The subject of studying general biology is the totality of the processes underlying the phenomenon of life

Natural science is not only one of the first, studied by man, fundamental fields of science, but also an important element of the development of our civilization. The subject of studying general biology is the totality of the processes underlying the phenomenon of life. The main of them: reproduction and ontogeny, heredity and variability, the historical development of plant and animal species, as well as natural selection. In this article we will discuss them in more detail.

The role of natural sciences in the development of society

Applied biological sciences are engaged in practical study of the above-mentioned phenomena of wildlife, use 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 the processes of globalization in the world economy compel scientists to engage in serious research on the environmental safety of natural complexes.

As 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.

History of the development of biological knowledge

Science, studying nature in all its diversity, originated in the depths of human knowledge with the help of the philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, but began to be called biology only in the XIX century, thanks to the works of J. Lamarck and G. Treviranus. One of the oldest of its disciplines are systematics, founded by K. Linnaeus, and morphology, originating in the treatises of Hippocrates, Galen and Asclepius.

The subject of studying general biology is the establishment of the unity of living organisms, first on the molecular, and then on the cellular level. The emergence of a scientific theory created by the Russian evolutionist PF Goryaninov and German scientists M. Schleiden and T. Schwann, proved that the basic form of life on Earth is a cell. Proposed by R. Virchow principle: "living - from the living" put an end to the discussions of scientists about the possibility of spontaneous generation of organisms from inanimate matter.

Cytology with the help of such methods 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 sections of natural science: histology, genetics, selection.

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 patterns of the course of anabolism reactions, for example, photosynthesis in plants. She also studies protein biosynthesis (transcription and translation processes), determines the conditions necessary for carrying out dissimilation reactions that provide cells with the necessary energy reserve in the form of NADP and ATP molecules.

Since the subject of studying general biology is the molecular level of life, the reactions of catabolism are seriously considered. Under aerobic conditions, the animal cell synthesizes 36 moles of ATP from each glucose molecule in the reactions of the Krebs cycle.

Plants and fungi in the reactions of energy metabolism under anaerobic conditions also split C ₃ H ₄ O ₃ to ethanol, and animals to lactic acid. But in all cases, molecules of the energy substance - adenosine triphosphoric acid - are synthesized.

As we can see, the subject of studying general biology is the mechanism of metabolism. In representatives of living nature, 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 cellular forms. This issue is described in sufficient detail in this section of natural science as an evolutionary teaching.

Fundamentals of General Biology

This name has natural history school discipline, introduced into the curriculum, starting with the 9th grade. Thanks to the didactic principles of scientific and continuity, students of the upper classes learn the living nature, relying on knowledge from the course of botany, zoology, anatomy. To form a holistic picture of nature among children is the main educational task.

Fundamentals of cytology, ontogeny, patterns of heredity - that's what general biology is studying. The same themes, dedicated to the historical development of the organic world and the basics of ecology, lead to a serious breakthrough in the minds of schoolchildren and contribute to the comprehensive development of their personalities.