Biology and biologists

The investigation of living things is called biology. The people who study biology are called biologists.

Read or listen to what some biologists are investigating and then you may be able to decide what biologists think makes something alive. If you prefer click on the audio button and listen to the text being read.

Investigation 1

Trees can die from a sickness called 'die-back'. Sick trees are stunted and malformed. This means that trees with this disease do not grow very tall and their leaves and branches do not develop as normal.

Biologists are investigating the insects that live in the trees and how they affect the health of the trees.

Investigation 2

audio (516 kB)

The lemurs that live in Madagascar are slowly reducing in number.   Many zoos all over the world are investigating how these animals reproduce .  
If a successful breeding program is developed then these animals may not become extinct.

Investigation 3

audio (748 kB)

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is increasing. This may have far-reaching effects on the climate of the planet.   This will in turn affect plant and animal life.

Some biologists are studying how plants respond to an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide.   Plants may respond to this stimulus by growing better.

Investigation 4

audio (844 kB)

Biologists are interested in studying animals that live in the desert.   These animals take in materials - food, oxygen, but very little water from the environment.   More water is produced by processes that occur inside their bodies .   Materials given out to the environment do not contain much water.   This means that these animals are able to live in areas that are very dry.

Can you decide from these investigations what sorts of things interest biologists?

They are interested in the things that living things do that non-living things do not do. These are called the characteristics of life.   They are also known as the characteristics of living things.

These characteristics are written in bold print in the four biological investigations.