells have specialized junctions that facilitate the passage of m...

Figure 2.6 An electron micrograph of a nucleus. The arrows point to pores in...

Figure 2.7 Here are four of the major organelles located in the animal cell ...

Figure 2.8 This cross-section diagram illustrates the Golgi apparatus, an or...

Figure 2.9 (a) An artist's rendering of a mitochondrion; and (b) a labeled p...

Figure 2.10 A chloroplast with structures labeled.

Figure 2.11 A generalized plant cell with its structures labeled.

Figure 2.12 Composite animal cell.

Figure 2.13 Cross section of a centriole. This drawing shows the nine triple...

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 (a) Generalized cyanobacterium (or blue-green bacterium or blue-g...

Figure 3.2 Generalized and somewhat simplified representations of two types ...

Figure 3.3 Schematic drawings of an animal cell with six chromosomes undergo...

Figure 3.4 Drawings depicting an animal cell undergoing meiosis. For simplic...

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 Budding of hydra is illustrated here. The upright and larger pare...

Figure 4.2 Gametogenesis is illustrated, showing how the process involves me...

Figure 4.3 Spermatogenesis and oogenesis.

Figure 4.4 Alternation of generations in Obelia, which is a cnidarian (coele...

Figure 4.5 Life cycle of a moss.

Figure 4.6 Life cycle of a fern.

Figure 4.7 Reproductive system of the human male.

Figure 4.8 Reproductive system of the human female.

Figure 4.9 Human fetus and its fetal structures inside the mother's uterus....

Figure 4.10 Monthly ovarian and uterine cycles. Four hormones are involved:

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 The major events involved in cellular respiration are illustrated...

Figure 5.2 Activation energy is the amount of energy required to initiate a ...

Figure 5.3 Different enzymes function best at specific temperatures. Most hu...

Figure 5.4 This figure illustrates the most important points of what occurs ...

Figure 5.5 Krebs cycle and glycolysis.

Figure 5.6 The structure of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Figure 5.7 Anaerobic conversion of pyruvate (pyruvic acid) to ethanol and to...

Figure 5.8 The Krebs (tricarboxylic acid) cycle shown with more detail than ...

Figure 5.9 Oxidative phosphorylation is the net product of the cytochrome sy...

Figure 5.10 Summary diagram of the formation of ATP during the aerobic break...

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1 Photosynthesis, as depicted here, is the process involving chloro...

Figure 6.2 Electron micrograph of chloroplast from a corn plant.

Figure 6.3 Chemical structures of chlorophyll

and chlorophyll

, molecules...

Figure 6.4 Absorption spectrum of chlorophyll

in nanometers (nm) from 400 ...

Figure 6.5 Chemical structure of three closely related carotenoids: α-, ...

Figure 6.6 The transfer of the ATP molecule's terminal high-energy phosphate...

Figure 6.7 Carbohydrate synthesis. Carbohydrates are made from water and CO

Figure 6.8 Three-dimensional diagram of a leaf section, illustrating externa...

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Osmosis is a specialized type of diffusion involving a semipermea...

Figure 7.2 Excretory system of planaria, consisting of flame cells, excretor...

Figure 7.3 Nephrons are located in the portions of the kidney termed “cortex...

Figure 7.4 Chemical structures of the nitrogenous compounds: ammonia, urea, ...

Chapter 8

Figure 8.1 Location and general appearance of important hormone-secreting gl...

Figure 8.2 Location of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, as illustrated ...

Figure 8.3 The hormones produced by the pituitary gland and the parts of the...

Chapter 9

Figure 9.1 Grasshopper's nervous system (brain and ganglia are shaded).

Figure 9.2 The brains of five vertebrates (not drawn to scale) illustrate va...

Figure 9.3 Sensory, association, and motor neurons and their relationships....

Figure 9.4 A nerve cell and associated Schwann cells with microstructural de...

Figure 9.5 Initiation and transmission of a nerve impulse as illustrated alo...

Figure 9.6 This graph illustrates the change in a nerve fiber's membrane pot...

Figure 9.7 A synapse, the junction between two neurons. Neurotransmitters ar...

Figure 9.8 After the neurotransmitter molecules attach to the receptor sites...

Figure 9.9 Cross section of the spinal cord showing major features and the r...

Figure 9.10 Autonomic nerves innervate smooth muscles found in organs and gl...

Chapter 10

Figure 10.1 The human spinal column consists of 33 bones. Within the spinal ...

Figure 10.2 The human skeleton.

Figure 10.3 The pigeon skeleton.

Figure 10.4 With balance sensors located in muscles and tendons, the antagon...

Figure 10.5 A kymograph is used in laboratory experiments to study muscle co...

Figure 10.6 The muscle elements described in the text are illustrated with t...

Figure 10.7 Muscle contraction results when the protein polymers called acti...

Chapter 11

Figure 11.1 Going from the inside to the outside of the stem, the tissues sh...

