Portal:Biology

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Introduction

A panoramic view from a ridge located between Segla and Hesten mountain summits in the island of Senja, Troms, Norway in 2014

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 the maintenance of internal stability (homeostasis).

Biology examines life across multiple levels of organization, from molecules and cells to organisms, populations, 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.

Life on Earth is believed to have originated over 3.7 billion years ago. Today, it includes a vast diversity of organisms—from single-celled archaea and bacteria to complex multicellular plants, fungi, and animals. Biologists classify organisms based on shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships, using taxonomic and phylogenetic frameworks. These organisms interact with each other and with their environments in ecosystems, where they play roles in energy flow and nutrient cycling. As a constantly evolving field, biology incorporates new discoveries and technologies that enhance the understanding of life and its processes, while contributing to solutions for challenges such as disease, climate change, and biodiversity loss. (Full article...)

Selected article -

An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and environmental threats worldwide.

Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of invasion. For millennia, humans have served as both accidental and deliberate dispersal agents, beginning with their earliest migrations, accelerating in the Age of Discovery, and accelerating again with the spread of international trade. Notable plant species that are invasive in North America include the kudzu vine (Pueraria), giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), and yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis). Notable animal species that are invasive in North America include European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), domestic cats (Felis catus), and carp (family Cyprinidae). (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected picture -

A female Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus), seen here perched on barbed wire. This bird is native to Australia

Major topics

History	History of biology \| timeline of biology and organic chemistry \| history of ecology \| history of evolutionary thought \| history of geology \| history of model organisms \| history of molecular biology \| history of paleontology
Overview	Biology \| science \| life \| properties (adaptation, energy processing, growth, order, regulation, reproduction, and response to environment) \| hierarchy of life (atom > molecule > organelle > cell > tissue > organ > organ system > organism > population > community > ecosystem > biosphere) \| reductionistic \| emergent property \| mechanistic \| scientific method \| theory \| law \| peer review \| biology journals
Chemical basis	Matter \| elements \| compounds \| atoms \| molecules \| chemical bonds \| carbon \| organic compounds \| macromolecules \| carbohydrate \| protein \| protein structure \| protein folding \| lipid \| DNA \| RNA
Cells	Prokaryote \| eukaryote \| cell wall \| cell membrane \| cytoskeleton \| mitochondrion \| chloroplast \| nucleus \| endoplasmic reticulum \| Golgi apparatus \| cell cycle \| mitosis \| metabolism \| cell signaling \| protein targeting \| metabolism \| enzyme \| glycolysis \| citric acid cycle \| electron transport chain \| oxidative phosphorylation \|photosynthesis \|meiosis \| mitosis
Genetics (Intro)	Classical genetics \| mendelian inheritance \| gene \| phenotype \| genotype \| ploidy \| alternation of generations \| molecular genetics \| gene expression \| gene regulation \| genome \| karyotype \| DNA replication \| transcription \| translation \| recombination \| chromosome \| epigenetics \| splicing \| mutation \| genetic fingerprint \| chromatin \| ecological genetics \| population genetics \| quantitative genetics
Evolution (Intro)	\| omne vivum ex ovo \| Natural selection \| genetic drift \| sexual selection \| speciation \| mutation \| gene flow \| evolution of sex \| biogeography \| cladistics \| species \| extinction \| tree of life \| phylogenies \| three-domain system
Diversity	Bacteria \| archaea \| plants \| angiosperms \| fungi \| protists \| Animals \| deuterostome \| insects \| molluscs \| nematodes \| parasitism \| Primate \| mammal \| vertebrate \| craniata \| chordate \| viruses
Plant form and function	Epidermis \| flower \| ground tissue \| leaf \| phloem \| plant stem \| root \| shoot \| vascular plant \| vascular tissue \| xylem
Animal form and function	Tissues \| fertilization \| embryogenesis \| gastrulation \| neurulation \| organogenesis \| differentiation \| morphogenesis \| metamorphosis \| ontogeny \| Development \| senescence \| reproduction \| oogenesis \| spermatogenesis
Ecology	Ecosystem \| biomass \| food chain \| indicator species \| habitat \| species distribution \| Gaia theory \| metapopulation \| life cycle \| Life history \| altricial - precocial \| sex ratio \| altruism \| cooperation - foraging \| learning \| parental care \| sexual conflict \| territoriality \| biosphere \| climate change \| conservation \| biodiversity \| nature reserve \| edge effect \| allee effect \| corridor \| fragmentation \| pollution \| invasive species \| in situ - ex situ \| seedbank
Research methods	Laboratory techniques \| Genetic engineering \| transformation \| gel electrophoresis \| chromatography \| centrifugation \| cell culture \| DNA sequencing \| DNA microarray \| green fluorescent protein \| vector \| enzyme assay \| protein purification \| Western blot \| Northern blot \| Southern blot \| restriction enzyme \| polymerase chain reaction \| two-hybrid screening \| in vivo - in vitro - in silico \| Field techniques \| Belt transect \| mark and recapture \| species discovery curve
Branches	Anatomy \| biotechnology \| botany \| cell biology \| ecology \| evolutionary biology \| genetics \| marine biology \| microbiology \| molecular biology \| mycology \| neuroscience \| paleontology \| phycology \| physiology \| protistology \| virology \| zoology
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
See also	Template:History of biology

