Morphology & Physiology of Living Things Essay Example

their various forms, including changes in form over time.

Morphology as a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features includes aspects of the outward appearance (shape, structure, colour, and pattern) as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs. The biological concept of morphology was developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1790) and independently by the German anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach (1800).

Although generally the field of morphology is divided into two distinct branches, which are:

• "Anatomy" is the study of the form and structure of internal features of an organism.
• "Eidonomy" is the study of the form and structure of the external features of an organism.

However, other branches do exist such as:

• ‘‘Comparative Morphology’’ Is analysis of the patterns of the locus of structures within the body plan of an organism, and forms the basis of taxonomical catorization.
• ‘‘Functional Morphology’’ is the study of the relationship between the structure and function of morphological features.

‘‘Experimental Morphology’’ is study of the effects of external factors upon the morphology of organisms under experimental conditions, such as the effect of genetic mutation Summarily, it can be seen that: The biological study of the form and structure of living things is called Morphology which deals with both the external and internal structures of the organisms; and thus, it may be divided into two distinct branches: the anatomy and the eidonomy.

This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function. Physiology refers to all the activities taking place within the living organisms or how the different parts functions. It is chiefly concerned with the study of

how living organisms function including such processes as nutrition, movement, and reproduction. Physiology is derived from a Latin word ‘‘pysiologia’’ meaning science of natural causes and phenomena. Thus, it is often described as the branch of biology dealing with the  functions and activities of living organisms as well as functions of their component parts, that includes all physical and chemical processes.

The word "function" is important to the definition of physiology because physiology traditionally had to do with the function of living things while anatomy had to do with morphology, the shape and form, of things. Summarily, it can be seen that: The branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the functions of form and structure of organisms as well as functions of their specific structural features is Physiology and is a science of wide scope.

Physiology as a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross structure of an organism or Taxon and its component parts, as well as how these gross structures and component parts functions (either interdependently or independently) is applied in the following fields of study:

• Biology:  This involve either Morphology without reference to function (e. g. morphology of a cell, vertebrates, the central nervous system); a key hidden component of organic units, but not synonymous with or dependent upon (though theoretically almost completely dominated by) the (post)-modern 'evolutionary synthesis'. )
• Ecology: Living Nature (Goethe), morphological population studies, phylogeny and ontogeny, The Nature of Things (David Suzuki)
• Linguistics: Morphology with reference to language, grammar, syntax (e. g. inflection and the formation of compounds, semantics, phonology, comparative linguistic systems)
• Histology: Morphology as 'universal symbolism' (cf. istorical evolution-ism); temporal and spatial formulations, motives and directions of human development, of static and dynamic memory reporting, cyclical-cultural generations and
  

re-generations, declines and inclines in human technology

Amongst the significant uses of the knowledge and understanding of Morphology and Physiology of living things is it enables us know and understand:

• Uniform and non-uniform motion, as well as its constancy and indeterminacy.
• The morphology' (Fanon), i. e. to find the place of language in human nature, culture and behaviour; transformation (morpho-dynamic models), process thought and continuous action.
• Shape shifting; cyclical or stage theory; knowledge from shape or configuration, as in a known face or facial features, physiognomy; morphological principles of pattern recognition and perception, replication and duplication.
• Pattern laws (cf. 'patterns that connect' - Bateson) applied to networks of human (and non-human).
• Social phenomena (cf. Latour), Aristotelian hylo-morphism.

Molecular biology, is the study of biology at a molecular level. This field overlaps with other areas of biology, particularly with genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interrelationship of DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis and learning how these interactions are regulated.

While, Physiology in the other hand as the branch of science that studies of both mechanical, physical & biochemical process of living organisms as well as the functions of shape and structure of organisms as a whole, with plants; it investigates the functions of structures

and common organization of the root, stem, leaves and fruits; and with animals and human beings, compares and analyzes the various functions of their physical structures. Is aimed at understanding the significant sequence of how the structures in living organisms function as a whole.

It is important to know that the field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology even to non-human species, because plant physiology borrows techniques from both research fields, which the study is shared with medically oriented disciplines such as neurology & immunology.