Figure 11.2 At the start, a young wheat root begins growing by pushing out t...

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1 On the left is the countercurrent exchange mechanism as it works...

Figure 12.2 Open circulatory system of a grasshopper illustrating blood flow...

Figure 12.3 Rate of blood flow to capillary bed (top) is regulated by the co...

Figure 12.4 Cross section of a human heart showing the four chambers (two at...

Figure 12.5 A highly simplified representation of the human circulatory syst...

Figure 12.6 Ninety percent of the blood plasma that leaks from the tissues p...

Chapter 13

Figure 13.1 A mass of human red blood cells. Their flattened, indented shape...

Figure 13.2 Blood cell types are classified according to the shape and size ...

Figure 13.3 Pacemaker tissues in the human heart. Heartbeat is initiated by ...

Figure 13.4 An

EKG

(

electrocardiogram

) tracing a heartbeat, measuring the sy...

Chapter 14

Figure 14.1 Representations of some common organic functional groups.

Figure 14.2 These two isomers of C

O are structural isomers.

Figure 14.3 These two isomers of C

are geometric isomers; note the doub...

Figure 14.4 These two isomers of C

are optical isomers.

Figure 14.5 Isomers of C

; these three are isometric hexoses (six carbo...

Figure 14.6 Ring structure of glucose (C

Figure 14.7 Some common simple, double, and multiple molecules composed of s...

Figure 14.8 Sucrose, our common table sugar, is a disaccharide composed of a...

Figure 14.9 Glycogen is composed of long branching chains of glucose molecul...

Figure 14.10 Each fat molecule is composed of a glycerol unit to which are a...

Figure 14.11 Ring structures of two well-known steroids.

Chapter 15

Figure 15.1 Exponential growth curve (N = population size; r = rate of incre...

Figure 15.2 Population growth as described by the logistic equation (K = car...

Figure 15.3 Survivorship curves for humans, deer, and maples.

Figure 15.4 Annual net primary productivity of natural vegetation.

Figure 15.5 Biomes are major ecosystems with distinctive forms of life. The ...

Chapter 16

Figure 16.1 Proliferative cycle of a virus; here the host cell is a bacteriu...

Figure 16.2 Diagram of a virus that attacks bacteria, known as a bacteriopha...

Figure 16.3

Scanning electron microscope

(

SEM

) photomicrograph of a bacteria...

Chapter 17

Figure 17.1 Diagram of a bacterial cell, illustrating a prokaryotic cell. Mo...

Figure 17.2 (a) Composite bacterium; (b) An electron micrograph of a bacteri...

Chapter 19

Figure 19.1 Yeast cells in various stages of budding.

Figure 19.2 The mushroom known as the common edible morel is a fruiting body...

Figure 19.3 Growth of a common poisonous mushroom (

Amanita

Chapter 20

Figure 20.1 Moss, illustrating rhizoids, leafy gametophytes, and attached sp...

Figure 20.2 Mature fern sporophyte, illustrating leafy diploid stage.

Figure 20.3 Diagram of a tulip flower, illustrating different floral parts....

Chapter 21

Figure 21.1 Insect: American cockroach.

Figure 21.2 Fish: Striped bass.

Figure 21.3 Amphibian: Green frog.

Figure 21.4 Reptile: Garter snake.

Figure 21.5 Reptile: Snapping turtle.

Figure 21.6 Bird: Black-crowned night heron.

Figure 21.7 Mammal: Eastern chipmunk.

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

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“Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, Third Edition fills a gaping void, even if you are taking a course taught by someone else. I know, because I have taught biology courses at Cornell University for nearly 50 years. Steve Garber was one of my students. He read all the assigned texts, but recognized that something really important was missing. There is no other text that does what Garber's book does, or does it as well. He covers everything that is taught in biology courses, and does so clearly, succinctly, and in a way that is incredibly easy-to-read, understand, and remember. He even provides an excellent index and glossary. I recommend this book very highly. Five stars, for sure.”

Dr. Kraig Adler, Cornell University

“Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, Third Edition is an indispensable text and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I was a student of Dr. Garber's and he also mentored me on my student thesis. I highly valued his incredible ability for communicating complicated subjects and difficult concepts, while simultaneously keeping topics comprehensive and enjoyable. He was one of the university's best professors and one of the most inspiring teachers I have ever had. His classes were extremely popular because of his captivating teaching style and encyclopedic knowledge of his field. Learning with Dr. Garber was like learning from a true master and I am very glad I was granted the opportunity.”

