{"id":1075,"date":"2016-12-02T21:32:56","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T21:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1075"},"modified":"2024-04-25T17:53:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T17:53:39","slug":"introduction-to-the-study-of-biology","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/chapter\/introduction-to-the-study-of-biology\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to the Study of Biology","rendered":"Introduction to the Study of Biology"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>Describe biology as a science and identify the key components of scientific inquiry<\/h2>\r\nThe scope of biology is vast. Biologists may study anything from the microscopic (Figure 1a)\u00a0or submicroscopic view of a cell to ecosystems (Figure 1b) and the whole living planet.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1120\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1076\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1120 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2016\/04\/07231206\/figure01_01.jpg\" alt=\"Photo A depicts round colonies of blue-green algae. Each algae cell is about 5 microns across. Photo B depicts round fossil structures called stromatalites along a watery shoreline.\" width=\"1076\" height=\"432\" \/> Figure 1. (a) Formerly called blue-green algae, these cyanobacteria, shown here at 300\u00d7 magnification under a light microscope, are some of Earth's oldest life forms. (b) These stromatolites along the shores of Lake Thetis in Western Australia are ancient structures formed by the layering of cyanobacteria in shallow waters.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nListening to the daily news, you will quickly realize how many aspects of biology are discussed every day. You may hear about <em>E.\u00a0coli\u00a0(Escherichia coli)\u00a0<\/em>outbreaks in spinach or\u00a0listeria\u00a0contamination in ice cream. Or you may hear about\u00a0efforts toward finding a cure for Ebola, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. On a global scale, many researchers are committed to finding ways to protect the planet, solve environmental issues, and reduce the effects of climate change. All of these diverse endeavors are related to different facets of the discipline of biology.\r\n\r\nRegardless of their particular focus of study, all\u00a0biologists\u00a0use the same methodology as they seek new discoveries: scientific inquiry.\r\n<h2>What You'll Learn to Do<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Identify the main branches of biology<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe \"scientific inquiry\" and identify its scope of coverage<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Form a hypothesis and use it to design a scientific experiment<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Analyze simple data and graphed results<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Learning Activities<\/h3>\r\nThe learning activities for this section include the following:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The Branches of Biology<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Scientific Inquiry<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Experiments and Hypotheses<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Interpreting Results<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Self Check: The Study\u00a0of Biology<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<h2>Describe biology as a science and identify the key components of scientific inquiry<\/h2>\n<p>The scope of biology is vast. Biologists may study anything from the microscopic (Figure 1a)\u00a0or submicroscopic view of a cell to ecosystems (Figure 1b) and the whole living planet.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1120\" style=\"width: 1086px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1120\" class=\"wp-image-1120 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2016\/04\/07231206\/figure01_01.jpg\" alt=\"Photo A depicts round colonies of blue-green algae. Each algae cell is about 5 microns across. Photo B depicts round fossil structures called stromatalites along a watery shoreline.\" width=\"1076\" height=\"432\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1120\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. (a) Formerly called blue-green algae, these cyanobacteria, shown here at 300\u00d7 magnification under a light microscope, are some of Earth&#8217;s oldest life forms. (b) These stromatolites along the shores of Lake Thetis in Western Australia are ancient structures formed by the layering of cyanobacteria in shallow waters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Listening to the daily news, you will quickly realize how many aspects of biology are discussed every day. You may hear about <em>E.\u00a0coli\u00a0(Escherichia coli)\u00a0<\/em>outbreaks in spinach or\u00a0listeria\u00a0contamination in ice cream. Or you may hear about\u00a0efforts toward finding a cure for Ebola, Alzheimer&#8217;s disease, and cancer. On a global scale, many researchers are committed to finding ways to protect the planet, solve environmental issues, and reduce the effects of climate change. All of these diverse endeavors are related to different facets of the discipline of biology.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of their particular focus of study, all\u00a0biologists\u00a0use the same methodology as they seek new discoveries: scientific inquiry.<\/p>\n<h2>What You&#8217;ll Learn to Do<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify the main branches of biology<\/li>\n<li>Describe &#8220;scientific inquiry&#8221; and identify its scope of coverage<\/li>\n<li>Form a hypothesis and use it to design a scientific experiment<\/li>\n<li>Analyze simple data and graphed results<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Learning Activities<\/h3>\n<p>The learning activities for this section include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Branches of Biology<\/li>\n<li>Scientific Inquiry<\/li>\n<li>Experiments and Hypotheses<\/li>\n<li>Interpreting Results<\/li>\n<li>Self Check: The Study\u00a0of Biology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1075\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Introduction to the Study of Biology. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Shelli Carter and Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Biology 2e. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8\">http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/biology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>Stromatolites at Lake Thetis. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Ruth Ellison. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ezabK\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ezabK<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification of Cyanobacteria; scale-bar data from Matt Russell. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: NASA. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Cyanobacteria_guerrero_negro.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Cyanobacteria_guerrero_negro.jpg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Biology 2e\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/biology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Introduction to the Study of Biology\",\"author\":\"Shelli Carter and Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"Modification of Cyanobacteria; scale-bar data from Matt Russell\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"NASA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Cyanobacteria_guerrero_negro.jpg\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Stromatolites at Lake Thetis\",\"author\":\"Ruth Ellison\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ezabK\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"bc4ec4b1-13fa-4bf3-a40b-5565835d5a25","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1075","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1054,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8248,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1075\/revisions\/8248"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1054"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1075\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}