Study of Life Themes & Concepts Umbrella Concepts Big Ideas and Recurring Principles/Themes AP Biology Figure 1.3 Order Evolutionary adaptation Response to the environment Reproduction Growth and development Energy processing Regulation Why study Big Ideas in Biology? ? Biology is an ever expanding body of knowledge? ? too much to memorize it all ? need to generalize ? create a framework upon which to organize new knowledge ? themes (Big Ideas) are fundamental in understanding the nature of living organisms Big Idea #1 The process of evolution drives the unity and diversity of life. Organizing Life?s Diversity ? Making sense out of the diversity ? Hierarchical scheme Nothing in biology makes sense