Matthew M. Malone

“I give this book 5-stars! Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, Third Edition does what no other book does. But it does what Dr. Garber does. It teaches the material in an uncanny manner that gets straight to the point while succeeding magnificently at achieving what here-to-fore seemed impossible for other science book writers. Steve Garber has turned the enterprise of learning biology into a calm and dare I say, even enjoyable business. I was Steve's colleague when he taught high school biology. He has also taught college biology at the best schools. When we worked together, loved to sit in on his classes. My fields are chemistry, physics, and math, but I never really understood biology. Steve made all his classes so interesting, and I immediately understood everything he was teaching. I've wanted to write books like his, but in my fields of expertise, but I can't do it. I don't have Steve's gifts. I have many gifts, but not the gift of writing in such a perfectly clear manner. He writes in a way that lets you go, oh, this makes sense. Oh, I get it. Steve is an outstanding writer. I wish someone reading this would convince him to work with me, so Steve and I could co-author books in my fields, that do what Steve has accomplished for biology students. If he would agree, we could put a smile on the faces of so many more students.”

Rajinder Khazanchi, Ph.D.

Biology

A Self-Teaching Guide

Third Edition

Steven Daniel Garber

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley brand111 River St.Hoboken, New Jersey 07030

Illustration permission credits listed by page number.14 B. S. Neylan and B. G. Butterfield, Three-Dimensional Structure of Wood, Chapman and Hall Ltd, Publishers / 23 Dr. W. H. Wilborn (Figure 2.5a) / 23 Dr. D. E. Kelly (Figure 2.5b) / 25 Dr. D. W. Fawcett / 29 photomicrograph from T. Naguro, K. Tanaka, Biological Medical Resources Supplement, 1980, Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. / 31 Dr. H. J. Arnott / 52 Dr. H. W. Beams (Figure 3.1b) / 55 R. A. Boolootian, Ph.D., Science Software Systems, Inc. / 70 Carolina Biological Supply Company / 133 drawing adapted from Buchsbaum and Pearse, Animals Without Backbones, University of Chicago Press, 1987 / 198 Huxley M. R. C., Cambridge, England / 227 W. B. Saunders Company / 228 drawing adapted from A. C. Guyton, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 6th edition, W. B. Saunders Company / 236 Dr. Thomas C. Hayes / 240 Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL / 254 Dr. F. A. Eiserling / 254 Dr. K. Amako / 278, 279, 298 drawings by Alice Baldwin Addicott / 280 drawing adapted from Gibson, Edible Mushrooms and Toadstools, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1899 / Drawings appearing on pages 318, 322, 323, 325, 325, 326 by Jerome Lo / All line drawings not listed above drawn by John Wiley & Sons Illustration Department.

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ISBNs 978-1-119-64502-3 (paperback), 978-1-119-64500-9 (ePub), 978-1-119-64504-7 (ePDF)

To my family

Ruth Sara Haendler

Micah Garber

Jeremy Garber

Miriam Garber

Ariel Haendler

Stella Haendler

Michael Haendler

Kristin Haendler

Violet Haendler

How to Use This Book

The objective of this Self-Teaching Guide is to make high school and college biology easier to learn. The goal is to make you more successful. The text covers the most important topics in a clear manner. I provide practice tests and a glossary, and a comprehensive glossary is available at the book's web page, http://www.wiley.com/go/biologystg3e. This book organizes, condenses, and clarifies the main concepts and terms, and it highlights all the primary points needed to fully grasp the material and to do well in any biology course.

The chapters and questions provide excellent preparation for quizzes, tests, exams, prelims, and finals. This Self-Teaching Guide has a study section at the end of each chapter where key terms, questions to think about, and multiple-choice questions like those that appear on exams (complete with the answers) are presented. Plus, this book is the perfect study companion when preparing for standardized exams in biology such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the American College Testing Program Assessment (ACT), Admissions Testing Program Achievement Test, in Biology, Advanced Placement Program: Biology, College Level Examination Program: Subject Examination in Sciences – Biology, National Teacher Examinations (NTE) Specialty Area Test: Biology and General Sciences, and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE): Subject Test – Biology.

Preface

The photograph on the cover of this book depicts a colorectal cancer cell (a cancer cell that started in the lower part of someone's intestines). Biology is the study of life, so I considered cover designs with beautiful flowers, and even one with a ladybug (a red beetle with black dots). The reason I chose the intriguingly gorgeous pink cell for this cover is because, for so many, biology is a pain in the butt! In the end, my hope is this book will go a long way toward rectifying the situation (no pun intended).

I have taken to heart all the constructive comments from the students I have taught in my classroom, and the many comments posted online from all over the world. Each year I sit down and incorporate these recommendations into the manuscript that will become the next edition of this book. For this reason, I thank you so much for the continual improvements that make this book better and better.

The best biology teachers, professors, and textbooks make biology clear and compelling. Others have a way of giving biology a bad name. For me, this is counterintuitive. Biology is about life, and for this reason, it is a topic everyone is naturally curious about, and learning about it should be pleasurable. My hope is this book will make your biology class more fun and easier, and in the process, it will help improve your grades.

These classes and books often force students to learn at the equivalent of the receiving end of a fire hose. We are all forced to learn so much, so fast.

