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BiologyBiology is the science of life. It is concerned with the characteristics and behaviors of organisms, how species and individuals come into existence, and the interactions they have with each other and with their environment.
Overview of biology
Biology encompasses a broad spectrum of academic fields that are often viewed as independent disciplines. Together, they study life over a wide range of scales:
- at the atomic and molecular scale, through molecular biology, biochemistry, and to some extent genetics
- at the cellular scale, through cell biology
- at the multicellular scales, through physiology, anatomy, and histology
- at the level of the development or ontogeny of an individual organism, through developmental biology
- at the level of heredity between parent and offspring through genetics
- at the level of group behavior through ethology
- at the level of an entire population, through population genetics
- on the multi-species scale of lineages, through systematics
- at the level of interdependent populations and their habitats through ecology and evolutionary biology
- and speculatively through xenobiology at the level of life beyond the Earth.
Fields of study in biology
Aerobiology -- Anatomy -- Arachnology-- Astrobiology -- Biochemistry -- Bionics -- Biogeography -- Bioinformatics -- Biomechanics -- Biophysics-- Biotechnology -- Botany -- Cell biology -- Chorology -- Cladistics -- Crustaceology -- Cryptozoology -- Cycles -- Cytology -- Developmental biology -- Disease (Genetic diseases, Infectious diseases) -- Ecology (Theoretical ecology, Symbiology, Autecology, Synecology) -- Ethology -- Entomology -- Evolutionary biology (Evolution) -- Evolutionary developmental biology -- Freshwater biology -- Genetics (Population genetics, Quantitative genetics, Genomics, Proteomics) -- Herpetology -- Histology -- Human biology (Anthropology) -- Ichthyology -- Immunology -- Infectious diseases -- Pathology -- Epidemiology -- Limnology -- Malacology -- Mammalogy -- Marine biology -- Microbiology (Bacteriology) -- Molecular biology -- Morphology -- Mycology / Lichenology --- Myrmecology --- Neuroscience (Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology, Systems neuroscience, Biological psychology, Psychiatry, Psychopharmacology, Behavioral science, Neuroethology, Psychophysics, Computational neuroscience, Cognitive neuroscience, Cognitive science)-- Oncology (the study of cancer) -- Ontogeny -- Origin of life -- Ornithology -- Paleontology (Paleobotany, Paleozoology)-- Parasitology -- Phycology (Algology) -- Phylogeny (Phylogenetics, Phylogeography) -- Physiology -- Phytopathology -- Structural biology -- Taxonomy -- Toxicology (the study of poisons and pollution) -- Virology -- Xenobiology -- Zoology
Related disciplines
Medicine -- Physical anthropology
People and history
Famous biologists -- History of biology -- Nobel prize in physiology or medicine -- Timeline of biology and organic chemistry
List of topics
See: List of biology topics
What are our priorities for writing in this area? To help develop a list of the most basic topics in biology, please see Wikipedia:biology basic topics.
Evolution and biology
One of the central, organizing concepts in biology is that all life has descended from a common origin through a process of evolution. Charles Darwin established evolution as a viable theory by articulating its driving force: natural selection. Genetic drift was embraced as an additional mechanism in the so-called modern synthesis. The evolutionary history of a species—which tells the characteristics of the various species from which it descended—together with its genealogical relationship to every other species is called its phylogeny. Widely varied approaches to biology generate information about phylogeny. These include the comparisons of DNA sequences conducted within molecular biology or genomics, and comparisons of fossils or other records of ancient organisms in paleontology. Biologists organize and analyze evolutionary relationships through various methods, including phylogenetics, phenetics, and cladistics. Major events in the evolution of life, as biologists currently understand them, are summarized on this evolutionary timeline.
Classification of life
The classification of living things is called systematics, or taxonomy, and should reflect the evolutionary trees (phylogenetic trees) of the different organisms. Taxonomy piles up organisms in groups called taxa, while systematics seeks their relationships. The dominant system is called Linnaean taxonomy, which includes ranks and binomial nomenclature. How organisms are named is governed by international agreements such as the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), and the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB). A fourth Draft BioCode was published in 1997 in an attempt to standardize naming in the three areas, but it does not appear to have yet been formally adopted. The International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature (ICVCN) remains outside the BioCode.
