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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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Teleological Notions in Biology
Entry from the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Colin Allen.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleology-biology/
International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology
ISHPSSB brings together scholars from diverse disciplines, including the life sciences as well as history, philosophy, and social studies of science.
http://server.phil.vt.edu/ishpssb/
History and Philosophy of Biology Seminar Series
A regular series of lectures promoting research in the history and philosophy of biology, sponsored by LSE and UCL. Includes a schedule of upcoming lectures and related events.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/admin/whatson/annc_sem.htm
History and Philosophy of Biology -- Supplemental Readings
Supplemental readings recommended for the Bemidji State University course in Philosophy of Biology; not intended as a comprehensive compilation.
http://ea.bemidji.msus.edu/aqbio/hpreads.htm
Virtual Reality:Consciousness Really Explained
A scientific hypothesis for the origin of mind based in evolutionary biology. Includes downloadable manuscript and a few graphics.
http://www.foothill.net/~jerryi
Biology Instructional Philosophy
Designed for prospective and practicing elementary school teachers, provides a biology lesson, knowledge mapping, and alternative ideas for effectiveness in teaching biology.
http://www.biologylessons.sdsu.edu/philosophy/
Philosophy of Biology - Research Group
Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country. Includes information about the group, their research on different aspects of Philosophy of Biology, and some of the activities they organise.
http://www.sc.ehu.es/sfwpbiog/main.html
Theoretical Biology and Philosophy of Biology
A list of persons, institutes, research groups and journals within theoretical biology, philosophy and history of biology, and related areas of research.
http://alf.nbi.dk/~emmeche/theobiophi.html
Philosophy of Biology Web Pages
Maintained by Michael R. Dietrich, of the Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College; includes links to web sites and online articles dealing with the philosophy of biology and related subjects.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dietrich/bio5.html
The Aesthetics of Evolution
Discussion of the beauty of evolution; explains that evolution is continuous and discontinuous at once, as is a good poem, or a work of art.
http://www.gis.net/~waverly/Evolution-Aesthetics-TRO.htm
Species
Entry from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Marc Ereshefsky.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/species/
The Biological Notion of Self and Non-self
Stanford Encyclopedia entry on the notion of the immune self; by Alfred Tauber.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/biology-self/
Definition of Life
Reviews and analyzes various attempts to define life in terms of negentropy and complexity theory.
http://baharna.com/philos/life.htm
Biological Altruism
Discussion of how altruistic behavior by organisms fits with the theory of evolution; from the Stanford Encyclopedia by Samir Okasha.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-biological/
Biodiversity
Discussion of philosophical issues related to biological diversity; from the Stanford Encyclopedia by Daniel P. Faith.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/biodiversity/
Biology and Philosophy
Permits access to the table of contents for each of the archived issues of this journal. Also includes information for authors.
http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/0169-3867
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