When I was a student, I swore that the first chance I had, I would write a biology book that provided us, the students, what we repeatedly ask the professor to do. I would write a book with the material that has the greatest likelihood of being on the test. And I would leave the rest out. I would also be sure to understand what I was writing about, for it seems, this is not the case when it comes to so many biology teachers and textbook authors. I truly believe they aren't clear because often they don't know what they are talking or writing about. They are merely parroting something they read.

Promoting biological literacy is a noble task. The lion's share of what I write in this book was initially discovered by someone else. Once in a while I include my own innovations, though I never gave myself credit. For instance, the section on urban ecosystems comes from a chapter entitled “Urban Ecosystems” in another book I wrote (The Urban Naturalist). The concept was new then; now it's in many books. There are even journals now called “The Urban Naturalist,” “Urban Ecosystems,” and “Urban Ecology.” So yes, it is still possible to discover something new that ends up in biology books all around the world!

This book will teach what we are expected to learn about biology. This self-teaching biology book has been field-tested by tens of thousands of students, many of whom have provided comments that continually help me to improve this book, so biology is interesting, and completing homework is easier, and preparing for quizzes and tests goes more smoothly. Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide is the next best thing to me teaching you this material one-on-one.

Acknowledgments

We naturally love life. Since biology is the study of life, I can make the case that we should also love biology. Learning about life can and should also be wonderful. I'm a lucky duck because in addition to loving life, I get paid to learn about it and to teach it to others. In addition to loving nature, which includes plants and animals, and cells, and ecology, and how our bodies work, and how ecosystems work, I also love people, and more than most people, I love my family: Mitch and Mimi (parents), Ruthie (wife), Jeremy, Micah, Ariel, and Michael (sons), Stella and Kristin (daughters-in-law), and Violet (granddaughter). Thanks for everything you do as the glue that keeps our family functional, supportive, understanding, intriguing, and loving.

Mastering biology is fulfilling, though at times, also frustrating, and occasionally even exasperating. When beginning to learn the nuts and bolts of any specialized field, we are force-fed more jargon than seems necessary, and sometimes learning it all in the given amount of time may seem impossible. Yet, without a mastery of the terminology, it may be impossible to earn the grades we hope for. For this reason, the person and book you are channeling to learn this information aren't always easy to appreciate. I can commiserate with you on this, because I too am frustrated by difficult-to-understand people and books. That is why I wrote this book.

This is why I owe so much gratitude to those who visually (sight), olfactorily (smell), gustatorilly (taste), aurally (sound), or thigmotactically (touch) have clarified anything that has or in the future may lead to something positive. We also owe much gratitude to the people I love, and to those I don't know as well, and to the people I don't know at all, who shared something that I have come across in my years, that added to the working knowledge that I could channel in this book.

With all my heart and all my soul I love science and nature, and I am grateful for the laws of the universe. I would also like to thank everyone and everything that has ever elevated me through ideas, humor, music, entertainment, conversation, epiphanies (aha moments), words, and language. Appreciating someone or something can be easy. Learning something well can be difficult, and learning biology is no exception. The reason scientific terminology matters so much when taking a course like biology is because the terms are the key to making the concepts come alive. Admittedly, biology asks us to learn a gaggle of new words. Each highlighted term in this book enables us to think purposely and precisely, which leads to clarity and understanding. Kudos to the wordsmiths who fashioned these words, and to those who use these words appropriately. And I must thank the words for bringing so much meaning to our lives.

Thanks to F. Joseph Spieler for mentoring me, and to the Wiley family members, and those in the family's employ, who have continually crafted classics from writer's thoughts and words for more than 212 years. I also thank my colleagues at Yale University, Cornell University, New York University, Rutgers University, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Park Service, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the US Army who excel in the fields of their choice. I am also indebted to each plant and creature, sentient or otherwise, that share their significance in ways that enable us to value the world around us, and in the process have empowered me to transfer my appreciation and understanding to you.

The biosphere does not live in a vacuum. We reside in an atmosphere of concatenations. These urban and suburban ecosystems of our making are the newest, fastest growing, most important ecosystems in the world. Each has replaced another vibrant ecosystem, with consequences to species, communities, families, and cultures. Each was replaced by another amalgam of species, communities, families, and cultures. They say we make our own luck. However this works, I have proven to be a very lucky person. No one ever said living a constructive and productive life is easy. I've stayed on track because I've had exceptional people supporting my efforts at every step. Though I already mentioned most of them above, some deserve to be mentioned again. Because my great-grandparents and grandparents came to this country when they did, my immediate family escaped the einsatzgruppen (the Schutzstaffel paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany). This is why my grandparents, Dave and Esther Lipman and Sam and Eva Garber, and my parents, Mitch and Mimi Garber, and my wife's parents, Bill and Reeva Ledewitz, and our outstanding sons, Micah and Jeremy Garber, and Michael, and Ariel Haendler, and their magnificent wives, Kristin Haendler and Stella Yeo, and my sensible, considerate, compassionate, accomplished, and beautiful wife, Ruthie Haendler, and our granddaughter, Violet Haendler, have this time together, making the most of the here and now, doing our best to secure a safe, healthy, and happy future. The person who makes each of my days more perfect is Ruthie. We met 65 years ago and this lifetime we have together, is better than any I might have imagined.

