•

Biology
• Language
• Watch
• Edit
For other uses, see Biology (disambiguation).

"Biological" redirects here. For other uses, see Biological (disambiguation).

Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including
their physical structure, chemical processes, molecular interactions, physiological
mechanisms, development and evolution.[1] Despite the complexity of the science,
certain unifying concepts consolidate it into a single, coherent field. Biology
recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity,
and evolution as the engine that propels
the creation and extinction of species. Living organisms are open systems that
survive by transforming energy and decreasing their local entropy[2] to maintain a
stable and vital condition defined as homeostasis.[3]
 Biology deals with the study of life and organisms.

• top: E. coli bacteria and gazelle

• bottom: Goliath beetle and tree fern

Sub-disciplines of biology are defined by the research methods employed and the
kind of system studied: theoretical biology uses mathematical methods to
formulate quantitative models while experimental biology performs empirical
experiments to test the validity of proposed theories and understand the
mechanisms underlying life and how it appeared and evolved from non-living
matter about 4 billion years ago through a gradual increase in the complexity of the
system.[4][5][6]
Etymology
"Biology" derives from the Ancient Greek words of βίος; romanized bíos meaning
"life" and -λογία; romanized logía (-logy) meaning "branch of study" or "to
speak". [7][8] Those combined make the Greek word βιολογία; romanized biología
meaning biology. Despite this, the term βιολογία as a whole didn't exist in Ancient
Greek. The first to borrow it was the English and French (biologie). Historically
there was another term for "biology" in English, lifelore; it is rarely used today.
The Latin-language form of the term first appeared in 1736 when Swedish
scientist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) used biologi in his Bibliotheca Botanica. It
was used again in 1766 in a work entitled Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae:
tomus III, continens geologian, biologian, phytologian generalis, by Michael
Christoph Hanov, a disciple of Christian Wolff. The first German use, Biologie, was
in a 1771 translation of Linnaeus' work. In 1797, Theodor Georg August Roose
used the term in the preface of a book, Grundzüge der Lehre van der
Lebenskraft. Karl Friedrich Burdach used the term in 1800 in a more restricted
sense of the study of human beings from a morphological, physiological and
psychological perspective (Propädeutik zum Studien der gesammten Heilkunst). The
term came into its modern usage with the six-volume treatise Biologie, oder
Philosophie der lebenden Natur (1802–22) by Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus, who
announced:[9]
The objects of our research will be the different forms and manifestations of life,
the conditions and laws under which these phenomena occur, and the causes
through which they have been affected. The science that concerns itself with these
objects we will indicate by the name biology [Biologie] or the doctrine of life
[Lebenslehre].

History
Main article: History of biology
A Diagram of a fly from Robert Hooke's innovative Micrographia, 1665

Ernst Haeckel's Tree of Life (1879)

Although modern biology is a relatively recent development, sciences related to

and included within it have been studied since ancient times. Natural
philosophy was studied as early as the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt,
the Indian subcontinent, and China. However, the origins of modern biology and its
approach to the study of nature are most often traced back to ancient
Greece.[10][11] While the formal study of medicine dates back to Pharaonic Egypt, it
was Aristotle (384–322 BC) who contributed most extensively to the development
of biology. Especially important are his History of Animals and other works where
he showed naturalist leanings, and later more empirical works that focused on
biological causation and the diversity of life. Aristotle's successor at
the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on botany that survived as the
most important contribution of antiquity to the plant sciences, even into the Middle
Ages.[12]
Scholars of the medieval Islamic world who wrote on biology included al-
Jahiz (781–869), Al-Dīnawarī (828–896), who wrote on
botany,[13] and Rhazes (865–925) who wrote
on anatomy and physiology. Medicine was especially well studied by Islamic
scholars working in Greek philosopher traditions, while natural history drew
heavily on Aristotelian thought, especially in upholding a fixed hierarchy of life.
Biology began to quickly develop and grow with Anton van Leeuwenhoek's
dramatic improvement of the microscope. It was then that scholars
discovered spermatozoa, bacteria, infusoria and the diversity of microscopic life.
Investigations by Jan Swammerdam led to new interest in entomology and helped
to develop the basic techniques of microscopic dissection and staining.[14]
Advances in microscopy also had a profound impact on biological thinking. In the
early 19th century, a number of biologists pointed to the central importance of
the cell. Then, in 1838, Schleiden and Schwann began promoting the now universal
ideas that (1) the basic unit of organisms is the cell and (2) that individual cells
have all the characteristics of life, although they opposed the idea that (3) all cells
come from the division of other cells. Thanks to the work of Robert
Remak and Rudolf Virchow, however, by the 1860s most biologists accepted all
three tenets of what came to be known as cell theory.[15][16]
Meanwhile, taxonomy and classification became the focus of natural
historians. Carl Linnaeus published a basic taxonomy for the natural world in 1735
(variations of which have been in use ever since), and in the 1750s
introduced scientific names for all his species.[17] Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de
Buffon, treated species as artificial categories and living forms as malleable—even
suggesting the possibility of common descent. Although he was opposed to
evolution, Buffon is a key figure in the history of evolutionary thought; his work
influenced the evolutionary theories of both Lamarck and Darwin.[18]
Serious evolutionary thinking originated with the works of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck,
who was the first to present a coherent theory of evolution.[19] He posited that
evolution was the result of environmental stress on properties of animals, meaning
that the more frequently and rigorously an organ was used, the more complex and
efficient it would become, thus adapting the animal to its environment. Lamarck
believed that these acquired traits could then be passed on to the animal's
offspring, who would further develop and perfect them. [20] However, it was the
British naturalist Charles Darwin, combining the biogeographical approach
of Humboldt, the uniformitarian geology of Lyell, Malthus's writings on population
growth, and his own morphological expertise and extensive natural observations,
who forged a more successful evolutionary theory based on natural selection;
similar reasoning and evidence led Alfred Russel Wallace to independently reach
the same conclusions.[21][22] Although it was the subject of controversy (which
continues to this day), Darwin's theory quickly spread through the scientific
community and soon became a central axiom of the rapidly developing science of
biology.
The discovery of the physical representation of heredity came along with
evolutionary principles and population genetics. In the 1940s and early 1950s,
experiments pointed to DNA as the component of chromosomes that held the trait-
carrying units that had become known as genes. A focus on new kinds of model
organisms such as viruses and bacteria, along with the discovery of the double-
helical structure of DNA in 1953, marked the transition to the era of molecular
genetics. From the 1950s to the present times, biology has been vastly extended in
the molecular domain. The genetic code was cracked by Har Gobind
Khorana, Robert W. Holley and Marshall Warren Nirenberg after DNA was
understood to contain codons. Finally, the Human Genome Project was launched in
1990 with the goal of mapping the general human genome. This project was
essentially completed in 2003,[23] with further analysis still being published. The
Human Genome Project was the first step in a globalized effort to incorporate
accumulated knowledge of biology into a functional, molecular definition of the
human body and the bodies of other organisms.
Foundations of modern biology
Cell theory

