The major principles of biology are something I have become quite acquainted with over these last 3 years as a biology major. I have found that I am more interested in some than others, but respect that all are important aspects to understand biology as a whole. The three major principles I have been taught are cell theory, evolutionary theory and the idea of homeostasis. Through the Civitae curriculum, I was given the opportunity to be submerged in new topics that would be built up over time.
I started in biology 120, which was Integrative biology. It was the first class that I had been in that had me writing full lab reports with my own data. I remember feeling excited because my lab group and I got to decide what parameters we wanted for our experiment. We chose to investigate the presence of bacteria in the fountains around our campus. Since this was an introductory class, establishing patterns and working on writing skills was important. My first lab report is hard to read over now that I have gotten some great practice in, however it does highlight exactly how much I have grown as a student since then. I also was introduced to cell theory in this course. Since we observed the colonies of cells that grew, or did not grow, on our agar plates, I began to understand growth requirements, and environmental factors that lead to the presence of bacteria. Additionally that organisms are made up of cells and that cells are made from pre-existing cells. Here is a link to my final edit of the results section to the paper. I wanted to include this since I had just learned how to use excel to format and present data. Most recently, I was able to take Microbiology in which these skills that I had acquired could be put to good use. In microbiology, I was able to dive deeper into cell growth, division, and death. Most notably, I understood why some bacteria are able to survive in various environments. Out of the many assignments I completed for this course, I think the one that helped me understand cell theory the most was an open ended project that utilized our knowledge of genes and bacteria properties to solve a world issue. For mine, I explained how genetically modifying bacteria to break down plastic compounds could help with our waste and carbon footprint. The main idea was to pitch an idea that would be invested in. Through this assignment I had to apply my knowledge of cell growth and gene editing to implement this idea. Without my basic knowledge of cells and cell theory from biology 120, I would not have been able to piece all of these factors together. Here is a link to the assignment as well.
For the evolutionary theory aspect, I have had a lot of coursework that helped me understand this principle since it is my favorite. First in Biology 251, Introduction to Ecology and Evolution, I was taught how evolution drives populations of species to adapt and survive over generations. Most interestingly enough I even got to investigate how locally in our own town of Farmville that survivorship curves have changed since the 1800s. In a group lab project, my team and I investigated how the survivorship of women, men and children has changed throughout time. We used the cemetery websites to record births and deaths of each year to do so. In doing this, we could observe how over time survivorship of humans in Farmville has increased. Thanks to modern medicine and job safety less people die young than before. I was fascinated to learn about these curves. Here is a link to the assignment that corresponded with this project. I also got to take Animal behavior which was my favorite class. I needed the knowledge of survivor curves to fully grasp how animal behavior is passed from one generation to the next. This was integral to me grasping new studies quickly. I needed to understand population dynamics to be able to complete my article discussions, which we had throughout the semester. Here is the link to a discussion question document for a paper we had read. I truly loved being able to build on my knowledge of how the best traits are passed from generation to generation and how species eventually mutate and evolve into others.
The last principle of homeostasis has been one that I find easy to connect to the majority of my coursework. The idea of your body, your own cells, and any living thing that must maintain a steady state to survive. This means adapting, regulating and remembering how to cope with a changing environment. The best example of this would be from my Vertebrate physiology class where I was able to investigate the effect of how bodies can adapt to changing pressure when diving. I got to enhance this course and do my own research to investigate how a community of people in the Philippines had used the human dive response to their advantage. Here is a link to my final poster for that class. I was fascinated by the ability of our bodies to go beyond what we thought was possible by cultivating genes that allow for us to hold our breath for longer times. These people were able to decrease their heart rate for longer and use the water in their natural habitat to survive for hundreds of years, which is why genetically they have different genes. Many of the principles of biology overlap, and it was awesome to see how this project reached beyond the scope of my class. Homeostasis allows our bodies to come in contact with environments that we are not necessarily suited for and survive, as well as keep us healthy. Same goes for all organisms. As I have been discussing, the principles of biology have been integrated into every course throughout my years.