Also, because Micah and Jeremy both took biology courses very recently, they have been the best sounding boards about what works and what doesn't work in this book. They helped during each step of writing the third edition of this book, and although they aren't properly credited anywhere, perhaps one or both will do me the honor of coauthoring the fourth edition of this biology book.

1Origin of Life

The evolution of life on earth has involved the following sequence of events. The first living things to appear were the simplest creatures, one-celled organisms. From these came more complex, multicellular organisms. Becoming more complex meant more than just an increase in cell number. With more cells came cellular specialization, where certain cells within the multicellular organism carried out specific tasks. Millions, even billions of years of organismal changes led to the living things we now call plants and animals.

Since this basic sequence of events is in accord with that agreed upon by most geologists, paleontologists, biologists, physicists, and even theologians, one might conclude that Moses and Darwin were all keen observers and some were excellent naturalists who were able to logically assess the most probable creation story.

Scientists generally concur that the time from the formation of our solar system until now has been on the order of some 4.5 billion years. Those who believe the world as we know it was created in six days are often called creationists. Their method of inquiry is based on the belief that the Bible is to be accepted as a completely accurate accounting of all about which it speaks. Scientists rely on an approach to understanding the world around us that involves the scientific method, which is how they test hypotheses and theories to learn more while developing new concepts, ideas, and models that can also be tested. Of course, many good scientists are creationists. Even though the two are often compared and contrasted, creationism is not a science. I do not mean to single out creationism. I could speak the same way of so many other fields of endeavor, such as political science, which is probably more like creationism than any hard science I know, because political beliefs are like religious beliefs. While many hold them close to their hearts, these beliefs are based on feelings, and on a camaraderie similar to what sports fans share who root for the same team. Supporting a party or a person is much different than building and testing new ideas, based on proven facts, but all that is for another book.

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION

Not too awfully long ago, people believed that many of the organisms that live around us continually arise from nonliving material in a manner they called spontaneous generation. This concept had many adherents for over a thousand years. Aristotle believed insects and frogs were generated from moist soil. Other elaborations on this basic theme prevailed for centuries. It wasn't until 1668 that Francesco Redi, an Italian, challenged the concept of spontaneous generation when he tested the widespread belief that maggots were generated from rotting meat. He placed dead animals in a series of jars, some of which were covered with a fine muslin that kept flies out while allowing air in. The flies were unable to land on the meat in the covered jars, and no maggots appeared there. Other jars containing dead animals were left open. Maggots appeared only on the meat in the jars that were left open. In these, flies had been able to lay their eggs, which then hatched into fly larvae, or maggots. From this he concluded that maggots would arise only where flies could lay their eggs. This example shows how Redi used the scientific method to test the hypothesis, which is another word for an explanation. This hypothesis that was accepted at that time stated that flies arose from nonliving material. It should be noted that this hypothesis was based on very little evidence. Redi's experiments failed to support his hypothesis.

One last vestige of mysticism in the debate concerning spontaneous generation had to be invalidated before theories regarding the origin of life could move ahead; this was known as the vitalist doctrine. Adherents of the vitalist doctrine maintained that life processes were not determined solely by the laws of the physical universe, but also partly by some vital force, or vital principle.

For theories about life to move forward, scientists would have to agree that all organisms arise from the reproduction of preexisting organisms. For this to happen, the concept of spontaneous generation would have to be laid to rest. During the nineteenth century, many scientists were not yet convinced that microorganisms did not arise spontaneously, and hoped the scientific method would be deployed in ways that would move the debate forward.

It was Louis Pasteur in France, and John Tyndall in England, who used the scientific method to test the theory of spontaneous generation with microorganisms. Through experimentation, they demonstrated that bacteria are present in the air, and if the air surrounding a heat-sterilized nutrient broth is bacteria-free, then the broth remains bacteria-free.

CONDITIONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

The leading theory for how the universe began is that 13.8 billion years ago, when space, time, matter, and energy as we currently know it had yet to form, from the explosion of a condensed, hypothetic single point. Scientists also believe that billions of years later, after stars had formed, one that exploded created a cloud of gas and dust, and then due to gravitational forces, these gases and dust particles eventually coalesced into the planetary system surrounding a star that we are part of. These planets and our sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago.

In this solar system, the largest mass to coalesce became our sun, and one of the smaller masses became our earth. On earth, the heavier materials sank to the core of the planet, while the lighter substances are now more concentrated at the surface. Among these are hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon – important components for all life that eventually evolved.