HeLa cells with nuclei (specifically the DNA) stained blue. The central and rightmost cells are
in interphase, so the entire nuclei are labeled. The cell on the left is going through mitosis and its DNA
has condensed.

Main article: Cell theory

Cell theory states that the cell is the fundamental unit of life, that all living things
are composed of one or more cells, and that all cells arise from pre-existing cells
through cell division. 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. [24] In addition, 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. Research into the origin of life, abiogenesis,
amounts to an attempt to discover the origin of the first cells.
Evolution

Natural selection of a population for dark coloration.

Main article: Evolution

A central organizing concept in biology is that life changes and develops through
evolution, and that all life-forms known have a common origin. The theory of
evolution postulates that all organisms on the Earth, both living and extinct, have
descended from a common ancestor or an ancestral gene pool. This universal
common ancestor of all organisms is believed to have appeared about 3.5 billion
years ago.[25] Biologists regard the ubiquity of the genetic code as definitive
evidence in favor of the theory of universal common descent for
all bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes (see: origin of life).[26]
The term "evolution" was introduced into the scientific lexicon by Jean-Baptiste de
Lamarck in 1809,[27] and fifty years later Charles Darwin posited a scientific model
of natural selection as evolution's driving force. [28][29][30] (Alfred Russel Wallace is
recognized as the co-discoverer of this concept as he helped research and
experiment with the concept of evolution.)[31] Evolution is now used to explain the
great variations of life found on Earth.
Darwin theorized that species flourish or die when subjected to the processes
of natural selection or selective breeding.[32] Genetic drift was embraced as an
additional mechanism of evolutionary development in the modern synthesis of the
theory.[33]
The evolutionary history of the species—which describes the characteristics of the
various species from which it descended—together with its genealogical
relationship to every other species is known as its phylogeny. Widely varied
approaches to biology generate information about phylogeny. These include the
comparisons of DNA sequences, a product of molecular biology (more
particularly genomics), and comparisons of fossils or other records of ancient
organisms, a product of paleontology.[34] Biologists organize and analyze
evolutionary relationships through various methods,
including phylogenetics, phenetics, and cladistics. (For a summary of major events
in the evolution of life as currently understood by biologists, see evolutionary
timeline.)
Evolution is relevant to the understanding of the natural history of life forms and to
the understanding of the organization of current life forms. But, those
organizations can only be understood in light of how they came to be by way of the
process of evolution. Consequently, evolution is central to all fields of biology. [35]
Genetics

A Punnett square depicting a cross between two pea plants heterozygous for purple (B) and white (b)
blossoms

Main article: Genetics

Genes are the primary units of inheritance in all organisms. A gene is a unit
of heredity and corresponds to a region of DNA that influences the form or function
of an organism in specific ways. All organisms, from bacteria to animals, share the
same basic machinery that copies and translates DNA into proteins.
Cells transcribe a DNA gene into an RNA version of the gene, and
a ribosome then translates the RNA into a sequence of amino acids known as a
protein. The translation code from RNA codon to amino acid is the same for most
organisms. For example, a sequence of DNA that codes for insulin in humans also
codes for insulin when inserted into other organisms, such as plants. [36]
DNA is found as linear chromosomes in eukaryotes, and circular chromosomes
in prokaryotes. A chromosome is an organized structure consisting
of DNA and histones. The set of chromosomes in a cell and any other hereditary
information found in the mitochondria, chloroplasts, or other locations is
collectively known as a cell's genome. In eukaryotes, genomic DNA is localized in
the cell nucleus, or with small amounts in mitochondria and chloroplasts. In
prokaryotes, the DNA is held within an irregularly shaped body in the cytoplasm
called the nucleoid.[37] The genetic information in a genome is held within genes,
and the complete assemblage of this information in an organism is called
its genotype.[38]
Homeostasis
Main article: Homeostasis

