Biology

Overview

 
Diatoms
Image from Oregon State University / College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science / Radiolarian Database

The Characteristics of Life

  • Organized structures that are composed of heterogenous chemicals - in units of "cells"
  • Metabolism: chemical and energy transformations
  • Maintain internal conditions separated from an outside environment: homeostasis
  • Growth: conversion of materials from the environment into components of organism
  • Reaction to select stimuli, physiologically and/or behaviorally
  • Reproduction: making copies of individuals via the mechanism of genetic transfer: sections of DNA molecules that contain instructions for organization & metabolism
  • Evolution: change in characteristics of individuals, resulting from mutation & natural selection - these result in adaptations

adapted from The Characteristics of Life
-- Oklahoma State University, Department of Zoology

Taxonomy
outline
-- Oklahoma State University, Department of Zoology

The Biology Project - an online, interactive resource for learning biology
On-line interactive resource for learning biology
-- The Biology Project, The University of Arizona, 6/24/98



Cells

 
Cell Biology Links

NetBiochem
Topics in Medical Biochemistry - Tables that Review and Summarize Metabolism - Animated and Still Graphics
-- University of Utah Health Sciences Center

Genetics and Cell Biology
Links on virtual courses
-- University of Minnesota, Computational Biology Centers

Cells Alive!
Compendium
--Private site

Computer Model of the DNA Helix
"DNA is a very large molecule; the image here shows only a tiny fraction of the typical molecule. If an entire molecule of DNA from the virus "bacteriophage lambda" were shown at this scale, the image would be 970 meters high. For the bacterium Escherichia coli, the image would be 80 kilometers long. And for a typical piece of DNA from a eukaryote cell, the image would stretch for 1600 kilometers, about as far as it is from Dallas to Washington, D. C.!"
--Museum of Paleontology, University of California at Berkeley

Genetics and Cell Biology: Virtual Courses on the Web (links)
-- University of Minnesota, Medical School ,The Computational Biology Centers

Course/Tutorial on Cell Biology
Virtual course
-- University of Minnesota, Medical School ,The Computational Biology Centers

Medical Biochemistry
Virtual course
-- Medical Education Group, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, 1996

Amino Acid Anatomy
Graphical animations
-- Private website

Structure and function of the earliest forms of life -- protocells (technical)
Work on the nature of protocells
-- The Exobiology Branch of the NASA Ames Research Center


Metabolism

 
Key Concepts
1.Glucose Conversion
2.Products of Glycolysis
3.Trematol
4.Dinitrophenol
5.Effect of pH on Mitochondria
6.Lactic Acid Production
7.Pyruvate/ Lactate Ratio
8.Mitochondria
9.Electron Transport Chain
10.Acidity During Electron Transport
11.Fermentation
12.Hexokinase
13.Storing Usable Energy
14.Terminal Electron Acceptor
15.Metabolism During Heart Attack
16.ATP Production
17.ATP synthase

from The Biology Project - an online, interactive resource for learning biology
-- The Biology Project, The University of Arizona, 6/24/98


All living things must have an unceasing supply of energy and matter. The transformation of this energy and matter within the body is called metabolism.

Metabolism (with links to specific examples)
-- Kimball's Biology Pages, 10/10/98


Homeostasis

 
Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment. Homeostasis is a term coined in 1959 to describe the physical and chemical parameters that an organism must maintain to allow proper functioning of its component cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems. Single-celled organisms are surrounded by their external environment. Most multicellular organisms have most of their cells protected from the external environment, having them surrounded by an aqueous internal environment. This internal environment must be maintained in such a state as to allow maximum efficiency. The ultimate control of homeostasis is done by the nervous system. Often this control is in the form of negative feedback loops. Heat control is a major function of homeostatic conditions that involves the integration of skin, muscular, nervous, and circulatory systems.