The primordial atmosphere on earth was considerably different from that which currently exists. The present atmospheric gases are composed primarily of molecular nitrogen (N2, about 78%) and molecular oxygen (O2, almost 21%), with a small amount of water vapor (H2O about 1% at sea level and about 0.4% on average throughout the entire atmosphere), as well as much smaller amounts of argon (Ar, almost 0.1%), carbon dioxide (CO2, about 0.04%) and many other gases, such as helium (He), methane (CH4), neon (Ne), and nitrous oxide (N2O) which is more commonly called laughing gas. These last gases occur in only trace amounts. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas, as are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The concentration of water vapor increases as the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere increases. The concentration of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere increases due to agriculture (from farm animals and fertilizer), fossil fuel combustion. And sewage.

The composition of today's atmosphere differs markedly from that found here when life was just beginning to evolve. At that time, the atmosphere contained far more hydrogen, and unlike now, there was very little oxygen. In such an atmosphere, the nitrogen probably combined with hydrogen, forming ammonia (NH3); the oxygen was probably found combined with hydrogen in the form of water vapor (H2O), and the carbon occurred primarily as methane (CH4). The moderately high temperatures of the earth's crust continually evaporated liquid water from rain into water vapor. As the earth cooled, rainwater accumulated in low-lying areas. These rains also washed dissolved minerals into the bodies of water, which depending on size and salinity, are defined either as lakes, seas, or oceans. In addition, volcanic activity erupting in the oceans and on land brought other minerals to the earth's surface, many of which eventually accumulated in the oceans, such as the various types of salts. It should also be mentioned that long before there was any life on earth, the seas contained large amounts of the simple organic compound methane. Most of the compounds necessary for the development of the initial stages of life are thought to have existed in these early seas. Other studies have indicated that suitable environments for the first steps leading to living material could have existed elsewhere as well. But these environments are still poorly understood, and their potential connection with the origin of life is unclear. It was only after cyanobacteria evolved over 2 billion years ago and later algae and more modern plants that the concentration of atmospheric oxygen began to increase precipitously. You might say plants polluted the earth's early atmosphere by releasing so much oxygen. And yet, if it were not for the plants that continually produce oxygen into the atmosphere, organisms like us that need oxygen to survive could not have evolved and flourished. Now that humans are burning carbon sources that were stored in and under the ground for thousands, and sometimes for millions of years, we are adding this carbon to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. This is good for plants, which thrive in an atmosphere with elevated levels of carbon dioxide. However, many people are concerned that the increasing quantities of carbon dioxide may affect the weather. (For more on this topic, see Chapter 16, entitled Ecology.)

EXPERIMENTAL SEARCH FOR LIFE'S BEGINNINGS

In the early twentieth century, J.B.S. Haldane, a scientist who was born in Britain and died in India, and S.I. Oparin, a Russian biochemist, investigated how life could have evolved from the inorganic compounds that occurred on earth billions of years ago. Their work is credited with leading to important later advances, most prominent of which were Stanley Miller's experiments during the 1950s. Miller duplicated the chemical conditions of the early oceans and atmosphere and provided an energy source, in the form of electric sparks, which generated chemical reactions. When warm water and gases containing the compounds presumed to be found in the early oceans and in the earth's primordial atmosphere were subjected to sparks for about a week, organic compounds formed.

Experiments that followed, such as those performed by Melvin Calvin and Sydney Fox (both American), found important so-called building blocks of life, the amino acids that make up proteins, readily form under circumstances similar to those that were first established experimentally by Stanley Miller.

The thin film of water found on the microscopic particles that make clay has been shown to possess the proper conditions for important chemical reactions. Clays serve as a support and as a catalyst for the diversity of organic molecules involved in what we define as living processes. Ever since J. Desmond Bernal presented (during the late 1940s) his ideas concerning the importance of clays to the origin of life, additional prebiotic scenarios involving clay have been proposed. Clays store energy, transform it, and release it in the form of chemical energy that can operate chemical reactions. Clays also have the capacity to act as buffers and even as templates. A.G. Cairns-Smith analyzed the microscopic crystals of various metals that grew in association with clays and found that they had continually repeating growth patterns. He suggested that this could have been related to the original templates on which certain molecules reproduced themselves. Cairns-Smith and A. Weiss both suggest clays might have been the first templates for self-replicating systems.

Some researchers believe that through the mutation and selection of such simple molecular systems, the clay acting as template may eventually have been replaced by other molecules. And in time, instead of merely encoding information for a rote transcription of a molecule, some templates may have been able to encode stored information that would transcribe specific molecules under certain circumstances.

Other scenarios have been suggested to explain how the molecules that make more molecules could have become enclosed in cell-like containments. Sydney Fox and coworkers first observed that molecular boundaries between protein-nucleic acid systems can arise spontaneously. They heated amino acids under dry conditions and ascertained that long polypeptide chains were produced. These polypeptides were then placed in hot-water solutions, and upon cooling them, the researchers found that the polypeptides coalesced into small spheres. Within these spherical membranes, or microspheres, certain substances were trapped. Also, lipids from the surrounding solution became incorporated into the membranes, creating a protein-lipid membrane.