The hypothalamus secretes CRH, which directs the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH. In turn, ACTH
directs the adrenal cortex to secrete glucocorticoids, such as cortisol. The GCs then reduce the rate of
secretion by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland once a sufficient amount of GCs has been
released.[39]

Homeostasis is the ability of an open system to regulate its internal environment to

maintain stable conditions by means of multiple dynamic equilibrium adjustments
that are controlled by interrelated regulation mechanisms. All living organisms,
whether unicellular or multicellular, exhibit homeostasis.[40]
To maintain dynamic equilibrium and effectively carry out certain functions, a
system must detect and respond to perturbations. After the detection of a
perturbation, a biological system normally responds through negative
feedback that stabilize conditions by reducing or increasing the activity of an organ
or system. One example is the release of glucagon when sugar levels are too low.

Basic overview of energy and human life.

Energy
The survival of a living organism depends on the continuous input of energy.
Chemical reactions that are responsible for its structure and function are tuned to
extract energy from substances that act as its food and transform them to help form
new cells and sustain them. In this process, molecules of chemical substances that
constitute food play two roles; first, they contain energy that can be transformed
and reused in that organism's biological, chemical reactions; second, food can be
transformed into new molecular structures (biomolecules) that are of use to that
organism.
The organisms responsible for the introduction of energy into an ecosystem are
known as producers or autotrophs. Nearly all such organisms originally draw their
energy from the sun.[41] Plants and other phototrophs use solar energy via a
process known as photosynthesis to convert raw materials into organic molecules,
such as ATP, whose bonds can be broken to release energy.[42] A few ecosystems,
however, depend entirely on energy extracted
by chemotrophs from methane, sulfides, or other non-luminal energy sources.[43]
Some of the energy thus captured produces biomass and energy that is available
for growth and development of other life forms. The majority of the rest of this
biomass and energy are lost as waste molecules and heat. The most important
processes for converting the energy trapped in chemical substances into energy
useful to sustain life are metabolism[44] and cellular respiration.[45]
Study and research
Structural
Main articles: Molecular biology, Cell biology, Genetics, and Developmental biology

Schematic of typical animal cell depicting the various organelles and structures.

Molecular biology is the study of biology at the molecular level. [46] This field
overlaps with other areas of biology, particularly those
of genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology is a study of the interactions of the
various systems within a cell, including the interrelationships of DNA, RNA, and
protein synthesis and how those interactions are regulated.
The next larger scale, cell biology, studies the structural
and physiological properties of cells, including their internal behavior, interactions
with other cells, and with their environment. This is done on both
the microscopic and molecular levels, for unicellular organisms such as bacteria, as
well as the specialized cells of multicellular organisms such as humans.
Understanding the structure and function of cells is fundamental to all of the
biological sciences. The similarities and differences between cell types are
particularly relevant to molecular biology.
Anatomy is a treatment of the macroscopic forms of such structures organs and
organ systems.[47]
Genetics is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation
of organisms.[48][49] Genes encode the information needed by cells for the synthesis
of proteins, which in turn play a central role in influencing the final phenotype of
the organism. Genetics provides research tools used in the investigation of the
function of a particular gene, or the analysis of genetic interactions. Within
organisms, genetic information is physically represented as chromosomes, within
which it is represented by a particular sequence of amino acids in
particular DNA molecules.
Developmental biology studies the process by which organisms grow and develop.
Developmental biology, originated from embryology, studies the genetic control
of cell growth, cellular differentiation, and "cellular morphogenesis," which is the
process that progressively gives rise to tissues, organs, and anatomy. Model
organisms for developmental biology include the round worm Caenorhabditis
elegans,[50] the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster,[51] the zebrafish Danio
rerio,[52] the mouse Mus musculus,[53] and the weed Arabidopsis thaliana.[54][55] (A
model organism is a species that is extensively studied to understand particular
biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in that organism
provide insight into the workings of other organisms.) [56]
Physiological
Main article: Physiology

Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical processes of

living organisms function as a whole. The theme of "structure to function" is central
to biology. Physiological studies have traditionally been divided into plant
physiology and animal physiology, but some principles of physiology are universal,
no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned
about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. The field of animal
physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human
species. Plant physiology borrows techniques from both research fields.
Physiology is the study of the interaction of how, for example,
the nervous, immune, endocrine, respiratory, and circulatory systems, function and
interact. The study of these systems is shared with such medically oriented
disciplines as neurology and immunology.
Evolutionary
Evolutionary research is concerned with the origin and descent of species, and
their change over time. It employs scientists from many taxonomically oriented
disciplines; for example, those with special training in particular organisms such
as mammalogy, ornithology, botany, or herpetology, but are of use in answering
more general questions about evolution.
Evolutionary biology is partly based on paleontology, which uses the fossil record
to answer questions about the mode and tempo of evolution, [57] and partly on the
developments in areas such as population genetics.[58] In the 1980s, developmental
biology re-entered evolutionary biology after its initial exclusion from the modern
synthesis through the study of evolutionary developmental
biology.[59] Phylogenetics, systematics, and taxonomy are related fields often
considered part of evolutionary biology.
Systematic

A phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three
domains bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes as described initially by Carl Woese. Trees constructed with
other genes are generally similar, although they may place some early-branching groups very differently,
presumably owing to rapid rRNA evolution. The exact relationships between the three domains are still
being debated.