Complete Online Biology Coursebook
-- Estrella Mountain Community College, online biology course


Transport in and out of Cells for Metabolism

 
LIFE MUST HAVE LIQUID WATER FOR NUTRIENT TRANSPORT
Cell membranes act as barriers to most, but not all, molecules. They are thus differentially (or semi-) permeable. Water potential is the tendency of water to move from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration. Energy exists in two forms: potential and kinetic. Water molecules move according to differences in potential energy between where they are and where they are going. Gravity and pressure are two enabling sources for this movement. Remember in the hydrologic cycle that water runs downhill (likewise it falls from the sky, to get into the sky it must be acted on by the sun and evaporated, thus needing energy input to power the cycle).

Bulk flow is the overall movement of a fluid. This moves liquid throughout a multicellular individual.Diffusion is the net movement of a substance (liquid or gas) from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration.

Water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen are among the few simple molecules that can cross the cell membrane by diffusion (or a type of diffusion known as osmosis ). Diffusion is one principle method of movement of substances within cells, as well as method for essential small molecules to cross the cell membrane.

Complete Online Biology Coursebook
-- Estrella Mountain Community College, online biology course


Growth

 
I haven't grown in years! (what does this mean?)

Reactivity

 
go for it!

Reproduction

 
Perpetuation of the species...

Evolution

 
Chemical Evolution
Primitive Earth's Gases
Simple Organic Molecules
Complex Organic Molecules
Prebionts
Coacervates
Microspheres
First Cells

Cellular Evolution
Prokaryotic Heterotrophs (anerobic)
Prokaryotic Autotrophs
(O2 production)
Prokaryotic Heterotrophs (aerobic)
Eukaryotic Cells
Endosymbiotic Theory
Internal Membrane Production

from Concepts Of Biology Lecture Topics
-- College of St. Elizabeth, N.J.

An Introduction to Evolution (Organismic Evolution)
-- Evolution Revolution

Introduction to Evolutionary Biology
-- TalkOrigins.org


Taxonomy

 
Five Kingdoms
Kingdom Cell type Organization Nutrition Organisms
Monera Prokaryotic Unicellular-small Absorb, Photsyn., Chemosyn. Bacteria, Cyanobacteria
Protista Eukaryotic Unicellular or colonial Ingest, Photosyn. Protozoa, Algae
Fungi Eukaryotic Multicellular Absorb Fungi, yeast, molds
Plantae Eukaryotic Multicellular Photosyn. Plants
Animalia Eukaryotic Multicellular Ingest. Animals

from Taxonomy
outline
-- Oklahoma State University, Department of Zoology

Scientists Classify New Form of Life
"Hot on the heels of NASA's discovery on the possibility of life on Mars, comes the announcement by scientists from the Institute for Genomic Research that a third major branch of life has been confirmed. Called "Archaea" (from the ancient Greek word meaning 'ancient'), it joins the other two domains of life: Bacteria, and Eukaryotes (everything else, including us)."
-- ScienceWeb, 8/23/96

With respect to the chart, Archaea is a new **CELL TYPE**


Links

 

General

Concepts Of Biology
"Biological Diversity and Organization"
--
-- College of St. Elizabeth, N.J.

Complete Online Biology Coursebook
"... modified lecture outlines I have developed over the many years of teaching freshman-level biology."
-- Estrella Mountain Community College, online biology course

The Biology Project - an online, interactive resource for learning biology
On-line interactive resource for learning biology
-- The Biology Project, The University of Arizona, 6/24/98

Kimball's Biology Pages
"It has always seemed to me that the many parts that make up the subject of biology are related to each other more like the nodes of a web than as a linear collection of independent topics. If so, the power of hypertext should be better suited to learning about biology than is the linear structure of a printed textbook."
-- Private website

Biology of Microorganisms
"This on-line study guide is a companion to the text Biology of Microorganisms, eighth edition by Madigan, Martinko, and Parker."
-- Prentice Hall

Molecular Evolution & Regulation of Biochemical Processes
Course notes
-- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba

Biology Glossary
"alphabetized lists of biological terms mostly from the areas of molecular and cellular biology"
-- Private website

Benjamin/Cummings Science
Online books with associated resources from a leading publisher of higher education science textbooks and multimedia products
-- Imprint of Addison-Wesley Longman

