Branches of Biology

* Agriculture - the science and practice of producing crops and livestock

from the natural resources of the earth.

 Anatomy - the study of the animal form, particularly the human body.

 Astrobiology - the branch of biology concerned with the effects of outer space
on living organisms and the search for extraterrestrial life.

 Biochemistry - the chemical processes in all living organisms and the study
of the structure and function of cellular components, such as proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules, and of their
functions and transformations during life processes.

 Bioclimatology - a science concerned with the influence of climates on

organisms, for instance the effects of climate on the development and distribution
of plants, animals, and humans.

 Bioengineering - the study of biology through the means of engineering

with an emphasis on applied knowledge and especially related to biotechnology.

 Biogeography - a science that attempts to describe the changing

distributions and geographic patterns of living and fossil species of plants and
animals.

 Bioinformatics - information technology as applied to the life sciences,

especially the technology used for the collection, storage, and retrieval of genomic
data.

 Biomechanics - often considered a branch of medicine, the study of the

mechanics of living beings, with an emphasis on applied use through artificial
limbs, etc.

 Biomathematics or Mathematical Biology - an interdisciplinary field of

academic study which aims at modelling natural, biological processes using
mathematical techniques and tools.

 Biophysics or biological physics - an interdisciplinary science that applies

the theories and methods of physical sciences to questions of biology.

 Biotechnology - applied science that is concerned with biological systems,

living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes
for specific use.

 Botany - the scientific study of plants.

 Cell biology - the study of cells at the microscopic or at the molecular level.
It includes studying the cells' physiological properties, structures, organelles,
interactions with their environment, life cycle, division and apoptosis.

 Conservation Biology - the study of the preservation, protection, or

restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and
wildlife. This is concerned with the studies and schemes of habitat preservation
and species protection for the purpose of alleviating extinction crisis and
conserving biodiversity.

 Chronobiology - a science that studies time-related phenomena in living

organisms.

 Cryobiology - the study of the effects of low temperatures on living

organisms.

 Developmental Biology - the study of the processes by which an organism

develops from a zygote to its full structure.

 Ecology - the scientific study of the relationships between plants, animals,

and their environment.

 Ethnobiology - a study of the past and present human interactions with the
environment, for instance the use of diverse flora and fauna by indigenous
societies.

 Ethology - the study of animal behavior.

 Entomology - the scientific study of insects.

 Evolutionary Biology - a subfield concerned with the origin and descent of

species, as well as their change over time, i.e. their evolution.

 Freshwater Biology - a science concerned with the life and ecosystems of

freshwater habitats.

 Genetics - a science that deals with heredity, especially the mechanisms of

hereditary transmission and the variation of inherited characteristics among
similar or related organisms.

 Geobiology - a science that combines geology and biology to study the

interactions of organisms with their environment.

 Herpetology - the study of reptiles and amphibians.

 Histology - The study of cells and tissue, a microscopic branch of anatomy.

 Ichthyology - the study of fish.

 Immunobiology - a study of the structure and function of the immune

system, innate and acquired immunity, the bodily distinction of self from nonself,
and laboratory techniques involving the interaction of antigens with specific
antibodies.
 Macrobiology - the study of biology on the level of the macroscopic
individual (plant, animal, or other living being) as a complete unit.

 Mammology - the study of mammals.

 Marine Biology - study of ocean plants and animals and their ecological
relationships.

 Medicine - the science which relates to the prevention, cure, or alleviation of

disease.

 Microbiology - the study of microscopic organisms (microorganisms) and

their interactions with other living things.

 Molecular Biology - the study of biology and biological functions at the

molecular level, some cross over with biochemistry.

 Mycology - the study of fungi

 Neurobiology - the branch of biology that deals with the anatomy and
physiology and pathology of the nervous system.

 Oceanography - the study of the ocean, including ocean life, environment,

geography, weather, and other aspects influencing the ocean. See Marine Biology.

 Ornithology - the study of birds.

 Paleobiology - the study of the forms of life existing in prehistoric or

geologic times, as represented by the fossils of plants, animals, and other
organisms.

 Parasitology - the study of parasites and parasitism.

 Pathology - the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes,
development, and consequences.