The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. Intermediate minor rankings
are not shown. This diagram uses a 3 Domains / 6 Kingdoms format

Main article: Systematics

Multiple speciation events create a tree structured system of relationships between

species. The role of systematics is to study these relationships and thus the
differences and similarities between species and groups of species. [60] However,
systematics was an active field of research long before evolutionary thinking was
common.[61]
Traditionally, living things have been divided into five
kingdoms: Monera; Protista; Fungi; Plantae; Animalia.[62] However, many scientists
now consider this five-kingdom system outdated. Modern alternative classification
systems generally begin with the three-domain system: Archaea (originally
Archaebacteria); Bacteria (originally Eubacteria)
and Eukaryota (including protists, fungi, plants, and animals).[63] These domains
reflect whether the cells have nuclei or not, as well as differences in the chemical
composition of key biomolecules such as ribosomes.[63]
Further, each kingdom is broken down recursively until each species is separately
classified. The order
is: Domain; Kingdom; Phylum; Class; Order; Family; Genus; Species.
Outside of these categories, there are obligate intracellular parasites that are "on
the edge of life"[64] in terms of metabolic activity, meaning that many scientists do
not actually classify such structures as alive, due to their lack of at least one or
more of the fundamental functions or characteristics that define life. They are
classified as viruses, viroids, prions, or satellites.
The scientific name of an organism is generated from its genus and species. For
example, humans are listed as Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus, and sapiens the
species. When writing the scientific name of an organism, it is proper to capitalize
the first letter in the genus and put all of the species in lowercase.[65] Additionally,
the entire term may be italicized or underlined. [66]
The dominant classification system is called the Linnaean taxonomy. It includes
ranks and binomial nomenclature. How organisms are named is governed by
international agreements such as the International Code of Nomenclature for algae,
fungi, and plants (ICN), the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN),
and the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB). The classification
of viruses, viroids, prions, and all other sub-viral agents that demonstrate biological
characteristics is conducted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of
Viruses (ICTV) and is known as the International Code of Viral Classification and
Nomenclature (ICVCN).[67][68][69][70] However, several other viral classification
systems do exist.
A merging draft, BioCode, was published in 1997 in an attempt to standardize
nomenclature in these three areas, but has yet to be formally adopted.[71] The
BioCode draft has received little attention since 1997; its originally planned
implementation date of January 1, 2000, has passed unnoticed. A revised BioCode
that, instead of replacing the existing codes, would provide a unified context for
them, was proposed in 2011.[72][73][74] However, the International Botanical
Congress of 2011 declined to consider the BioCode proposal. The ICVCN remains
outside the BioCode, which does not include viral classification.
Kingdoms
Main article: Kingdom (biology)

Animalia – Bos primigenius taurus

 •

Plantae – Triticum

Fungi – Morchella esculenta

Stramenopila/Chromista – Fucus serratus

Bacteria – Gemmatimonas aurantiaca (-=1 Micrometer)

Archaea – Halobacteria

Virus – Gamma phage

Ecological and environmental

Mutual symbiosis between clownfish of the genus Amphiprion that dwell among the tentacles of
tropical sea anemones. The territorial fish protects the anemone from anemone-eating fish, and in turn
the stinging tentacles of the anemone protect the clown fish from its predators.

Main articles: Ecology, Ethology, Behavior, and Biogeography

Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms, the
interaction between them and their environment.[75] An organism shares an
environment that includes other organisms and biotic factors as well as
local abiotic factors (non-living) such as climate and ecology.[76] One reason that
biological systems can be difficult to study is that so many different interactions
with other organisms and the environment are possible, even on small scales. A
microscopic bacterium responding to a local sugar gradient is responding to its
environment as much as a lion searching for food in the African savanna. For any
species, behaviors can be co-operative, competitive, parasitic, or symbiotic. Matters
become more complex when two or more species interact in an ecosystem.
Ecological systems are studied at several different levels, from the scale of the
ecology of individual organisms, to those of populations, to the ecosystems and
finally the biosphere. The term population biology is often used interchangeably
with population ecology, although population biology is more frequently used in the
case of diseases, viruses, and microbes, while the term population ecology is more
commonly applied to the study of plants and animals. Ecology draws on many
subdisciplines.
Ethology is the study of animal behavior (particularly that of social animals such
as primates and canids), and is sometimes considered a branch of zoology.
Ethologists have been particularly concerned with the evolution of behavior and
the understanding of behavior in terms of the theory of natural selection. In one
sense, the first modern ethologist was Charles Darwin, whose book, The Expression
of the Emotions in Man and Animals, influenced many ethologists to come. [77]
Biogeography studies the spatial distribution of organisms on the Earth, focusing
on such topics as plate tectonics, climate change, dispersal and migration,
and cladistics.
Basic unresolved problems in biology
Main article: List of unsolved problems in biology

