Unit 1 - REPRODUCTION

Biology in essence is the story of life on earth. While individual organisms die without fail, species continue to live through millions of years unless threatened by natural or anthropogenic extinction. Reproduction becomes a vital process without which species cannot survive for long. Each individual leaves its progeny by asexual or sexual means. Sexual mode of reproduction enables creation of new variants, so that survival advantage is enhanced. This unit examines the general principles underlying reproductive processes in living organisms and then explains the details of this process in flowering plants and humans as easy to relate representative examples. A related perspective on human reproductive health and how reproductive ill health can be avoided is also presented to complete our understanding of biology of reproduction.

Unit 2 - GENETICS AND EVOLUTION

The work of Mendel and others who followed him gave us an idea of inheritance patterns. However the nature of those ‘factors’ which determine the phenotype was not very clear. As these ‘factors’ represent the genetic basis of inheritance, understanding the structure of genetic material and the structural basis of genotype and phenotype conversion became the focus of attention in biology for the next century. The entire body of molecular biology was a consequent development with major contributions from Watson, Crick, Nirenberg, Khorana, Kornbergs (father and son), Benzer, Monod, Brenner, etc. A parallel problem being tackled was the mechanism of evolution. Awareness in the areas of molecular genetics, structural biology and bio informatics have enriched our understanding of the molecular basis of evolution. In this unit the structure and function of DNA and the story and theory of evolution have been examined and explained.

Unit 3 - BIOLOGY IN HUMAN WELFARE

Biology is the youngest of the formalised disciplines of natural science. Progress in physics and chemistry proceeded much faster than in Biology. Applications of physics and chemistry in our daily life also have a higher visibility than those of biology. However, twentieth century and certainly twenty-first century has demonstrated the utility of biological knowledge in furthering human welfare, be it in health sector or agriculture. The discovery of antibiotics, and synthetic plant-derived drugs, anaesthetics have changed medical practice on one hand and human health on the other hand. Life expectancy of human beings have dramatically changed over the years. Agricultural practices, food processing and diagnostics have brought socio-cultural changes in human communities. These are briefly described in the following three chapters of this unit.

Unit 4 - BIOTECHNOLOGY

Ever since the days of Rene Descartes, the French philosopher, mathematician and biologist of seventeenth century, all human knowledge especially natural sciences were directed to develop technologies which add to the creature comforts of human lives, as also value to human life. The whole approach to understanding natural phenomena became anthropocentric. Physics and chemistry gave rise to engineering, technologies and industries which all worked for human comfort and welfare. The major utility of the biological world is as a source of food. Biotechnology, the twentieth century off-shoot of modern biology, changed our daily life as its products brought qualitative improvement in health and food production. The basic principles underlying biotechnological processes and some applications are highlighted and discussed in this unit.

Unit 5 - ECOLOGY

Diversity is not only a characteristic of living organisms but also of content in biology textbooks. Biology is presented either as botany, zoology and microbiology or as classical and modern. The latter is a euphemism for molecular aspects of biology. Luckily we have many threads which weave the different areas of biological information into a unifying principle. Ecology is one such thread which gives us a holistic perspective to biology. The essence of biological understanding is to know how organisms, while remaining an individual, interact with other organisms and physical habitats as a group and hence behave like organised wholes, i.e., population, community, ecosystem or even as the whole biosphere. Ecology explains to us all this. A particular aspect of this is the study of anthropogenic environmental degradation and the socio-political issues it has raised. This unit describes as well as takes a critical view of the above aspects.

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