Traditionally, living things were divided into five kingdoms:
- Monera -- Protista -- Fungi -- Plantae -- Animalia
However, this five-kingdom system is now considered by many to be outdated. More modern alternatives generally begin with the three-domain system:
- Archaea (originally Archaebacteria) -- Bacteria (originally Eubacteria) -- Eukaryota
These domains reflect whether cells have nuclei or not as well as differences in cell exteriors.
There is also a series of intracellular "parasites" that are progressively less alive in terms of being metabolically active:
- Viruses -- Viroids -- Prions
History of the word "biology"
Formed by combining the Greek βίος (bios), meaning 'life', and λόγος (logos), meaning 'word', the word "biology" in its modern sense seems to have been introduced independently by Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur, 1802) and by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Hydrogéologie, 1802). The word itself is sometimes said to have been coined in 1800 by Karl Friedrich Burdach, but it appears in the title of Volume 3 of Michael Christoph Hanov's Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae dogmaticae: Geologia, biologia, phytologia generalis et dendrologia, published in 1766.
See also
External links and resources
Links
Further reading
- Lynn Margulis, Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth, 3rd ed., St. Martin's Press, 1997, paperback, ISBN 0805072527 (many other editions)
- Neil Campbell, Biology: Concepts & Connections (4th edition), Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company, 2002, hardcover, ISBN 080536627X (college-level text)
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Table of Standard Genetic Code
Translation table of nucleotide codon sequences to amino acids.
http://molbio.info.nih.gov/molbio/gcode.html
Cell and Molecular Biology Online
An all-around reference site for the field with educational, technical, and professional net resources.
http://www.cellbio.com/
Biolinks
A search engine for biotechnical and biomedical scientists.
http://www.biolinks.com/
Classic/obscure Science Texts The Book Page
Classic - obscure antiquarian science texts 19th and 20th century: Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle,Thomas Huxley's Lectures on Evolution, George Grant McCurdy, John Tyndall Lectures on Light, Alfred Russel Wallace, Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life?, EW Maunder's Are the Planets Inhabited? JBS Haldane's Daedalus, Bertrand Russell's Icarus, William Paley's Natural Theology
http://home.att.net/~p.caimi/oremia.html
BelgoBiotech
Educational biotech web site, selected links, biotech glossary, timeline, basic principles, and applications.
http://www.belgobiotech.be
AllExperts Biology Q&A
Directory of scientists and scholars volunteering to answer questions in a variety of biological fields.
http://www.allexperts.com/browse.asp?Meta=229
Bioinformatics.ca
resource directory features curated links to molecular resources, tools and databases.
http://bioinformatics.ca/weblinks/
BioScience WebRing
Ring of biological scientists devoted to increasing traffic to their sites and helping internet users find sites of interest by providing useful links.
http://j.webring.com/hub?ring=biosci
Life Science Glossary
Glossary of genetic, molecular, cell and developmental biology definitions.
http://www.biology-text.com/BioGlossary.php
BioReference
Unannotated links to 16 online biology books, 19 annual review titles, BioMedNet journals, about 70 individual journal titles, and 4 knockout mice databases.
http://bioreference.net/
Pedro's BioMolecular Research Tools
Directory of useful information and services for the molecular biologist.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/research_tools.html
MEDLINE
Direct, public access to the NLM's MEDLINE Biomedical Literature Search Engine through the NCBI.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/medline.html
GenBank
Text and similarity searching of the GenBank sequence database provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Web/Search/index.html
BioTech's Life Science Dictionary
Definitions for over 8300 terms associated with genetics, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, chemistry, ecology, limnology, pharmacology, toxicology and medicine.