Despite the profound advances made over recent decades in our understanding of
life's fundamental processes, some basic problems have remained unresolved.
Some examples are

Origin of life. While there is very good evidence for the abiotic origin of biological
compounds such as amino acids, nucleotides and lipids, it is largely unclear how
these molecules came together to form the first cells. Related is the question
of extra-terrestrial life. If we understand how life originated on earth, we can
predict more reliably which conditions are required to generate life on other
planets.
Aging. At present, there is no consensus view on the underlying cause of aging.
Various competing theories are outlined in Ageing Theories.
Pattern formation. We have a good understanding of pattern formation in some
systems, such as the early insect embryo, but the generation of many patterns in
nature cannot be explained easily, e.g. the stripes in zebras or many snakes, such
as coral snakes. While we know that the patterns are generated by
selective activation or repression of genes, many of these genes and their
regulatory mechanisms remain unknown.
Branches and career options
Biology is an area of science with numerous subdisciplines that are concerned with
all aspects of life, in fact all aspects of modern human life. That said, there are
countless career options, ranging from basic science to industrial or agricultural
applications. These are the main branches of biology: [78][79][a]
• Anatomy – the study of organisms’ structures
o Comparative anatomy – the study of evolution of species through
similarities and differences in their anatomy
o Histology – the study of tissues, a microscopic branch of anatomy
• Astrobiology (also known as exobiology, exopaleontology, and bioastronomy) – the
study of evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe
• Biochemistry – the study of the chemical reactions required for life to exist and
function, usually a focus on the cellular level
• Biological engineering – the attempt to create products inspired by biological systems
or to modify and interact with the biological systems
• Biogeography – the study of the distribution of species spatially and temporally
• Bioinformatics – the use of information technology for the study, collection, and
storage of genomic and other biological data
• Biolinguistics – the study of the biology and evolution of language
• Biomechanics – the study of the mechanics of living beings
• Biomedical research – the study of health and disease
• Biophysics – the study of biological processes by applying the theories and methods
traditionally employed in the physical sciences
• Biotechnology – the study of the manipulation of living matter, including genetic
modification and synthetic biology
o Synthetic biology – research integrating biology and engineering;
construction of biological functions not found in nature
• Botany – the study of plants
o Phycology – the scientific study of algae
o Plant physiology – concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of
plants
o Astrobotany - the study of plants in space
• Cell biology – the study of the cell as a complete unit, and the molecular and chemical
interactions that occur within a living cell
• Chronobiology – the study of periodic events in living systems
• Cognitive biology – the study of cognition
• Conservation biology – the study of the preservation, protection, or restoration of the
natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife
• Cryobiology – the study of the effects of lower than normally preferred temperatures
on living beings
• Developmental biology – the study of the processes through which an organism
forms, from zygote to full structure
o Embryology – the study of the development of the embryo (from
fecundation to birth)
o Gerontology – the study of ageing processes
• Ecology – the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with
the non-living elements of their environment
• Evolutionary biology – the study of the origin and descent of species over time
• Genetics – the study of genes and heredity
o Genomics – the study of genomes
o Epigenetics – the study of heritable changes in gene expression or
cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the
underlying DNA sequence
• Immunology – the study of the immune system
• Marine biology (or biological oceanography) – the study of ocean ecosystems, plants,
animals, and other living beings
• Microbiology – the study of microscopic organisms (microorganisms) and their
interactions with other living things
o Bacteriology – the study of bacteria
o Mycology – the study of fungi
o Parasitology – the study of parasites and parasitism
o Virology – the study of viruses and some other virus-like agents
• Molecular biology – the study of biology and biological functions at the molecular
level, some cross over with biochemistry
 • Nanobiology – the application of nanotechnology in biological research, and the study
of living organisms and parts on the nanoscale level of organization
• Neuroscience – the study of the nervous system
• Paleontology – the study of fossils and sometimes geographic evidence of prehistoric
life
• Pathobiology or pathology – the study of diseases, and the causes, processes, nature,
and development of disease
• Pharmacology – the study of the interactions between drugs and organisms
• Phycology – the study of seaweeds and other algae
• Physiology – the study of the functions and mechanisms occurring in living organisms
• Phytopathology – the study of plant diseases (also called Plant Pathology)
• Psychobiology – the application of methods traditionally used in biology to study
human and non-human animals behaviour
• Quantum biology – the study of the role of quantum phenomena in biological
processes
• Sociobiology - the study of social behavior in terms of evolution
• Systems biology – the study of complex interactions within biological systems
through a holistic approach
• Structural biology – a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry,
and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological
macromolecules
• Theoretical biology – the branch of biology that employs abstractions and
mathematical models to explain biological phenomena
• Zoology – the study of animals, including classification, physiology, development,
evolution and behaviour, including:
o Ethology – the study of animal behaviour
o Entomology – the study of insects
o Herpetology – the study of reptiles and amphibians
o Ichthyology – the study of fish
o Mammalogy – the study of mammals
o Ornithology – the study of birds

See also
Notes
1. ^ For a more detailed list, see Outline of biology.

