Layman D. Biology Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide

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Internal fertilization and the female

reproductive pathway 354

Embryo development leading to birth 354

From embryo to fetus 356

Sexual dysfunctions and reproductive

failure 356

Male sexual dysfunction 357

Female sexual dysfunction 357

Quiz 357

Test: Part 4 361

Final Exam 366

Appendix: Answers to quiz, test, and

ﬁnal exam questions 384

Index 389

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CONTENTS xix

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xxi

PREFACE

This book is for people who want to get acquainted with the concepts of

basic biology without taking a formal course. It can serve as a supplemental

text in a classroom, tutored, or home-schooling environment. It should also

be useful for career changers who need to refresh their knowledge of the

subject. I recommend that you start at the beginning of this book and go

straight through.

This book seeks to give you an intuitive grasp of biology and its terminol-

ogy. It helps do this by presenting you with 4 icons (cartoon pictures) repre-

senting various facets of Biological Order, versus Biological Disorder. Key

facts within these categories are numbered in the page margins. You are

encouraged to brieﬂy rewrite these key facts in the blanks provided at the

end of each chapter.

This introductory work also contains an abundance of practice quiz, test,

and exam questions. They are all multiple-choice, and are similar to the sorts

of questions used in standardized tests. There is a short quiz at the end of

every chapter. The quizzes are ‘‘open-book.’’ You may (and should) refer to

the chapter texts when taking them. When you think you’re ready, take the

quiz, write down your answers, and then give your list of answers to a friend.

Have the friend tell you your score, but not which questions you got wrong.

The answers are listed in the back of the book. Stick with a chapter until you

get most of the answers correct.

This book is divided into 4 sections. At the end of each section is a

multiple-choice test. Take these tests when you’re done with the respective

sections and have taken all the chapter quizzes. The section tests are ‘‘closed-

book,’’ but the questions are not as diﬃcult as those in the quizzes. A satis-

factory score is three-quarters of the answers correct. Again, answers are in

the back of the book.

There is a ﬁnal exam at the end of this course. It contains questions drawn

uniformly from all the chapters in the book. Take it when you have ﬁnished

all four sections, all four section tests, and all of the chapter quizzes. A

satisfactory score is at least 75 percent correct answers.

With the section tests and the ﬁnal exam, as with the quizzes, have a friend

tell you your score without letting you know which questions you missed.

That way, you will not subconsciously memorize the answers. You can check

to see where your knowledge is strong and where it is not.

I recommend that you complete one chapter a week. An hour or two daily

ought to be enough time for this. When you’re done with the course, you can

use this book, with its comprehensive index, as a permanent reference.

Suggestions for future editions are welcome.

Now, work hard! But, be sure to have fun! Best wishes for your success.

The Hon. Dr. Dale Pierre Layman, PhD

Acknowledgments

Illustrations in this book were generated with CorelDRAW. Some clip art is

courtesy of Corel Corporation, 1600 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada K1Z 8R7.

I extend thanks to Emma Previato of Boston University, who helped with

the technical editing of the manuscript for this book.

I also wish to specially thank Mr. Scott Grillo (publisher) for his con-

tinuing interest, as well as Stan Gibilisco, the Series Editor.

Angela Lopez, a former student of mine, has worked hard with me to

create illustrations that clearly embody the concepts of biology. We hope

you enjoy them!

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PREFACE

xxii

PART ONE

Getting Ready for

Biology

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CHAPTER

The Coming of

Biology

Hello, there! It’s time for you to start teaching yourself some of the funda-

mental and fascinating facts about biology (pronounced as buy-AHL-oh-jee).

The word, biology, comes from the ancient Greek bi (‘‘life’’) and -ology

(‘‘study of ’’). Modern biology, then, is literally the ‘‘study of life’’ in all its

forms – plant, animal, or otherwise.

Biology, Organisms, and Order

Biology as the scientiﬁc study of living things is a relatively recent develop-

ment. The term has been in use since the early 1800s to describe the study of

living organisms (pronounced as OR-gan-izms). Basically, an organism is a

living thing that is highly organized. By this we mean that an organism has a

high degree of Biological Order, a very organized pattern. (Observe the

patterns of the organisms shown in Figure 1.1.)

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1, Order

Structure and Anatomy

All organisms have some type of structure. A structure is literally a ‘‘build-

ing’’ up of something from a number of diﬀerent parts. The structure of an

organism, therefore, is the arrangement or pattern ‘‘built’’ up from its indi-

vidual body parts. The head, neck, and black spots of a giraﬀe, for instance,

help ‘‘build’’ up its entire body pattern.

