UNIT

UNIT 1:1Sub-Field
:Sub –field of Biology
of Biology
Objective
At the end of this section the studunt will be able to
• List the sub-field of biology
• Define the the sub field of bilogy

The scope of biology is so broad that contains many branches and sub-disciplines
Based on thetype of organism it studied biology is subdivided into three
Zoology -is the study of animals include subdiscipline
Herpetology-reptile
 Ichthyology-fish
 Mammalogy- mammals
 Ornitology- Bird
 Entomology- insect
 Botany -is a field of biology that that studies about plants.It deals with plant
structure,properties and biochemical process.

 Microbiology- is the stuy of microscopic organisms that cannot be seen by our nake
eyes.It includes bacteria, archaea,protists,viruses and microscopic algae and fungi

 Different fields of biology based on the structure studies.

 Morphology- is the study of external form and structure

Eg. Shape, the texture of leaves,stem,ect.

 Anatomy - is study the internal structure of animals and other living organism.

Eg. Stomach,liver,heart,ect

 Histology - is study of the details of tissue structure

Eg. Connective tissue

 Cytology is the study of cells

Eg .plant cell ,a nerve cell

 Cell biology - study of structure,function of cell and its environment.

Eg . Mitochondaria,ribosome,nucleus,ect

 Molecular Biology - study of structure and function of informational molecules.

Eg .DNA,RNA

 Physiology - study the normal function of living organisms and their part.

Eg. Photosynthesis,digestion,ect.

 Embryology -the study of embryo from a single celled zygote

 Ecology - study the interaction organism with their environment

 Eg. Food chain biomass,biosphere,ect.

 Taxonomy- study the identification ,nomenclature,and classification of
organisms.

 Paleontology- study the origin growth and structure of organism of the past.

Eg. Fossils of organism

 Evolution- study the changes in the characteristics of species over several

generations that relies on the process of natural selection

Eg. The beaks of Darwin’s finches

 Genetics -study the heredity and variation.

Eg . Gene concept, mendel’s laws

 Exobiology - the origin,evolution,distribution, and future of life in the universe.

Eg.Life on moon, life mars

 1.2 Pure and Applied Field of biology
 Pure biology is study the of how life functions in nature.
 Behavior
 Morphology (external)
 Anatom(internal),ect.
 Applied biology is reffers to using what you have learned in biology for
 Gradening
 Nursery work
 Agriculture
 Plant disease
 Forestry
 Poultry
  The biological importance of the branches of biology in
other branches of sciences
 Biotechnology is the use of microorganism to make things that people want.

Can be two types Traditional and new Application

 Traditional Application

Yeast are used in production of Alcoholic drinks such as

Tej, Tella ,katikala , baking bread and injera

 New Application
Genetics engineering – genetically modified and improved vartiety of cropb and
animals
 Bioinformatics is concerned with the acquisition,storage ,analysis and
dissemination of biological data
Eg . DNA and Protein sequence
 Genetic Engineering is means of extracting selected genes from organism and
inserted into another organism as aresult an organism develops with new
combination.
 Biomedical Engineering is the application of the principles and problem solving
techniques of engineering to biology and medicine. It focus on improve human
healthy.
 Environment management deal with environment observation and finding out
th e solution to maintain the balance of nature.
 Forensic science is the science knowledge of biological science ( DNA finger print)
( unique pattern of DNA)
 1.3 major discoveriers that revolutionize biology.
1) Aristotle(384-322)
 Is the ancient Greek philosophere

 He developed the first classification system for living things

 He established species relationships and grouped them correctly based on

their ability to move from one place to another place and with their chrs such
as herb,shrub and tree

2)Galen (129-161AD)
 He had a significant impact on the advacement of medical specialities inclunding
 Anatomy
 Pathology
 Physiology
 3) Antonie vaan leeuwehoek(1632-1723)
 He invented strong lens microscope that could magnifying up to 500 times to see
bacteria and vacuole of cell
4) Carles Linnaeus (1707-1775)
 Is swedish botanist known as the father of taxonomy
 He devised the method of naming,ordering and classification of creatures that
we will use to day
 He separated items into three
 Animal
 Plant
 Minerals and organized living into
Class,orders, genera and species
 5 Charles Darwin’s(1809-1882)
 He is British naturalist who proposed the theory of biological evolutionby
natural selection
 Species come from pre-existing species and share common ancestor.
6 Gregor Mendel(1822-1884)
Is known as the father of modern genetics.
He discovered the fundamental law of inheritance by using peas plant and
coining the term dominant and recessive gene in the process.
7) Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
 Is the father of medical microbiology .
 He pioneered molecular asymmetry research.
 He demonstrated that bacteria cause fermentation and disease introduce
pasteurization rescue’s beer , wine silk industries and develop anthrax and
rabies vaccine
8 Robert koch(1843-1910)
 German physician who pioneered microbiology .As the father of bacteriology.
 He precise causal agents of Tuberculosis,Cholera and anthrax