References
1. ^ Based on definition from: "Aquarena Wetlands Project glossary of terms". Texas
State University at San Marcos. Archived from the original on 2004-06-08.
2. ^ Davies, PC; Rieper, E; Tuszynski, JA (January 2013). "Self-organization and entropy
reduction in a living cell". Bio Systems. 111 (1): 1–
10. doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2012.10.005. PMC 3712629. PMID 23159919.
3. ^ Modell, Harold; Cliff, William; Michael, Joel; McFarland, Jenny; Wenderoth, Mary
Pat; Wright, Ann (December 2015). "A physiologist's view of homeostasis". Advances
in Physiology Education. 39 (4): 259–66. doi:10.1152/advan.00107.2015. ISSN 1043-
4046. PMC 4669363. PMID 26628646.
4. ^ Craig, Nancy (2014). Molecular Biology, Principles of Genome Function. ISBN 978-
0-19-965857-2.
5. ^ Mosconi, Francesco; Julou, Thomas; Desprat, Nicolas; Sinha, Deepak Kumar;
Allemand, Jean-François; Vincent Croquette; Bensimon, David (2008). "Some
nonlinear challenges in biology". Nonlinearity. 21 (8):
 T131. Bibcode:2008Nonli..21..131M. doi:10.1088/0951-7715/21/8/T03. ISSN 0951-
7715.
6. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (8 December 2014). "How Did Life Become Complex, And Could It
Happen Beyond Earth?". Astrobiology Magazine. Archived from the original on 17
August 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
7. ^ "Who coined the term biology?". Info.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-
09. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
8. ^ "biology". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2013-03-07.
9. ^ Richards, Robert J. (2002). The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy
in the Age of Goethe. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-71210-9.
10. ^ Magner, Lois N. (2002). A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded. CRC
Press. ISBN 978-0-203-91100-6. Archived from the original on 2015-03-24.
11. ^ Serafini, Anthony (2013). The Epic History of Biology. ISBN 978-1-4899-6327-7.
Retrieved 14 July 2015.
12. ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication
now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Theophrastus". Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
13. ^ Fahd, Toufic (1996). "Botany and agriculture". In Morelon, Régis; Rashed, Roshdi
(eds.). Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science. 3. Routledge. p. 815. ISBN 978-0-
415-12410-2.
14. ^ Magner, Lois N. (2002). A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded. CRC
Press. pp. 133–44. ISBN 978-0-203-91100-6. Archived from the original on 2015-03-
24.
15. ^ Sapp, Jan (2003). "7". Genesis: The Evolution of Biology. New York.: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515618-8.
16. ^ Coleman, William (1977). Biology in the Nineteenth Century: Problems of Form,
Function, and Transformation. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-
521-29293-1.
17. ^ Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought, chapter 4
18. ^ Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought, chapter 7
19. ^ Gould, Stephen Jay. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 2002. ISBN 0-674-00613-5. p. 187.
20. ^ Lamarck (1914)
21. ^ Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought, chapter 10: "Darwin's evidence for
evolution and common descent"; and chapter 11: "The causation of evolution:
natural selection"
22. ^ Larson, Edward J. (2006). "Ch. 3". Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific
Theory. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-58836-538-5. Archived from
the original on 2015-03-24.
23. ^ Noble, Ivan (2003-04-14). "Human genome finally complete". BBC
News. Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2006-07-22.
24. ^ Mazzarello, P (May 1999). "A unifying concept: the history of cell theory". Nature
Cell Biology. 1(1): E13–15. doi:10.1038/8964. PMID 10559875. S2CID 7338204.
25. ^ De Duve, Christian (2002). Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning. New York:
Oxford University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-19-515605-8.
26. ^ Futuyma, DJ (2005). Evolution. Sinauer Associates. ISBN 978-0-87893-187-
3. OCLC 57311264.
27. ^ Packard, Alpheus Spring (1901). Lamarck, the founder of Evolution: his life and
work with translations of his writings on organic evolution. New York: Longmans,
Green. ISBN 978-0-405-12562-1.
28. ^ "The Complete Works of Darwin Online – Biography". darwin-
online.org.uk. Archivedfrom the original on 2007-01-07. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
29. ^ Dobzhansky, T. (1973). "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of
evolution". The American Biology Teacher. 35 (3): 125–
 29. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.525.3586. doi:10.2307/4444260. JSTOR 4444260. S2CID 2073581
77.
30. ^ Carroll, Joseph, ed. (2003). On the origin of species by means of natural selection.
Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-55111-337-1. As Darwinian
scholar Joseph Carroll of the University of Missouri–St. Louis puts it in his
introduction to a modern reprint of Darwin's work: "The Origin of Specieshas special