Selected biography -

Darwin, c. 1854, when he was preparing On the Origin of Species

Charles Robert Darwin (/ˈdɑːrwɪn/ DAR-win; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.

Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped Robert Edmond Grant to investigate marine invertebrates. His studies at the University of Cambridge's Christ's College from 1828 to 1831 encouraged his passion for natural science. However, it was his five-year voyage on HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 that truly established Darwin as an eminent geologist. The observations and theories he developed during his voyage supported Charles Lyell's concept of gradual geological change. Publication of his journal of the voyage made Darwin famous as a popular author. His first scientific work was The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (1842). Along with his work on barnacles, it won him the Royal Medal in 1853. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

General images -

The following are images from various biology-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Penicillin was viewed as a miracle drug that brought enormous profits and public expectations. (from History of biotechnology)
Image 2Charles Darwin's first sketch of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species (1837) (from History of biology)
Image 3Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park (from Conservation biology)
Image 4Aristotle's model of transmission of movements from parents to child, and of form from the father. The model is not fully symmetric. (from History of genetics)
Image 5Blending Inheritance (from History of genetics)
Image 6Sperms as preformed humans. Painting of Nicolaas Hartsoeker 1695 (from History of genetics)
Image 7More conservation research is needed for understanding ecology and behaviour of the dhole in central China. (from Conservation biology)
Image 8Summary of 2006 IUCN Red List categories:EX (Extinct) — EW (Extinct in the Wild) — CR (Critically Endangered) — EN (Endangered) — VU (Vulnerable) — NT (Near Threatened) — LC (Least Concern) (from Conservation biology)
Image 9Thomas Hunt Morgan's illustration of crossing over, part of the Mendelian-chromosome theory of heredity (from History of biology)
Image 10Thomas Hunt Morgan discovered sex linked inheritance of the white eyed mutation in the fruit fly Drosophila in 1910, implying the gene was on the sex chromosome. (from History of genetics)
Image 11Diagram of Charles Darwin's pangenesis theory. Every part of the body emits tiny particles, gemmules, which migrate to the gonads and contribute to the fertilised egg and so to the next generation. The theory implied that changes to the body during an organism's life would be inherited, as proposed in Lamarckism. (from History of genetics)
Image 12Wendell Stanley's crystallization of tobacco mosaic virus as a pure nucleoprotein in 1935 convinced many scientists that heredity might be explained purely through physics and chemistry. (from History of biology)
Image 13Frontispiece to a 1644 version of the expanded and illustrated edition of Historia Plantarum, originally written by Theophrastus around 300 BCE (from History of biology)
Image 14Gregor Mendel, "father of modern genetics" (from History of biology)
Image 15In the course of his travels, Alexander von Humboldt mapped the distribution of plants across landscapes and recorded a variety of physical conditions such as pressure and temperature. (from History of biology)
Image 16De arte venandi, by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was an influential medieval natural history text that explored bird morphology. (from History of biology)
Image 17Some biodiversity loss is more insidious than others due to systemic neglect. For example, sport killing and wanton waste of tons of native fishes from unregulated 21st century bowfishing in the United States. New conservation movements are needed to deter irreparable biodiversity loss to fragile freshwater ecosystems. (from Conservation biology)
Image 18Inside of a 48-well thermal cycler, a device used to perform polymerase chain reaction on many samples at once (from History of biology)
Image 19Clay models of animal livers dating between the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE, found in the royal palace at Mari (from History of biology)
Image 20A biomedical work by Ibn al-Nafis, an early adherent of experimental dissection who discovered the pulmonary and coronary circulation (from History of biology)
Image 21August Weismann's germ plasm theory. The hereditary material, the germ plasm, is confined to the gonads. Somatic cells (of the body) develop afresh in each generation from the germ plasm. (from History of genetics)
Image 22Synthetic insulin crystals synthesized using recombinant DNA technology (from History of biotechnology)
Image 23Innovative laboratory glassware and experimental methods developed by Louis Pasteur and other biologists contributed to the young field of bacteriology in the late 19th century. (from History of biology)
Image 24Tadrart Acacus desert in western Libya, part of the Sahara (from Conservation biology)
Image 25Mendelian inheritance states characteristics are discrete and are inherited by the parents. This image depicts a monohybrid cross and shows 3 generations: P1 generation (1), F1 generation (2), and F2 generation (3). Each organism inherits two alleles, one from each parent, that make up the genotype. The observed characteristic, the phenotype, is determined by the dominant allele in the genotype. In this monohybrid cross the dominant allele encodes for the colour red and the recessive allele encodes for the colour white. (from History of genetics)
Image 262016 conservation indicator which includes the following indicators: marine protected areas, terrestrial biome protection (global and national), and species protection (global and national) (from Conservation biology)
Image 27Brewing was an early example of biotechnology (from History of biotechnology)
Image 28Efforts are made to preserve the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia, without affecting visitors' access. (from Conservation biology)
Image 29Statue of Robert Koch in Berlin. Koch directly provided proof for the germ theory of diseases, therefore creating the scientific basis of public health, saving millions of lives. For his life's work Koch is seen as one of the founders of modern medicine. (from History of biology)
Image 30The frontispiece to Erasmus Darwin's evolution-themed poem The Temple of Nature shows a goddess pulling back the veil from nature (in the person of Artemis). Allegory and metaphor have often played an important role in the history of biology. (from History of biology)
Image 31Cabinets of curiosities, such as that of Ole Worm, were centers of biological knowledge in the early modern period, bringing organisms from across the world together in one place. Before the Age of Exploration, naturalists had little idea of the sheer scale of biological diversity. (from History of biology)
Image 32A Genentech-sponsored sign declaring South San Francisco to be "The Birthplace of Biotechnology." (from History of biotechnology)
Image 33In Micrographia, Robert Hooke had applied the word cell to biological structures such as this piece of cork, but it was not until the 19th century that scientists considered cells the universal basis of life. (from History of biology)
Image 34White gyrfalcons drawn by John James Audubon (from Conservation biology)
Image 35The "central dogma of molecular biology" (originally a "dogma" only in jest) was proposed by Francis Crick in 1958. This is Crick's reconstruction of how he conceived of the central dogma at the time. The solid lines represent (as it seemed in 1958) known modes of information transfer, and the dashed lines represent postulated ones. (from History of biology)
Image 36Description of rare animals (写生珍禽图), by Huang Quan (903–965) during the Song dynasty (from History of biology)
Image 37Carefully engineered strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli are crucial tools in biotechnology as well as many other biological fields. (from History of biology)
Image 38A pie chart image showing the relative biomass representation in a rain forest through a summary of children's perceptions from drawings and artwork (left), through a scientific estimate of actual biomass (middle), and by a measure of biodiversity (right). The biomass of social insects (middle) far outweighs the number of species (right). (from Conservation biology)
Image 39An art scape image showing the relative importance of animals in a rain forest through a summary of (a) child's perception compared with (b) a scientific estimate of the importance. The size of the animal represents its importance. The child's mental image places importance on big cats, birds, butterflies, and then reptiles versus the actual dominance of social insects (such as ants). (from Conservation biology)