 Pharmacology - the study of preparation and use of drugs and synthetic

medicines.

 Physiology - the biological study of the functions of living organisms and

their parts.

 Primatology - the science that deals with primates

 Protistology - the study of protists

 Psychobiology - the study of mental functioning and behavior in relation to

other biological processes

 Toxicology - the study of how natural or man-made poisons cause

undesirable effects in living organisms
  Virology - study of viruses

 Zoology - the study of animals and animal life, including classification,

physiology, development, and behavior.

WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC METHOD?

The scientific method is a series of steps followed by scientific investigators to answer

specific questions about the natural world. It involves making observations, formulating a
hypothesis, and conducting scientific experiments. Scientific inquiry starts with an observation
followed by the formulation of a question about what has been observed.

The scientific method has five basic steps, plus one feedback step:

1. Make an observation.

2. Ask a question.

3. Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation.

4. Make a prediction based on the hypothesis.

5. Test the prediction.

6. Iterate: use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions.

Scientific method example: Failure to toast

Let's build some intuition for the scientific method by applying its steps to a practical problem

from everyday life.

1. Make an observation.

Let's suppose that you get two slices of bread, put them into the toaster, and press the button.

However, your bread does not toast.

 1. Observation: the toaster won't toast.

2. Ask a question.

Why didn't my bread get toasted?

2. Question: Why won't my toaster toast?

3. Propose a hypothesis.

A hypothesis is a potential answer to the question, one that can somehow be tested. For

example, our hypothesis in this case could be that the toast didn't toast because the electrical

outlet is broken.
 3. Hypothesis: Maybe the outlet is broken.

This hypothesis is not necessarily the right explanation. Instead, it's a possible explanation

that we can test to see if it is likely correct, or if we need to make a new hypothesis

4. Make predictions.

A prediction is an outcome we'd expect to see if the hypothesis is correct. In this case, we might

predict that if the electrical outlet is broken, then plugging the toaster into a different outlet

should fix the problem.

4. Prediction: If I plug the toaster into a different outlet, then it will toast the bread.

5. Test the predictions.

 To test the hypothesis, we need to make an observation or perform an experiment associated

with the prediction. For instance, in this case, we would plug the toaster into a different outlet

and see if it toasts.

5. Test of prediction: Plug the toaster into a different outlet and try again.

 If the toaster does toast, then the hypothesis is supported—likely correct.

 If the toaster doesn't toast, then the hypothesis is not supported—likely wrong.

The results of a test may either support or contradict—oppose—a hypothesis. Results that support

a hypothesis can't conclusively prove that it's correct, but they do mean it's likely to be correct.

On the other hand, if results contradict a hypothesis, that hypothesis is probably not correct.

Unless there was a flaw in the test—a possibility we should always consider—a contradictory

result means that we can discard the hypothesis and look for a new one.

[More about hypotheses, proof, and disproof]

6. Iterate.

The last step of the scientific method is to reflect on our results and use them to guide our next

steps.
 And the result is:

Left panel: My bread toasts! Hypothesis is supported. Right panel: My bread still won't toast.

Hypothesis is not supported.

6. Iteration time!
 Left panel (in case of hypothesis being supported): But what is actually wrong with the outlet?

Right panel (in case of hypothesis not being supported): Hmm...maybe there is a broken wire in

the toaster.

 If the hypothesis was supported, we might do additional tests to confirm it, or revise it to be

more specific. For instance, we might investigate why the outlet is broken.

 If the hypothesis was not supported, we would come up with a new hypothesis. For instance, the

next hypothesis might be that there's a broken wire in the toaster.

HISTORY OF BIOLOGY

History of biology in 19th and 20th century History of biology in 19 and 20 century Biology is a
science which studies living organisms. The history of biology is very long and there are many
scientists who study that. First man who used the word “biology” was Jean Babtiste Lamarck
(1744 - 1849). The history of biology is the study of the living world from ancient to modern
times. The first biologists were in an ancient Greece, for example Plato or Aristotle, they started
to study nature and living organisms around them. During the Renaissance and early
modern period, biological thought was revolutionized by a renewed interest in discovery of
many new organisms. The most important scientists in this movement were Vesalius and
Harvey, who used experimentation and careful observation in physiology, and naturalists such
as Linnaeus and Buffon who began to classify the differences of life, as well as the development
and behavior of organisms. The discovery of microscopes explore previously unknown world of
microorganisms, laying the groundwork for cell theory.