claims on our attention. It is one of the two or three most significant works of all
time—one of those works that fundamentally and permanently alter our vision of the
world ... It is argued with a singularly rigorous consistency but it is also eloquent,
imaginatively evocative, and rhetorically compelling."
31. ^ Shermer p. 149.
32. ^ Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species, John Murray.
33. ^ Simpson, George Gaylord (1967). The Meaning of Evolution (Second ed.). Yale
University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-00952-1.
34. ^ "Phylogeny". Bio-medicine.org. 2007-11-11. Archived from the original on 2013-10-
04. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
35. ^ Montévil, M; Mossio, M; Pocheville, A; Longo, G (October 2016). "Theoretical
principles for biology: Variation". Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology. From
the Century of the Genome to the Century of the Organism: New Theoretical
Approaches. 122 (1): 36–
50. doi:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2016.08.005. PMID 27530930. Archived from the
original on 2018-03-20.
36. ^ Marcial, Gene G. (August 13, 2007) From SemBiosys, A New Kind Of
Insulin Archived2014-10-29 at the Wayback Machine. businessweek.com
37. ^ Thanbichler, M; Wang, SC; Shapiro, L (October 2005). "The bacterial nucleoid: a
highly organized and dynamic structure". Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. 96 (3):
506–21. doi:10.1002/jcb.20519. PMID 15988757. S2CID 25355087.
38. ^ "Genotype definition – Medical Dictionary definitions". Medterms.com. 2012-03-
19. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
39. ^ Raven, PH; Johnson, GB (1999). Biology(Fifth ed.). Boston: Hill Companies.
p. 1058. ISBN 978-0-697-35353-5.
40. ^ Rodolfo, Kelvin (January 2000). "What is homeostasis?". Scientific
American. Archivedfrom the original on 2013-12-03.
41. ^ Bryant, DA; Frigaard, NU (November 2006). "Prokaryotic photosynthesis and
phototrophy illuminated". Trends in Microbiology. 14 (11): 488–
96. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2006.09.001. PMID 16997562.
42. ^ Smith, AL (1997). Oxford dictionary of biochemistry and molecular biology. Oxford
[Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 508. ISBN 978-0-19-854768-
6. Photosynthesis – the synthesis by organisms of organic chemical compounds, esp.
carbohydrates, from carbon dioxide using energy obtained from light rather than the
oxidation of chemical compounds.
43. ^ Edwards, Katrina. "Microbiology of a Sediment Pond and the Underlying Young,
Cold, Hydrologically Active Ridge Flank". Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
44. ^ Campbell, Neil A.; Reece, Jane B. (2001). "6". Biology. Benjamin
Cummings. ISBN 978-0-8053-6624-2. OCLC 47521441.
45. ^ Bartsch, John; Colvard, Mary P. (2009). The Living Environment. New York State:
Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-361202-8.
46. ^ "Molecular Biology". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-25.
Retrieved 2018-04-25.
47. ^ Gray, Henry (1918). Anatomy of the Human Body (20th ed.). Archived from the
original on 2007-03-16.
48. ^ Griffiths, Anthony J.F.; Miller, Jeffrey H.; Suzuki, David T.; Lewontin, Richard C.;
Gelbart, William M., eds. (2000). "Genetics and the Organism: Introduction". An
 Introduction to Genetic Analysis (7th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-
7167-3520-5.
49. ^ Hartl, D, Jones, E (2005). Genetics: Analysis of Genes and Genomes (6th ed.). Jones &
Bartlett. ISBN 978-0-7637-1511-3.
50. ^ Brenner, S (May 1974). "The genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans". Genetics. 77 (1):
71–94. doi:10.1093/genetics/77.1.71. PMC 1213120. PMID 4366476. Archivedfrom
the original on 2015-06-29.
51. ^ Sang, James H. (2001). "Drosophila melanogaster: The Fruit Fly". In Reeve, Eric C.R.
(ed.). Encyclopedia of genetics. USA: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, I. p. 157. ISBN 978-
1-884964-34-3.
52. ^ Haffter, P; Nüsslein-Volhard, C (February 1996). "Large scale genetics in a small
vertebrate, the zebrafish". The International Journal of Developmental
Biology. 40 (1): 221–27. PMID 8735932. Archived from the original on 2016-05-15.
53. ^ Keller G (May 2005). "Embryonic stem cell differentiation: emergence of a new era
in biology and medicine". Genes & Development. 19 (10): 1129–
55. doi:10.1101/gad.1303605. PMID 15905405.
54. ^ Rensink, WA; Buell, CR (June 2004). "Arabidopsis to rice. Applying knowledge from
a weed to enhance our understanding of a crop species". Plant Physiology. 135 (2):
622–29. doi:10.1104/pp.104.040170. PMC 514098. PMID 15208410.
55. ^ Coelho, SM; Peters, AF; Charrier, B; Roze, D; Destombe, C; Valero, M; Cock, JM
(December 2007). "Complex life cycles of multicellular eukaryotes: new approaches
based on the use of model organisms". Gene. 406 (1–2): 152–
70. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2007.07.025. PMID 17870254.
56. ^ Fields, S; Johnston, M (March 2005). "Cell biology. Whither model organism
research?". Science. 307 (5717): 1885–
86. doi:10.1126/science.1108872. PMID 15790833. S2CID 82519062.
