Natural science is not only one of the first, studied by man, fundamental areas of science, but also an essential element in the development of our civilization. The subject of study of general biology is the totality of the processes that underlie the phenomenon of life. The main ones: reproduction and ontogenesis, heredity and variability, historical development of plant and animal species, as well as natural selection. In this article we will consider them in more detail.
The role of natural sciences in the development of society
Applied biological sciences are engaged in the practical study of the aforementioned wildlife phenomena, using the results obtained for the development of modern branches of general biology - cell and genetic engineering, biotechnology, population genetics. The rapid development of industrial technologies and globalization processes in the global economy are forcing scientists to engage in serious research into the environmental safety of natural complexes.
As a natural science, general biology studies the most complex structures of life organization: population-species, as well as various levels of ecological systems and the biosphere.
The history of biological knowledge
A science that studies nature in all its diversity originated in the bowels of human knowledge with the help of the philosophers of Ancient Greece and Rome, but became called biology only in the 19th century, thanks to the works of J. Lamarck and G. Treviranus. One of its oldest disciplines is considered to be taxonomy, founded by C. Linnaeus, and morphology, originating in the treatises of Hippocrates, Galen and Asclepius.
The subject of study of general biology is the establishment of the unity of living organisms, first at the molecular, and then at the cellular level. The emergence of a scientific theory created by Russian evolutionist P.F. Goryaninov and German scientists M. Schleiden and T. Schwann, proved that the main form of life on Earth is a cell. The principle proposed by R. Virkhov: “living - from living” put an end to the discussions of scientists about the possibility of spontaneous generation of organisms from inanimate matter.
Cytology using methods such as centrifugation, electron microscopy, the method of labeled atoms, studies the structure of prokaryotes and nuclear cells and is the basis for the development of practical areas of natural science: histology, genetics, selection.
The principles of metabolism in living systems
General biology studies not only the chemical composition and structure of organisms, but also the processes underlying their metabolism. Biochemistry establishes the patterns of reactions of anabolism, for example, photosynthesis in plants. She also studies protein biosynthesis (transcription and translation processes), determines the conditions necessary for the implementation of dissimilation reactions, which provide cells with the necessary energy reserve in the form of NADP and ATP molecules.
Since the subject of general biology is the molecular standard of living, catabolism reactions are seriously considered. Under aerobic conditions, an animal cell synthesizes 36 mol of ATP from each glucose molecule in the Krebs cycle reactions.
Plants and fungi in energy exchange reactions under anaerobic conditions also cleave C 3 H 4 O 3 to ethanol, and animals to lactic acid. But in all cases, molecules of an energy substance, adenosine triphosphoric acid, are synthesized.
As you can see, the subject of study of general biology is the mechanism of metabolism. In representatives of wildlife, it proceeds with the participation of enzymes along similar biochemical pathways. This serves as a proof of the unity of the origin of life from common ancestral cell forms. This issue is covered in sufficient detail in such a section of natural science as evolutionary doctrine.
Fundamentals of General Biology
This name has a natural history school discipline introduced in curricula starting from grade 9. Thanks to the didactic principles of scientificness and continuity, high school students learn wildlife, based on knowledge from the course of botany, zoology, anatomy. To form an integral picture of nature in children is the main educational task.
The basics of cytology, ontogenesis, patterns of heredity - this is what general biology studies. The themes dedicated to the historical development of the organic world and the basics of ecology lead to a serious breakthrough in the consciousness of schoolchildren and contribute to the comprehensive development of their personalities.