Anatomy (ah-NAT-oh-me) is body structure and the study of body struc-

tures. Every kind of organism has its own unique type of anatomy (body

structure). When this anatomy is internal, being located ‘‘inside,’’ it is studied

by dissecting or cutting up the body. This reveals why the word, anatomy,

exactly means ‘‘the process of cutting’’ (-tomy) the body ‘‘up or apart’’ (ana-).

The internal anatomy of a frog, for example, is revealed whenever its body is

dissected or cut apart.

PART 1 Getting Ready for Biology

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2, Order

Fig. 1.1 Organisms: Large and small living things with order

Gross versus Microscopic Anatomy

There are two basic subdivisions of anatomy. These are gross anatomy, which

studies large body structures (visible to the naked eye), and microscopic (my-

kroh-SKAHP-ik) anatomy, which studies ‘‘tiny’’ (micro-) body structures

(invisible to the naked eye). [Study suggestion: Carefully review Figure 1.1.

Which of the organisms pictured represent cases of gross anatomy? Which

represent microscopic anatomy?]

Both bacteria (bak-TEE-ree-ah) and the amoeba (ah-ME-bah) can be clas-

siﬁed as microbes (MY-krohbs). A microbe is a ‘‘tiny’’ (micr) ‘‘living’’ (-obe)

thing. Of course, microbes and other examples of microscopic anatomy can

only be examined through a microscope.

A dead giraﬀe still has gross anatomy. And a dead microbe still has

microscopic anatomy. Hence, anatomy occurs in both living and dead organ-

isms (provided they have not decomposed).

Function and Physiology

Just as all organisms have a certain type of body structure (anatomy), they

also carry out various functions. A function is some type of ‘‘performance.’’ It

is something that a structure does, or something that is done to a particular

structure. For example, both a hammer and a nail are structures. When a

hammer pounds a nail (or when a nail is being pounded by a hammer), a

function or ‘‘performance’’ is being carried out. The hammer is doing some-

thing (pounding the nail), and the nail is having something done to it (being

pounded upon).

You might consider function as being a verb, because it involves some

action. Conversely, you could think of structure as being a noun, because it is

some thing.

When we consider living organisms, the word, physiology (ﬁh-zee-AHL-

uh-jee), is used. Physiology is body function and the study of body functions.

Unlike anatomy, physiology only occurs within living organisms. Why? Only

living organisms carry out body functions. A dead, pickled frog, for instance,

still has a recognizable anatomy. It has both legs still present, and a heart.

But its legs are limp and lifeless, and the heart pumps no blood. Thus, the

frog’s body no longer has physiology, because it is dead.

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Characteristics of Living Things

Since physiology (body function) only occurs within living organisms, it is

very important for us to know the basic characteristics of living things:

1. Living things have a high degree of Biological Order (body pattern or

organization). In general, living organisms are much more organized than

dead ones. And we have already said that living things have an extremely

high degree of Biological Order. In the human body, for instance, our oral

(OR-al) body temperature taken by ‘‘mouth’’ (or) remains relatively constant

at about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Body temperature goes up and down, but it

still remains within a normal range. It only goes up about 1 degree

Fahrenheit, or down about 1 degree Fahrenheit, from the 98.6 degree level.

This creates a roughly S-shaped pattern over time (Figure 1.2, A).

Similar S-shaped patterns could be constructed for such aspects of phy-

siology as heart rate and respiratory rate (rate of breathing), and such aspects

of anatomy as blood sugar concentration and bone density. In general,

In this book, we will use the very familiar pattern of black spots on a living

giraﬀe (Figure 1.2, B) as a symbol to represent particular cases of Biological

Order within living things.

2. Living organisms are sensitive to changes in their surrounding environment

and respond to them. An earthworm will respond to hot, dry air by quickly

burrowing into the cool, moist earth for safety. A row of sprouting bean

plants in a box by a window will eventually tilt and grow in the direction of

the incoming light. These are just two of the ways in which the huge variety

of living organisms can respond to changes in their surrounding environ-

ment.

3. Living things produce movement, either internally or externally (outside of

their bodies). A crab, for instance, moves its claws externally to clasp a dead

minnow and engulf it. The tiny pieces of eaten minnow then move internally,

through the crab’s digestive tract.

4. Living organisms undergo growth and specialization of their anatomy and

physiology as they become older. At ﬁrst, a newborn shark is tiny, and it has

few or no teeth in its jaws. But the shark keeps growing larger and larger for

as long as it lives. And it develops a set of razor-sharp teeth in both jaws for

cutting and shredding its prey.

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3, Order