9 Jane Goodall(1934)
 Uk ethologist. She best known for the studies of chimpanzee.
 She discovered the animals are omnivores and tools user
 She’s a global leader in animal rights.
10) Barbara McClintock (1902-1992)
 American geneticist who worked on maize
 She developed technique for identifying and examining chromosome
individual
 She was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1983 for her discover of
transposition and how genes could turn their physical chr on and off.
 11)Waston (1928) and crick(1916-2004)
 Were shot to fame in 1962 for their discoverey of discovery of the structure of
DNA.
 They were winning the medical nobel prize in the process.
 Their model of DNA explains how DNA replicates and hereditry information is
coded and passed on to descendants.
12 Wilmut (1944) and Cambell(1954-2012)
 In 1996 they cloned mammal fomously named Dolly the sheep.
 The pair cloned Dolly using a single adult sheep cell and a process of nuclear
transfere.
 Dolly died after six years but cloning continues
 1.4 The contribution of biological discoveries to society and
environment
The Microscope
 Microscope is a devices that magnifies objects that are too small to be seen with
the naked eye.
 The invention of the microscope has revoloutionize the science industry while
developing other Field .
Medical field
The use of microscopes in medicine began in the 1860s when Louis Pasteur reported
that the microscopic organisms he saw in the microscope caused certain diseases.

Until that time, people thought diseases came from evil spirits or God.
  Pasteur’s germ theory revolutionized the process of identifying, treating, and
preventing infectious diseases.
 Today, hospital laboratories use microscopes to identify which microbe is causing
an infection so physicians can prescribe the proper medicine.
Ecosystem study
 microscope is used to study the health of an ecosystem.

 Field biologists uses microscopes to observe a specific habitat, such as a marine

environment, by identifying the types and numbers of microscopic organisms found
in ecosystem samples.

 This helps scientists in defining the ecosystem, detecting threats to an ecosystem,

and determining the relationship of the organisms with their environments.
 Forensic Science
microscope has greatly affected the field of forensic science.

Forensics is a field of science used to gather and analyze evidence to establish facts
that are used in a legal scenario.

The microscope is used to examine pieces of evidence collected at a crime scene that
may have information not visible to the human eye.

Eg. striations in bullets can be examined under a microscope to see if they match

bullets shot from a particular gun.

 Atomic Study
 The invention of the electron microscope has enabled scientists to study cells at an atomic
level.
 This enables scientists to scrutinize viruses at their atomic level and influence them for the
delivery of innovative treatments.
 The electron microscope also enables scientists to study and understand the types of viruses
and understand how they infect the body.
Genetic Study
 The microscope has had a significant impact on genetics research.
 It is used by scientists to examine certain genetic makeup. This also allows scientists to
evaluate genetic abnormalities, regeneration, and tissue death.
 Tissue Analysis
 It is common for histologists to study cells and tissues using a microscope.
Eg if a section of tissue is taken for analysis, histologists can use a microscope in
combination with other tools to determine if the sample is cancerous

1.5 Ethiopian biologists and their contributions

Three of the Ethiopian scientists and their discoveries are given below.

1. Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen

 is a biologist and an academic member of staff at the Department of Biology,
Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University.
 She has worked in this department for the last 30 years.
 She received her Ph.D., specializing in human physiology, from the University of
Heidelberg in Germany.
 One of her research areas is:
 Effect of chemical pesticide hazards on humans in Upper Awash agricultural farms and some
private horticultural farms in the Rift Valley region.
 Research is on the use of plants as medicine against human and animal diseases.
 She has done notable research on medicinal plants especially on Moringa
Stenopetala (shiferaw/Alekko Shekatta).

2 Dr. Aklilu Lemma

 is the pioneer in the development of biological science in Ethiopia.
 Among so many contribution of him the massive one is his work on the battle
against bilharzia(schistomiasis)
 Schistosomiasis is a common parasitic disease. It affects 200–300 million people in
Africa (including Ethiopia), South America, Asia, and parts of the Caribbean.

 It is caused by parasitic flatworms which spend part of their lifecycle in freshwater
snails and part in humans
 He made soup berry from a plant which is commonly called Endod in Ethiopia or
phytolecca dodecandria is used to eradicate snail which are intermidiate hosts of
bilharzia worm
 This huge discovery is made based on the observation which Dr Aklilu Lemma
made around Adwa in 1964.
 The soup berry of Dr Aklilu Lemma is advantageous over the molluscicide
chemicals because it is cheaper and affordable for more Africans to buy and use it
 Based on his discoveries Dr . Aklilu Lemma recognized his discovery by saying we
found a poor man’s medicine for poor man’s disease.
 3. Professor Gebissa Ejeta
 Is highly recognized for his work on developingstrains ofsorghum which are
resistant to drought, and produce high crop yields more grain than traditional
varieties.Whichis up to ten times more than others.
 He also developed other varieties of sorghum that are also resistant to the parasitic
Striga weed.
 In 2009, Prof. Gebissa Ejeta was awarded the World Food Prize, which is the most
prestigious agricultural prize in the world.
 He has also been awarded the National Hero award of Ethiopia for his work in
science and technology.