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/search/dict-search.html
BioABACUS
Biotechnology ABbreviation and ACronym Uncovering Service - Searchable database of biotechnology and bioinformatics abbreviations and acronyms for biological and computer science terminology, journals, and organizations (about 6000 terms).
http://www.nmsu.edu/~molbio/bioABACUShome.htm
The SNP Consortium Ltd.
A non-profit foundation organized to develop up to 300,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed evenly throughout the human genome and to make the information related to these SNPs available to the public without intellectual property restrictions.
http://snp.cshl.org/
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http://www.biosis.org/
Community of Science
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http://www.cos.com
Biology Glossary
Definitions for about 400 biotechnology terms, from Bio-Informer software.
http://www.angelfire.com/nv/biology/dictionary.html
Science Advisory Board
Online panel of 5,000 life scientists and physicians who convene electronically to voice their opinions on emerging technologies.
http://www.scienceboard.net
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Biotechnology spell checking software for spelling words in the bioscience field: molecular biology, biomedicine, microbiology, biochemistry for Microsoft Word, Wordperfect and Lotus.
http://www.spellex.com/biotech.htm
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Guide to web resources for all major model organisms, including Drosophila (fly), C. elegans (worm), mouse, zebrafish, E. coli, Dictylostelium, and Arabidopsis.
http://ceolas.org/VL/mo
Institute for Scientific Information
Publishes scholarly research databases, including Current Contents, in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Online access is available for most publications, usually by subscription.
http://www.isinet.com/
Amino Acid Repository
Properties and images of amino acids, hydrophobicity scales, solvent accessibility of amino acids in known protein structures, mutation mass shifts, links to the NIST Chemistry WebBook for Amino Acids.
http://www.imb-jena.de/IMAGE_AA.html
Biology Online
Dictionary, links and tutorials on cell biology, genetics, genetics and evolution, control of growth and development, regulation of biological systems, adaptation and freshwater ecology.
http://biology-online.org
Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
Food and Agriculture Organization (UN)'s consolidated yet comprehensive list of terms and acronyms in applied biotechnology, especially plant and animal genetic resources,food quality and plant protection. About 5000 terms.
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X3910E/X3910E00.HTM#Toc
BioLink
Links to about 30 web sites on biochemistry, cells, genetics, evolution, plants, animals, human anatomy, and ecology.
http://members.aol.com/RussC23/biolink.html
Functional Genomics
All inclusive areas of functional genomics including analysis of mutagenesis and gene disruption, proteomics, microarrys, bioinformatics, SNP analysis, expression profiling, mutations detection, structural genomics,in silico methods, standardisation and benchmarking, data management and ontologies, and integration of data. Sponsored by the European Science Foundation
http://www.functionalgenomics.org.uk
Genomics Glossaries
Genomic terminology defined and hierarchically related, from Cambridge Healthtech Institute. Emphasis is on biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications, proteomics, informatics, technologies, instrumentation and molecular biology.
http://www.genomicglossaries.com
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http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/plus/sfg/education/glossaries.shtml
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Arctic sea ice ecology, organisms from bacteria, viruses, and unicellular algae to mammals (polar bears, reindeer, fox, whales) text, maps and photographs (current and historical). NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) site provides access to widely distributed Arctic data and information for scientists, managers, decision makers and the general public on one of the last remaining frontiers.
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/essay_krembsdeming.html
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Directory of the Virtual Library, an expert-run catalog of sections of the web.
http://www.vlib.org/Biosciences.html
BioBencHelper
Categorized links to biotechnology databases, tools and software, techniques, small molecules, nucleic acids, proteins (including "hot" proteins), online journals, nomenclature and companies.
http://biobenchelper.hypermart.net/
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Alphabetical listing of terms defined related to gene sequencing, informatics and applied molecular biology.
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/~davis/Bio_326/bioinfo_glossary.html
MEDLINE with MeSH
Free MEDLINE search interface from BioMedNet; includes full-text links, Document Delivery Service from British Library, & personal search history allowing queries to be combined & refined.
http://journals.bmn.com/help/research/medline/search/search.html
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