Biology Basics

Energy processing allows organisms to move, grow, and reproduce.

The unifying themes of biology are the cellular organization of organisms, hereditary information encoded in genes, evolution, energy processing, and the regulation of internal environments.

Biologists can study life at multiple levels of organization, from the molecular biology of a cell to the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals, and evolution of populations.

<p>Subdisciplines within biology are defined by the nature of their research questions and the tools that they use.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Biologists use the scientific method to make observations and pose questions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms. It is important in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Gregor Mendel is known as the father of genetics. He studied 'trait inheritance', patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Mendel observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete 'units of inheritance', which are now referred to as genes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still primary principles of genetics in the 21st century.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the cell, the organism (e.g. dominance), and within the context of a population.</p> Signup and view all the answers