BIOL108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Scientific Method

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Biology (Biological Sciences)
• Course: BIOL108
• Professor: Cynthia Friedman

Document Summary

It is important to study diversity on earth for there is a huge variety of species. There is an estimate of 8. 7 million eukaryotes. Human activities is threatening the biological diversity. Such activities include pollution, land conversion, resource exploitation, and climate change. We study diversity to fit under these three broad categories: economical, moral, and pure (conservative). This is the level of organization in the ecosystem. Molecules organelles- cells-tissues-organ and organ system-organism-population-community-ecosystem- and biosphere. Scientists refer to the unifying explanations of the natural world as we know it as theories. Theories are well supported by evidence, and have withstood rigorous scientific testing, challenging, and debating. Theories are not the same thing as hypotheses. Deductive reasoning is used to get to a hypothesis, and inductive reasoning is used to draw conclusions. The proximate questions deal with the mechanism, while the ultimate questions deal with the evolutionary origins.