Conclusively: In Morphology and Physiology of living organisms, the theme of "structure to function" is central to biology. This is because, physiological studies have traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology, in which some principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism being studied.

For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. Body Organization of Living Organisms (i. e. Body Building Blocks) The body of a living organism (be it an animal or a plant) is as a whole one organism. However, many parts make up the whole. In various levels of the body, there are a large number of parts contained within other parts. Thus, the body of a living organism is significantly organized in this sequence:

• Atoms
• Molecules
• Cells
• Tissues
• Organs
• Organ systems.

Atoms: Is the smallest possible piece of an element in the body that retains all the properties of that element, e. g. Hydrogen atom reacts the same as a barrel full of Hydrogen. It is a building block in the sense that when you put Two Hydrogen atoms together, you get

a Hydrogen molecule, and if you add an atom of Oxygen to the Hydrogen molecule, you will create a molecule of water. Thus a molecule in the morphology of a living organism is a conglomerate of atoms put together.

Molecules: The body of a living organism contains many different types f molecules that form the working parts called cells as well as substances produced by these working parts (i. e. cells) such as hormones.

Cells:  Are morphologically derived from a combination of molecules and can perform many important functions in the body of a living organism without which a living organism would not be able to survive and thrive. Each cell in the body of a living organism is capable of converting energy, digesting food, excreting waste, reproducing its own self as well as uptake of Oxygen.

Note:  That no smaller component than the cell (be it in animals or plants) could perform all those functions. That is why the cell is regarded basically as the ‘‘fundamental unit of life’’.

Tissues: This is another level of body organization in living organisms due to aggregation and combination of several different types of cells, e. g. blood cells, nerve cells and muscle cells. Generally the body of a living organism is made of four basic classes of tissues namely, connective epithelial, muscle/fiber and nerve tissues respectively.

Organs:  As atoms make molecules, while molecules make up cells, cells make up a tissue. Also the aggregate of two or more kind of tissues working together makes up an organ. Thus an organ is a part of the body of a living organism that performs a specialized physiologic function.

Organ System: An organ system in a

living organism is a group of specialized organs working together to achieve a major or significant physiologic need in the body of a living organism. The Living Cell Living cells are the basic building blocks of all life on Earth. All animals and plants consists of many billions of cells, which contain many organelles with specific cellular functions either commonly shared and some different. In all living organisms; cells are what build tissues, tissues build organs and organs build organ systems. In both plants and animals, the organ systems do functions together to support life in the living organism.

Cell Definition: A cell is defined as the smallest structural (i. e. morphologic & physiologic unit) of living organisms that can exist independently on its own (Jenny et al 2006). It is the significant microscopic factory of all living organisms, where thousands of chemical reactions happen in a carefully & sequentially controlled way (i. . physiologic activities—that enables the cells perform all tasks involved in being alive).

Although, all living organisms are made up of cells, however, animal & plant cells have significant characteristic differences in so many ways. These differences are brought about due to the presence of dissimilar inclusions (i. e. internal components—which determines physiologic activities in an organism), & consequently influence the characteristics physical, structural /morphological presentation of an organism (i. e. external components dimension).

Thus:

1. Bacteria:  A bacterium is a simple, single celled organism. All the bacteria found on the surface of this planet weigh more than any other species. They are very successful.
2. Insects: A typical insect like a fly or a bee contains many hundreds of thousands of cells. Insects have very basic
   

organ systems that support life and allow insects to reproduce.

In multicellular organisms, every cell in the organism's body derives ultimately from a single cell in a fertilized egg. The cell is also considered to be the basic unit in many pathological processes. Additionally, the phenomenon of energy flow occurs in cells in processes that are part of the function known as metabolism. Finally, cells contain hereditary information (DNA) which is passed from cell to cell during cell division. The cell theory is a basic tenet of modern biology, first stated by  Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann in 1838-39, that cells are the basic  units of structure and function in living organisms.

Summarily the theory states  that:

• All known living things are made up of cells.
• The cell is structural ; functional unit of all living things.
• All cells come from pre-existing cells by division, (i. e. generation does not occur).
• Cells contain hereditary information which is passed from cell to cell during cell division.
• All cells are basically the
  

same in chemical composition.