The cell theory:

This theory was developed in 1838 by botanist Mattias Schleiden and zoologist Theodor
Schwan.

This theory says:

1. All known living organisms are made from cells.

2. The cell is a basic structural and functional unit of all living organisms.

3. All cells come from pre-existing cells by division.

4. Cells contain hereditary information which is passed from cell to cell during cell division.

5. All cells are basically the same in chemical composition.

6. All energy flow (metabolism and biochemistry) of life occur within cells.

In the 19 century biological sciences such as botany and zoology became more professional
scientific disciplines. Lavoisier and other physical scientists began to connect the living and
nonliving worlds through physics and chemistry. Explorer-naturalists such as Alexander von
Humboldt investigated the interaction between organisms and their environment, and the
ways this relationship depends on geography, and started to make new sciences like
biogeography, ecology and ethology. Cell theory provided a new perspective on the basic forms
of life. These developments, as well as the results from embryology and paleontology, were
published in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. In the early 20th
century, the rediscovery of Mendel's work led to the rapid development of genetics by Thomas
Hunt Morgan and his students. New disciplines developed rapidly, especially after Watson and
Crick who propose the double helical structure of DNA .

The most important and famous scientists in 19 and 20 century:

Jean Baptiste Lamarck- In either 1802 or 1809, published his theory of evolution. A number of
another attempts were made to support or disprove this theory without the benefit of our
modern knowledge of genetics. One experiment involved amputation of mouse tails for
successive generations, showing that even after twenty generations, there was no effect: baby
mice were still born with tails.

Charles Darwin- He was one of the most important scientists in the history. He published his
own theory of evolution. In this theory he publish his opinion what was: the every organism,
animal or human, evolve from a few common ancestors through the process of natural
selection and every organism has to change or adapt to the nature around them. He first
thought about this theory in 1838. Historians think that he didn’t publish his theory because
he was afraid that people wouldn’t accept his theory because it was in the difference with the
religion. So he didn’t publish it until 1859, when he heard that another scientist, Alfred
Wallace had the same ideas. Wallace was close to publishing his ideas. So Darwin published his
theory in the book. The name of the book was: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. This is also just called
The Origin of Species.

Theodor Schwan- He was zoologist. Among his many contributions to biology there was the
development of cell theory, the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the
discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast and the invention of
the term metabolism.

Mattias Schleiden- He was a German botanist and co-founder of the cell theory. Schleiden
preferred to study plant structure under the microscope. While a professor of botany at the
University of Jena, he wrote Contributions to Phytogenesis (1838), in which he stated that the
different parts of the plant organism are composed of cells.

ALFRED Russel Wallace- He was another naturalist. He was independently working on the
theory what was same like Darwin’s. The result of his work was: Darwin was the first person to
come up with these ideas, while until recently, Wallace’s work was almost totally ignored.
Darwin’s friends want from him to publish his theory, and the Origin of Species was the result.
Darwin eventually published several other books describing his ideas and theories. And the
Wallace’s work has been forgotten and ignored.

Louis Pasteur- He was a French chemist and biologist best known for his discoveries in
microbiology. His experiments confirmed the germ theory of disease and he discover that
microbes, viruses and bacteria makes the diseases, also reducing mortality from puerperal
fever, and he created the first vaccine against rabies. He is best known to the general public for
showing how to stop milk and wine from going sour - this process came to be called
pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together
with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. Johan
Gregor Mendel- He was an Austrian monk, published a paper on genetics that earned him the
nickname “the Father of Modern Genetics.” One of Mendel’s jobs at the monastery was to care
for the garden. He noticed the differences between plants of the same kind. From this he
developed a theory of genetics that refuted the pangene idea and enabled people to predict the
outcome of a genetic cross if the genes of the parents were known. When Mendel first published
his paper, the idea of the pangenes it was ignored his work or dismissed it as false. It wasn’t
until 1900 that a couple of botanists working on other research rediscovered his work.