The New UCMP Web Lift to Taxa
"The upper window contains a list of all domains and kingdoms of life (as well as the vertebrates). Selecting one of these domains or kingdoms will display a list of subgroups at left, such as the one currently displayed. You may freely switch between lists by selecting again from the header. "
--Museum of Paleontology, University of California at Berkeley

The NCBI Taxonomy Homepage
The taxonomy browser - Taxonomic resources
-- National Center for Biotechnology Information

NMSC: Biology pages
Molecular & Cellular Biology - RNA structure - Virus - Disease/Medicine -Epidemiology - Infectious diseases
-- New Mexico SuperComputing Center

The BioNet Software Compendium
Anatomy & Histology - Biochemistry - Medicine - Bacterial Growth - Physiology - Plant Science
-- University of Leeds, England

Biology
Collection of links
-- Private website

BIODIDAC: A bank of digital resources for teaching biology
" ... a media bank of text, images, sounds and video in a digital format that can be used and adapted for teaching Biology ... "
-- University of Ottawa, Canada (in English and French)

Biodiversity and Biological Collections
Botany - Herpetology - Invertebrates - Entomology - Ichthyology - Mammalogy - Mycology and Microbiology - Ornithology - Biological Societies - Biologist Directories and Publications - General Biodiversity - Geology & Earth Sciences - Natural History Museums
-- Private website

Kingdoms of Life
"All living beings are currently divided into five Kingdoms. Four of these Kingdoms are depicted above: Plantae, Fungi, Animalia, and Protoctista, a catch-all for all other "higher-order" organisms from single-celled microbes to large seaweeds (algae). (The fifth kingdom, Monera, consists of bacteria ...)"
-- Private website

The Tree of Life Project
"The rooting of the Tree of Life, and the relationships of the major lineages, are controversial. On this page will appear several alternative views on the basal relationships of living things, written by various authors."
-- University of Arizona, College of Agriculture

Eukaryota
Scientific classification: Fungi, Plantae, Animaliae
-- Department of Chemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin

Structure and Function of Organisms
College Course
-- Biology 303,University of Texas at Austin

Science Library: Resources for Biology
Links
-- Washington and Lee University Libraries

Unraveling More Codes
MICROORGANISM GENOME SEQUENCING; MICROBIAL GENOME INITIATIVE
-- BioScience, February, 1995 (From Washington and Lee University Science Library)

Where Have All the Algae Gone, Or, How Many Kingdoms are There?
ALGAE; CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS; TAXONOMY; UNICELLED ORGANISMS
-- American Biology Teacher, March, 1995 (From Washington and Lee University Science Library)

Yahoo Biology Listing
Links
-- Yahoo

Computational Biology Centers Resources
Resources
-- University of Minnesota, Computational Biology Centers

MIT Biology Hypertextbook
"... contains a variety of components designed to be used independently or together to facilitate your understanding of introductory molecular biology."
-- The Experimental Study Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biology 112: Evolution, Ecology and Biology of Organisms
Web links
--College of Charleston

Biology: Concepts and Connections
Online book with add'l resources.
-- Benjamin/Cummings Science

The Virtual Library of Biosciences:
Encyclopedia
--
The Virtual Library

Course Links

The Learning Resources Center
-- Oklahoma State University, Department of Zoology

Bio 110
-- Penn State Erie

Bio 101
-- University of Cincinnati, Department of Biological Sciences

Bio 101
-- San Diego State University

Bio 150
-- University of Kentucky, Lexington

Course Link
--Biology Department, Southeast Missouri State University

Physiology & Animal Structure Course Links
-- Biology Department, Vassar College

Ast 103 Supplement: Exobiology
-- George Mason University

Image Links

Invertebrate Zoology Image Collection
-- Albion College

The Nanoworld Image Gallery
-- The Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Australia

Images from "Life, The Science of Biology"
"... all of the line art from LIFE, 4/e—including all of this edition's "visual paragraphs"—ready for use in teaching or studying from the book. Images are in downloadable GIF format and are presented chapter by chapter, using the same numbering as the text."
-- W.H. Freeman & Company