Biology - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Fields Toggle Fields subsection 3.1 Biochemistry 3.2 Molecular biology 3.3 Cell biology 3.4 Genetics 3.5 Evolutionary developmental biology 3.6 Evolutionary biology 3.7 Ecology 3.8 Systematics, phylogenetics, and taxonomy 3.9 Conservation biology 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links Toggle the table of contents Biology 255 languages Аԥсшәа Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés العربية الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Авар Kotava अवधी Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Žemaitėška Batak Toba Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Betawi Български भोजपुरी Bislama Banjar ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Brezhoneg Bosanski Batak Mandailing Basa Ugi Буряад Català Chavacano de Zamboanga 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano Chamoru ᏣᎳᎩ کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Kaszëbsczi Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Dagbanli Deutsch Thuɔŋjäŋ Zazaki ދިވެހިބަސް Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Suomi Võro Na Vosa Vakaviti Føroyskt Français Arpetan Nordfriisk Furlan Frysk Gaeilge Kriyòl gwiyannen Gàidhlig Galego گیلکی Avañe'ẽ Bahasa Hulontalo ગુજરાતી Gaelg Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî Hawaiʻi עברית हिन्दी Fiji Hindi Hrvatski Hornjoserbsce Kreyòl ayisyen Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Jaku Iban Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Ilokano ГӀалгӀай Ido Íslenska Medžuslovjansky Italiano ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ / inuktitut 日本語 Patois La .lojban. Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Taqbaylit Kabɩyɛ Gĩkũyũ Қазақша ភាសាខ្មែរ ಕನ್ನಡ Yerwa Kanuri 한국어 کٲشُر Kurdî Коми Kernowek Кыргызча Latina Ladino Lëtzebuergesch Лезги Lingua Franca Nova Luganda Limburgs Ligure Ladin Lombard Lingála ລາວ Lietuvių Latviešu Madhurâ मैथिली Basa Banyumasan Malagasy Олык марий Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ ဘာသာမန် मराठी Bahasa Melayu Malti Mirandés မြန်မာဘာသာ Эрзянь Nāhuatl Napulitano Nedersaksies Plattdüütsch नेपाली नेपाल भाषा Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Novial ߒߞߏ Nouormand Sesotho sa Leboa Occitan Livvinkarjala Oromoo ଓଡ଼ିଆ Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Kapampangan Papiamentu Naijá Pälzisch Polski Piemontèis پنجابی پښتو Português Runa Simi ရခိုင် Rumantsch Română Armãneashti Русский Русиньскый संस्कृतम् Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sardu Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Taclḥit සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina سرائیکی Slovenščina Gagana Samoa ChiShona Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski SiSwati Sesotho Seeltersk Sunda Svenska Kiswahili Ślůnski தமிழ் ತುಳು తెలుగు Tetun Тоҷикӣ ไทย ትግርኛ Türkmençe Tagalog Tolışi Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Xitsonga Татарча / tatarça Удмурт ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Vepsän kel’ Tiếng Việt West-Vlams Volapük Walon Winaray 吴语 Хальмг IsiXhosa მარგალური ייִדיש Vahcuengh Zeêuws ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Abstract Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Wikibooks Wikinews Wikiquote Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scientific study of life "Biological" redirects here. For other uses, see Biological (disambiguation) and Biology (disambiguation). Part of a series on Biology Index Outline Glossary History (timeline) Key components Cell theory Ecosystem Evolution Phylogeny Properties of life Adaptation Energy processing Growth Order Regulation Reproduction Death Response to environment Groups of life Archaea Bacteria Eukaryotes (Animals, Fungi, Land plants, Protists) Branches Abiogenesis Aerobiology Agronomy Agrostology Anatomy Anthropogeny Anthropology Astrobiology Bacteriology Biochemistry Biogeography Biogeology Bioinformatics Biological engineering Biomathematics Biomechanics Biophysics Biosemiotics Biostatistics Biotechnology Botany Cell biology Cellular microbiology Chemical biology Chronobiology Cognitive biology Comparative biology Computational biology Conservation biology Cryobiology Cytogenetics Dendrology Developmental biology Ecological genetics Ecology Embryology Epidemiology Epigenetics Evolutionary biology Freshwater biology Generative biology Genetics Genomics Geobiology Gerontology Herpetology Histology Human biology Ichthyology Immunology Lipidology Mammalogy Marine biology Microbiology Molecular biology Mycology Neontology Neuroscience Nutrition Ornithology Osteology Paleontology Parasitology Pathology Pharmacology Photobiology Phycology Phylogenetics Physiology Pomology Primatology Proteomics Protistology Quantum biology Relational biology Reproductive biology Sociobiology Spatial biology Structural biology Synthetic biology Systematics Systems biology Taxonomy Teratology Toxicology Virology Virophysics Welfare biology Xenobiology Zoology Research Biologist (list) List of biology awards List of journals List of research methods List of unsolved problems Applications Agricultural science Biomedical sciences Health technology Pharming Biology portal  Category v t e Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of life. Central to biology are five fundamental themes: the cell as the basic unit of life, genes and heredity as the basis of inheritance, evolution as the driver of biological diversity, energy transformation for sustaining life processes, and homeostasis, the maintenance of internal stability.