57. ^ Jablonski D (June 1999). "The future of the fossil record". Science. 284 (5423):
2114–16. doi:10.1126/science.284.5423.2114. PMID 10381868.
58. ^ Gillespie, John H. (1998). Population Genetics: A Concise Guide. Johns Hopkins
Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5755-3.
59. ^ Smocovitis, Vassiliki Betta (1996). Unifying Biology: the evolutionary synthesis and
evolutionary biology. Journal of the History of Biology. 25. Princeton University Press.
pp. 1–65. doi:10.1007/BF01947504. ISBN 978-0-691-03343-
3. PMID 11623198. S2CID 189833728.
60. ^ Neill, Campbell (1996). Biology; Fourth edition. The Benjamin/Cummings
Publishing Company. p. G-21 (Glossary). ISBN 978-0-8053-1940-8.
61. ^ Douglas, Futuyma (1998). Evolutionary Biology; Third edition. Sinauer Associates.
p. 88. ISBN 978-0-87893-189-7.
62. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Schwartz, KV (1997). Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the
Phyla of Life on Earth (3rd ed.). WH Freeman & Co. ISBN 978-0-7167-3183-
2. OCLC 223623098.
63. ^ a b Woese, CR; Kandler, O; Wheelis, ML (June 1990). "Towards a natural system of
organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya". Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 87(12): 4576–
79. Bibcode:1990PNAS...87.4576W. doi:10.1073/pnas.87.12.4576. PMC 54159. PMID
2112744.
64. ^ Rybicki, EP (1990). "The classification of organisms at the edge of life, or problems
with virus systematics". S Afr J Sci. 86: 182–86. Archived from the original on 2017-
07-18.
65. ^ McNeill, J; Barrie, FR; Buck, WR; Demoulin, V; Greuter, W; Hawksworth, DL; et al.
(2012). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne
Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne,
Australia, July 2011. Regnum Vegetabile 154. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG. ISBN 978-3-
87429-425-6. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Recommendation 60F
 66. ^ Silyn-Roberts, Heather (2000). Writing for Science and Engineering: Papers,
Presentation. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-7506-4636-
9. Archived from the original on 2020-10-02. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
67. ^ "ICTV Virus Taxonomy 2009". Ictvonline.org. Archived from the original on 2013-
10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
68. ^ Index of Viruses – Pospiviroidae (2006). In: ICTVdB – The Universal Virus
Database, version 4. Büchen-Osmond, C (Ed), Columbia University, New York, USA.
Version 4 is based on Virus Taxonomy, Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses,
8th ICTV Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Fauquet,
CM; Mayo, MA; Maniloff, J; Desselberger, U; Ball, LA (editors) (2005)
Elsevier/Academic Press, pp. 1259.
69. ^ Prusiner, SB; Baldwin, M; Collinge, J; DeArmond, SJ; Marsh, R; Tateishi, J;
Weissmann, C. "90. Prions – ICTVdB Index of Viruses". United States National
Institutes of Health. Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
70. ^ Mayo, MA; Berns, KI; Fritsch, C; Jackson, AO; Leibowitz, MJ; Taylor, JM. "81.
Satellites – ICTVdB Index of Viruses". United States National Institutes of Health.
Archived from the original on 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
71. ^ McNeill, John (November 1996). "The BioCode: Integrated biological nomenclature
for the 21st century?". Proceedings of a Mini-Symposium on Biological Nomenclature
in the 21st Century. Archived from the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
72. ^ "The Draft BioCode (2011)". International Committee on Bionomenclature
(ICB). Archived from the original on 2013-06-13.
73. ^ Greuter, W; Garrity, G; Hawksworth, DL; Jahn, R; Kirk, PM; Knapp, S; McNeill, J,
Michel, E; Patterson, DJ; Pyle, R; Tindall, BJ (2011). "Draft BioCode (2011): Principles
and rules regulating the naming of organisms". Taxon. 60: 201–
12. doi:10.1002/tax.601019.
74. ^ Hawksworth, David L (2011). "Introducing the Draft BioCode (2011)". Taxon. 60:
199–200. doi:10.1002/tax.601018. Archived from the original on 2018-07-20.
Retrieved 2020-06-05.
75. ^ Begon, M; Townsend, CR; Harper, JL (2006). Ecology: From individuals to
ecosystems(4th ed.). Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-1117-1.
76. ^ Habitats of the world. New York: Marshall Cavendish. 2004. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-
7614-7523-1.
77. ^ Black, J (June 2002). "Darwin in the world of emotions". Journal of the Royal Society
of Medicine. 95 (6): 311–
13. doi:10.1258/jrsm.95.6.311. PMC 1279921. PMID 12042386.
78. ^ "Branches of Biology". Biology-online.org. Archived from the original on 2013-07-
27. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
79. ^ "Biology on". Bellaonline.com. Archivedfrom the original on 2013-10-05.
Retrieved 2013-10-02.

Further reading
External links

Last edited 6 days ago by Citation bot

RELATED ARTICLES
• Outline of biology
Hierarchical Wycklieffe Osano
• Zoology
 Study of the animal kingdom
• Outline of evolution
Hierarchical outline list of articles related to evolution

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.

• Privacy policy

• Terms of Use
• Desktop