Oparin said “the path followed by nature from the original systems of protobionts to the most primitive bacteria … was not in the least shorter or simpler than the path from the amoeba to man.” His point was that although the explanations intended to show how organic molecules could have been manufactured in primitive seas or on clays seem quite simple, and although one can see how such molecules could have been enclosed inside lipid-protein membranes, taking these experimental situations and actually creating living cells is a tremendous leap that may have taken, at the very least, hundreds of millions of years, perhaps considerably longer.

PROBING SPACE FOR CLUES OF LIFE'S ORIGINS ON EARTH

Recent information concerning the origin of life has opened new avenues of research. To the surprise of many, spacecraft that flew past Halley's Comet in 1986 sent back information showing the comet was composed of far more organic matter than expected. From that, and additional evidence, some have concluded that the universe is awash with the chemical precursors of life. Lynn Griffiths, chief of the life sciences division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said, “everywhere we look, we find biologically important processes and substances.”

We have known for years, from fossil evidence, that bacteria appeared on earth about 3.5 billion years ago, a little more than 1 billion years after the solar system formed. The great challenge has been to learn how, within that first billion years, simple organic chemicals evolved into more complex ones, then into proteins, genetic material, and living, reproducing cells.

As this current theory stands, it is felt that some 4 billion years ago, following the formation of the solar system, vast quantities of elements essential to life, including such complex organic molecules as amino acids, were showered onto earth and other planets by comets, meteorites, and interstellar dust. Now seen as the almost inevitable outcome of chemical evolution, these organic chemicals evolved into more complex molecules, then into proteins, genetic material, and living, reproducing cells.

Unfortunately, no traces of earth's chemical evolution during the critical first billion years survive, having all been obliterated during the subsequent billion years. Biologists and chemists now feel, however, that clues concerning the first stages in the origin of life on earth can be found by looking elsewhere in the solar system. Planetary scientists are to be launching new probes that will eventually investigate these questions, looking for evidence revealing the paths of chemical evolution that may have occurred, or may still be occurring, on planets, moons, comets, and asteroids.

PANSPERMIA

Although most modern theorists do not accept the idea that living organisms are generated spontaneously, at least not under present conditions, most do believe that life could have and probably did arise spontaneously from nonliving matter under conditions that prevailed long ago, as described above. Other hypotheses have also been suggested for the origin of life on earth.

In 1821, the Frenchman Sales-Guyon de Montlivault described how seeds from the moon accounted for the earliest life to occur on earth. During the 1860s, a German, H.E. Richter, proposed the possibility that germs carried from one part of the universe aboard meteorites eventually settled on earth. However, it was subsequently found that meteoric transport could be discounted as a reasonable possibility for the transport of living matter because interstellar space is quite cold (−220 °C) and would kill most forms of microbial life known to exist. And even if something had survived on a meteor, reentry through the earth's atmosphere would probably burn any survivors to a crisp.

To counter these arguments, in 1905 a Swedish chemist, Svante Arrhenius, proposed a comprehensive theory known as panspermia. He suggested that the actual space travelers were the spores of bacteria that could survive the long periods at cold temperatures (some bacterial spores in Carlsbad, New Mexico, survived for 250 million years and were recently revived), and instead of traveling on meteors that burned when plummeting through the atmosphere, these spores moved alone, floating through interstellar space, pushed by the physical pressure of starlight.

The main problem with this theory, overlooked by Arrhenius, is that ultraviolet light would kill bacterial spores long before they ever had a chance to reach our planet's atmosphere. This explains the next modification to the theory. However, it is conceivable that life exists throughout the universe and is spread through space by asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. Also, it should be noted that a NASA scientist published a report that fossilized bacteria-like organisms have been found on three meteorites. He said these fossil life forms are not native to earth.

Another possible way life has spread is due to spacecraft. Francis Crick, who along with James Watson received the Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA, coauthored an article with Leslie Orgel, a biochemist, in 1973. Their article, “Directed Panspermia,” was followed by the book Life Itself, in which Crick suggests that microorganisms, due to their compact durability, may have been packaged and sent along on a spaceship with the intention of infecting other distant planets. The only link missing from Crick's hypothesis was a motive. However, it is possible that microorganisms are unintentionally introduced to planets and moons each time a spacecraft lands on one.

KEY TERMS

chemical evolution

scientific method

vital force

creationist

scientist

vital principle

microspheres

spontaneous generation

vitalist doctrine

panspermia

SELF-TEST

Multiple-Choice Questions

People who believe the biblical explanation that the world and all its creatures were created in six days are known as:

evolutionary biologists

molecular biologists

systematists

cladists

creationists

Scientists use what they call __________, which allows them to test hypotheses and theories and to develop concepts and ideas.