In 1870 the process of mitosis, regular cell division by which one cell divides to make two cells,
was observed, and researchers noticed that chromosomes, whose function was not understood,
were moving around in the cell during mitosis so that each daughter cell got an exact set of
them.

James Watson, an American, and Francis Crick, an Englishman, used the x-ray data collected
by another scientists to propose a hypothetical structure for DNA molecule, which also showed
how DNA could be the genetic code material and suggested a means what it could replicate
itself. Another chemical analyses of DNA have confirm their prediction. For their work they
received the Nobel Prize award in 1962.

Timeline

1655 - Robert Hooke (1635-1703) of Britain designed his own microscope and discovered
matter made up of what he called cells.

1759 - C.F. Wolff (1733-1794) of Germany proposed a general cell theory. 1838 - Matthias J.
Schleiden (1804-1881) of Germany published a cell theory as applied to plants.

1839 - Theodor Schwann (1810-1882) of Germany published cell theory as applied to animals.

1857 - Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884), an Austrian monk, began experiments with pea
plants. He later became known as the "father of genetics."

1859 - English biologist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published “On the Origin of Species,”
explaining units of heredity and variations in species.

1865 - Mendel announced his theories of heredity, known as Mendel’s Laws.

1869 - Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) of Britain published his book, Hereditary Genius,
claiming that heredity alone is responsible for a person’s character traits.

1882 - German biologist Walther Fleming (1843-1905) used dyes to stain cells; he discovered
rods he called “chromosomes.”

1886 - Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries (1848-1935) created term “mutation” while
experimenting with primroses.

1887 - Belgian biologist Edouard van Beneden (1846-1910) discovered that all organisms of
the same species have the same number

1892 - August Weismann (1834-1914) published an essay on heredity. He proposed heredity

was transmitted by a substance with a “chemical and molecular constitution”--he greatly
influenced subsequent biologists.of chromosomes
1900 - De Vries published a paper that included the laws of inheritance as do two others:
German botanist Karl Erich Correns (1864-1933) and Austrian botanist Erich Tschermak von
Seysenegg (1871-1962).

1901 - De Vries published a paper on mutations.

1902 - American biologist Walter Stanborough Sutton (1877-1916) demonstrated that

chromosomes exist in pairs that are structurally similar.

1903 - Sutton proved that sperm and egg cells have one of each pair of chromosomes

1908 - American biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) with Alfred H. Sturtevant of the
U.S. showed that genes were located on chromosomes; he experimented with Drosophelia (fruit
flies) to investigate sex chromosomes, and discovered X and Y chromosomes, sex-linked traits,
and crossing-over.

1909 - Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen (1857-1927) proposed that each portion of
a chromosome that controls a phenotype be called a “gene” (Greek: “to give birth to”).

1913 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant (1891-1970) began constructing a chromosome map for
Drosophelia (it was completed in

1951 for all four Drosophelia chromosomes).

1919 - Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1976) of the U.S. experimented with Drosophelia to
create more mutant flies

1941 - George W. Beadle (1903-1989) of the U.S. and Edward L. Tatum (1909-1975) of the U.S.
discovered that genes control the production of enzymes.

1944 - Oswald T. Avery (1877-1955) of the U.S. announced that DNA alone is the substance
responsible for heredity. 1952 - Francis H. C. Crick (1916- ) of Britain and James D. Watson
(1928- ) of the U.S. made a model of the DNA molecule and proved that genes determine
heredity.

1950’s - Maurice Wilkins (1916- ), Rosalind Franklin (1920-1957), Crick and Watson discover
chemical structure of DNA, starting a new branch of science--molecular biology.

1957 - Arthur Kornberg (1918- ) of the U.S. produced DNA in a test tube.

1966 - The Genetic code was discovered; scientists are now able to predict characteristics by
studying DNA. This leads to genetic engineering, genetic counseling

1972 - Paul Berg (1926- ) of the U.S. produced the first recombinant DNA molecule.

1982 - The first recombinant DNA drug approved by the FDA--genetically engineered insulin
for diabetics.

1983 - Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) of the U.S. was awarded the Nobel Prize for her
discovery that genes are able to change position on chromosomes.

1988 - An international team of scientists began the project to map the human genome.

The Late 1980’s - The first crime conviction based on DNA fingerprinting, in Portland Oregon.