[1][2] Biology examines life across multiple levels of organization, from molecules and cells to organisms, population, and ecosystems. Subdisciplines include molecular biology, physiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and systematics, among others. Each of these fields applies a range of methods to investigate biological phenomena, including observation, experimentation, and mathematical modeling. Modern biology is grounded in the theory of evolution by natural selection, first articulated by Charles Darwin, and in the molecular understanding of genes encoded in DNA. The discovery of the structure of DNA and advances in molecular genetics have transformed many areas of biology, leading to applications in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and environmental science. Biologists classify organisms—from single-celled archaea and bacteria to multicellular plants, fungi, and animals—based on shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships, using taxonomic and phylogenetics. Etymology From Greek βίος (bíos) 'life', (from Proto-Indo-European root *gwei-, to live) and λογία (logia) 'study of'. The compound appears in the title of Volume 3 of Michael Christoph Hanow's Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae dogmaticae: Geologia, biologia, phytologia generalis et dendrologia, published in 1766. The term biology in its modern sense appears to have been introduced independently by Thomas Beddoes (in 1799),[3] Karl Friedrich Burdach (in 1800), Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur, 1802) and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Hydrogéologie, 1802).[4][5][6] History Main article: History of biology The earliest of roots of science, which included medicine, can be traced to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE.[7][8] Their contributions shaped ancient Greek natural philosophy.[9][7][8][10][11] Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (384–322 BCE) contributed extensively to the development of biological knowledge.[12] He explored biological causation and the diversity of life. His successor, Theophrastus, began the scientific study of plants.[13] Scholars of the medieval Islamic world who wrote on biology included al-Jahiz (781–869), Al-Dīnawarī (828–896), who wrote on botany.[14] Biology began to develop quickly 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 techniques of microscopic dissection and staining.[15] Advances in microscopy had a profound impact on biological thinking. In the early 19th century, biologists pointed to the central importance of the cell. 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, continuing to support spontaneous generation. However, Robert Remak and Rudolf Virchow were able to reify the third tenet, and by the 1860s most biologists accepted all three tenets which consolidated into cell theory.[16][17] Meanwhile, taxonomy and classification became the focus of natural historians. Carl Linnaeus published a basic taxonomy for the natural world in 1735, and in the 1750s introduced scientific names for all his species.[18] Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, treated species as artificial categories and living forms as malleable—even suggesting the possibility of common descent.[19] In 1842, Charles Darwin penned his first sketch of On the Origin of Species.[20] Serious evolutionary thinking originated with the works of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who presented a coherent theory of evolution.[21] 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, forged a more successful evolutionary theory based on natural selection; similar reasoning and evidence led Alfred Russel Wallace to independently reach the same conclusions.[22][23] The basis for modern genetics began with the work of Gregor Mendel in 1865.[24] This outlined the principles of biological inheritance.[25] However, the significance of his work was not realized until the early 20th century when evolution became a unified theory as the modern synthesis reconciled Darwinian evolution with classical genetics.[26] In the 1940s and early 1950s, a series of experiments by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase 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, alon…