Did you know -

... that one of the smallest fish, the Philippine goby, can only grow between 1 and 1.5 cm?
...that the largest flower, Rafflesia has a very foul odor?
... that mesoporous silica nanoparticles are prepared by the Stöber process and are used in preparing biosensors and delivering medications to within cellular structures?

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Topics related to biology
Index
People and history	Biologist Notable biologists History of biology Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Timeline of biology and organic chemistry List of geneticists and biochemists
Institutions, publications	Bachelor of Science Publications
Terms and phrases	Omne vivum ex ovo In vivo In vitro In utero In silico
Related disciplines	Medicine (Physician) Physical anthropology Environmental science Life Sciences Biotechnology
Other	List of conservation topics Altricial and Precocial development strategies

History of biology (timeline)
Fields, disciplines	Agricultural science Anatomy Biochemistry Biotechnology Botany Ecology Evolutionary thought Genetics Geology Immunology Medicine Model organisms Molecular biology Molecular evolution Paleontology Phycology Plant systematics RNA biology Zoology (through 1859) Zoology (since 1859)
Theories, concepts	Germ theory of disease Central dogma of molecular biology Darwinism Great chain of being Hierarchy of life Lamarckism One gene–one enzyme hypothesis Protocell RNA world Sequence hypothesis Spontaneous generation
Related	History of science Philosophy of biology Teleology Ethnobotany Eugenics Dysgenics History of the creation-evolution controversy Human Genome Project Humboldtian science Natural history Natural philosophy Natural theology Relationship between religion and science
Category