Occam's razor

religious dogma

religious faith

scientific method

creation science

Aristotle believed insects and frogs were generated from nonliving components in moist soil. This early hypothesis concerning the origin of living organisms is known as __________.

evolution

spontaneous generation

materialism

creationism

Aristotelian generation

Adherents of the __________ maintained that life processes were not solely determined by the laws of the physical universe, but rather, they also depend on some vital force, or vital principle.

dogmatic principle

Darwinian approach

vitalist doctrine

Lamarckian principle

all of the above

The composition of today's atmosphere differs markedly from that found here when life was just beginning to evolve. At that time the atmosphere contained far more __________.

hydrogen

oxygen

potassium

iridium

all of the above

When the chemical conditions of the early oceans and atmosphere are duplicated in the lab and provided with an energy source in the form of electric sparks, __________ (has) have been formed.

life

organic molecules

amino acids

a and b

b and c

__________ (has) have been shown to serve as a support and as a catalyst for the diversity of organic molecules involved in what we define as living processes.

quartz crystals

gold

plutonium

clay

all of the above

When researchers heated amino acids under dry conditions, long polypeptide chains were produced. When these chains were placed in a hot-water solution and then allowed to cool, the polypeptides coalesced into small spheres called __________, within which certain substances were trapped. Molecules that make more molecules could have become enclosed in such cell-like containments.

cells

cell membranes

cell walls

microspheres

all of the above

It was proposed that germs would have been carried to earth from another part of the universe via meteorites. Such transport was finally discounted, however, because __________.

heat generated during entry into the earth's atmosphere would burn any germs to a crisp

no such life was ever found on meteorites

nothing could possibly survive interstellar space

all of the above

none of the above

__________, the comprehensive theory proposed in 1905 by the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius, stated that spores of bacteria that could survive the long periods of cold traveled alone through interstellar space, pushed along by the physical pressure of starlight.

panspermia

Arrheniusism

microspermia

germspermia

intergalactic sporesia

ANSWERS

Questions to Think About

Briefly discuss the major theories concerning the origin of life. Give their strong points and their weak points.

What is the role that clay is theorized by some to have played in the origin of life?

Researchers have experimentally searched for life's beginnings by duplicating the chemical conditions of the early oceans and atmosphere in the lab. Describe some of their results and the implications they hold for the origin of life.

Discuss some of the proposed explanations for the origin of life on earth that suggest life came here from another place.

What recent clues to life's origins on earth have come from space probes?

2Cell Structure

MICROSCOPES

Anything as small as a cell was unknown before sophisticated optics became available. During the seventeenth century, ground lenses that were being used for eyeglasses were first arranged at opposite ends of a tube, creating a small telescope. It was a short step from the invention of the telescope to the invention of the microscope. Objective lenses (those that are nearest what you are looking at) of a telescope have long focal lengths (focus on things far away); objective lenses of a microscope have short focal lengths (focus on things that are close). One of the first microscopes was constructed by the Dutchman Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. With this light microscope, the examination of specimens was facilitated by thinly slicing them, allowing light to pass through. By staining the specimens, it was possible to emphasize internal structures. For instance, staining cellular fluids pink and staining solid, hard structures purple provided increased contrast, enabling those who study cells, known as cytologists, to discern these structures more clearly.

While some light microscopes permit researchers to view objects at as much as 1,500 times (1,500×) their actual size, stereomicroscopes, also called dissecting microscopes, magnify objects from only 4× to 80×. With two eyepieces, the advantage of this low-powered, three-dimensional view is that researchers can investigate much larger objects, such as the venation of insect wings (see Figure 2.1).

After the invention of the light microscope, the next major technological advance for cell researchers was the development of the electron microscope (EM), which occurred in the early 1930s. It not only improved the ability to see smaller structures with greater magnification – so they appeared larger – but also enhanced the ability to see things more clearly, or with added resolution.

When it was discovered that the illumination of specimens with blue light under the light microscope lent considerably greater resolution than with any colors of longer wavelengths, researchers speculated that using shorter wavelengths might add even more resolution. However, wavelengths shorter than those of violet light are not visible to the human eye. This problem led to the invention of the transmission electron microscope (TEM), which utilizes a beam of electrons that travel in shorter wavelengths than those of photons in visible light. These electrons are passed through a thinly sliced specimen within a vacuum to prevent any electrons from being deflected and absorbed by the gas molecules in the air. Then the electrons are focused with electromagnets on a photographic plate, producing an image that is considerably better than that obtained with a light microscope.

Figure 2.1 Light microscope (left) and stereomicroscope (right). The resolving power of the light microscope rarely exceeds a magnification of 1500×. The stereomicroscope, sometimes called a dissecting microscope, has two eyepieces, which render relatively large objects three-dimensional. Magnification ranges from 4× to 80×.

Then in the 1950s, the scanning electron microscope (SEM

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