Life's Organizational Hierarchy - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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Life's Organizational Hierarchy
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Video transcript
So we already know from our last lesson video that one of the characteristics shared by all living organisms is organization. The ability to use smaller components to build larger, more complex functional components. And so in this video we're going to continue to talk about that as we discuss life's organizational hierarchy. And so life actually consists of multiple smaller parts that are organized into a hierarchical pattern And, so down below in this image, we're focusing on that hierarchy. And, so notice that on the left hand side of our image we have a scale and notice that it's small at the top and as you go down towards the bottom the scale gets larger and larger and larger. And so this scale applies to the hierarchy of life that we see on the left. And so at the smallest scale of this hierarchy, you'll note that all life is composed of atoms and at the opposite end at the largest scale of the hierarchy is going to be the biosphere which we'll get to define down below in our image. And so notice that when we look at this hierarchy, that each of these rows represents a specific level of the hierarchy and once again towards the top we have the smallest level and as you go down the levels get larger and larger. And so once again at the smallest scale we have the atom And atoms are going to make up both living and non living matter or anything that takes up space and has mass is going to be made up of atoms. And so we're going to talk more about atoms later in our course, and we're also going to talk about the basic chemistry of life. But for now we're defining atoms as the smallest particle of an element and here we have an image that represents a typical atom. Now if you take multiple of these atoms and you combine these atoms together you can begin to create molecules. And so molecules are defined as a combination of atoms that are joined together. And so an example of a molecule is water. And so over here we're showing you a water molecule h two o. Notice that it has 2 hydrogen atoms here and it has 1 oxygen atom. So it has 3 total atoms joined together to create this water molecule. Now some molecules only have a few, atoms like water but other molecules can have 100 of atoms joined together. Now if you take multiple of the right types of molecules and you join them together in the right way then you can begin to create organelles. And so if we look at the roots within, this word organelles, you'll notice that it has, the root organ and it also has a root that sounds very similar to cell. And so really, organelles are the organs of cells, so they are smaller than cells. And so we can define them as specialized structures that are found within cells. And so, examples of organelles include the Golgi apparatus and the mitochondria. And again, later in our course we're going to talk a lot more about these organelles and their functions. Now if you take several of the right types of organelles and you put all these organelles together then you can actually create a cell. And so we've already defined cells in our previous lesson videos as the smallest unit of life and so nothing smaller than the cell organelles, molecules, or atoms are considered alive. It is the cell that is the smallest unit of life and displays all of the characteristics of life. And so over here we're showing you a, a cell and notice that this cell has several different types of organelles within it. Now, if we take multiple of the same type of cell, we can then create tissues. And so, tissues can be defined as a group of the same types of cells that are gonna be performing a specific function. And so notice over here on the right hand side we're showing you a bunch of cells, that are forming tissues. Now if we take multiple tissues then we can begin to create an organ. And so an organ can be defined as a group of tissues that are going to be performing a specific function and so an example of an organ is our heart and notice that the heart is going to have muscle tissue, it's also going to have nervous tissue, and so multiple different types of tissues can create an organ. Now if you take multiple organs you can then create an organ system. For example, the cardiovascular system consists not just of the heart but also blood vessels and arteries and things of that nature. And so an organ system can be defined as a group of organs that are going to be working together to perform a specific function, such as once again the cardiovascular system of a deer or the nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord and things of that nature. Now if you take all of the different organ systems like again the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, the digestive system and you put all of these systems together then you can create a multi cellular organism. And so it is important to note here that the cell which is way up here at this level, is also an organism but it is a unicellular organism consisting of just one single cell, and here at this level we're talking about multicellular organisms such as you and I or a deer as you see over here in this image. And so we can define the multicellular organism as an individual form of life composed of many cells. Now, if you take multiple of the same type of multicellular organisms then you can create a population and so a population can be defined as all of the organisms of the same exact species that are living together in the same area. Now it is important to note that a population consists of the same species and so notice here if we have multiple of the same species of deer then we have a population of deer. However, students tend to confuse population with community. Now a community is going to consist of multiple populations. So if you take multiple populations then you can get a community and so a community is going to be defined as multiple populations but of different species living together in the same area. And so whereas the population only included the same species, one species like the population of deer, the the same species of deer, the community is going to include not just the population of deer but also the population of squirrels living in the forest. So it includes another population of a different species. Now, the community is going to consist of living organisms, different populations of living organisms. But as soon as you start to consider the non living environment that surrounds those living organisms, we then are considering the ecosystem. And so the ecosystem is going to consist of the living community or the biotic community where biotic just means living, but it also is going to include the nonliving surroundings, or the abiotic, environment where abiotic just means nonliving. And so the ecosystem would not only include the population of deer and the population of squirrels, but the ecosystem is also going to include the nonliving environment that surrounds those organisms such as, for example, the mountains which are not alive and the river itself which the river is not alive or the rocks and things of that nature that are not alive. And so the ecosystem includes both the living community and the non living environment. Now at the largest scale of this hierarchy what we have is the biosphere. And so the biosphere is going to consist of all of the ecosystems on earth that support life, and that's exactly what we're saying right here. All of the different ecosystems on earth that support life is considered the biosphere and so that is the largest scale and so you can see we have the planet right here. And so this concludes our lesson on life's organizational hierarchy and this is something that you want to be able to study and be able to understand and put into the correct order because there are usually multiple questions on your exams about this. So this here concludes this and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. So I'll see you all in our next video.
