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This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
In their 1972 book Autopoiesis and Cognition, Chilean biologists Maturana and Varela described how they invented the word autopoiesis. [4]: 89 : 16 "It was in these circumstances ... in which he analyzed Don Quixote's dilemma of whether to follow the path of arms (praxis, action) or the path of letters (poiesis, creation, production), I understood for the first time the power of the word ...
Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...
Oxford Dictionary of Biology (often abbreviated to ODB) is a multiple editions dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,500 entries, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to biology , biophysics , and biochemistry . [ 3 ]
This glossary is intended as introductory material for novices (for more specific and technical detail, see the article corresponding to each term). It has been designed as a companion to Glossary of genetics and evolutionary biology , which contains many overlapping and related terms; other related glossaries include Glossary of virology and ...
Non-cellular life, also known as acellular life, is life that exists without a cellular structure for at least part of its life cycle. [1] Historically, most definitions of life postulated that an organism must be composed of one or more cells, [2] but, for some, this is no longer considered necessary, and modern criteria allow for forms of life based on other structural arrangements.
Meaning: a prefix used to make words with a sense opposite to that of the root word; in this case, meaning "without" or "-less". This is usually used to describe organisms without a certain characteristic, as well as organisms in which that characteristic may not be immediately obvious.
The uniformity of both specific types of molecules (the biomolecules) and of certain metabolic pathways are invariant features among the wide diversity of life forms; thus these biomolecules and metabolic pathways are referred to as "biochemical universals" [4] or "theory of material unity of the living beings", a unifying concept in biology ...