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example
Life's Organizational Hierarchy Example 1
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Video transcript
So here we have an example problem that says the image below represents the hierarchy of life. Which of the following options shows the correct order for 2 through 4? And we've got these 5 potential answer options down below. And so notice that this image on the right here does represent life's organizational hierarchy. However, you'll notice that not all of the levels are being shown in this image and that all of the levels that come before organism are not being shown, and it's starting with organism as the smallest level here, but it still wants us to correctly order items 2 through 4 here. So, we need to choose one of these 5 options, And so notice here it's starting with organism. And in number 2, you'll notice that there are a bunch of the same type of organism. So, in number 1 we have the organism which is a butterfly and number 2 we have a bunch of butterflies. And so when you have a group of the same species we refer to this as a population. And so we can label number 2 here as the population. Now notice in the next image number 3 what we have is a group of many different types of organisms or many different species of organisms. And so not only do we have the butterflies but we have all of these different types of plants and we also have a mouse over here and so once you start to consider, multiple populations of different species you then have a community and so here we're looking at the community in number 3. And then taking a look at the 4th image here, what you'll notice is that not only is it showing the living community, the biotic community, but it's also including the non living environment such as the mountains that are in the background and these rocks that are over here in the front. And so we can say here that number 4 is referring to the ecosystem because the ecosystem includes both the living community and the nonliving or abiotic environment. And then you can see of course that at the largest scale here it's showing you the biosphere which is all of the ecosystems that support life on earth. And so for our answer options we're only ordering 2 through 4 here so really we're looking for an option that reflects what we've determined here and you'll notice that it's option c that correlates with this. So 2 is population, 3 is community, and 4 is ecosystem just as we said here. And so this here concludes our example problem and we can indicate here that c is the correct answer and so I'll see you all in our next video.
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Problem
Problem
Which of the following options has the correct order in terms of the hierarchy of the organization?
A
Ecosystem → Biosphere → Population → Community → Organism.
B
Biosphere → Ecosystem → Population → Community → Organism.
C
Ecosystem → Community → Biosphere → Population → Organism.
D
Biosphere → Ecosystem →Community → Population → Organism.
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Problem
Problem
Use the word bank to complete the pyramid of life's organizational hierarchy below.
Word Bank: Population Organelles Organ System Cell Tissues Ecosystem Organ Community Molecules Multicellular Organism
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3m
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5
concept
Emergent Properties
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4m
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Video transcript
In this video we're going to introduce emergent properties. And so emergent properties as their name implies are properties that emerge or arise upon combining smaller parts together. However, the individual smaller parts when they are separate do not display the emergent property. It's only when those individual smaller parts are combined that the emergent property arises. Now emergent properties are incredibly relevant to life's organizational hierarchy that we covered in our previous lesson videos. And this is because at each new level of the hierarchy there is going to be an emergent property that arises. And so the whole is going to be greater than the sum of its parts and really this is another way to explain emergent properties. Combining smaller parts together allows for a new emergent property to arise in the whole and so the whole will be greater than the individual sum of the parts. And so to get a better understanding of emergent properties let's take a look at our image down below. And what you'll notice is the top half of the image here is showing you, an example of an emergent property. And so notice over here on the left hand side we're showing you these bicycle parts, where you have a tire and pedals and a chain and the bars that go along with a bicycle and notice that all of these parts are separate from one another and so these are individual separate bike parts. Now these individual separate bike parts do not allow for transportation. There's no way that you could, go very far with these separate individual bike parts. However, when you combine those separate individual bike parts together in a very specific and proper way, then you can create a bicycle that allows for transportation efficiently. And so transportation was not available with these individual separate bike parts. However, transportation is available when you combine these individual parts together. And so transportation here for that reason is an example of an emergent property in that example. Now in a very similar way if we look at the bottom half you can see how these emergent properties also apply to life's organizational hierarchy. And so notice on the left hand side, we have an exam we have, these separate individual organelles or organs of cells such as for example the Golgi apparatus and the mitochondria. And so these separate individual organelles are not alive. There's no life here because these separate individual organelles do not display all of the characteristics of life. However, when you combine all of the organelles that are necessary in a very specific way, similar to how we combined all of the bite parts in a very specific way, an emergent property arises of life. And so here what we're showing you is a cell that contains all of the necessary organelles that allow for life. And so life here in this example is an emergent property that arose again moving forward in life's organizational hierarchy to a larger scale. And so, again, emergent properties arise at every single level of the scale as you increase, in that hierarchy. And so, this here concludes our brief lesson on emergent properties, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. So I'll see you all in our next video.
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Problem
Problem
Which of the following is the best example of an emergent property?
A
Cells are the basic unit of life and all organisms are composed of one or more cells.
B
Neurons can control which ions they keep inside and outside their membranes.
C
Cells are made of simple molecules, but when organized together, these molecules can perform living functions.
D
Molecules can form large chains by joining together multiple atoms.
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Problem
Problem
At which point of the organizational hierarchy does life emerge?