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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 ...
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 ...
In the study of biology – particularly genetics and neuroscience – predictability relates to the prediction of biological developments and behaviors based on inherited genes and past experiences. Significant debate exists in the scientific community over whether or not a person's behavior is completely predictable based on their genetics.
Also gastrocoel. The central internal cavity of the gastrula in most animal embryos, fated to develop into the lumen of the digestive tube ; the primitive gut. The archenteron initially has only one open end, known as the blastopore. B birth blastocoel Also blastocoele, blastocele, cleavage cavity, and segmentation cavity. The fluid-filled or yolk -filled cavity that forms in the developing ...
Phrased another way, after a long and/or unlikely streak of independently random events, the probability of the next event is not influenced by the preceding events. Humans often feel that the underrepresented outcome is more likely, as if it is due to happen. Such thinking may be attributed to the mistaken belief that gambling, or even chance ...
[3] Gould argues that the definition of Evolution to professional biologists is "adaptation to changing environments", not progress, and that the composition of life on the planet is rather a "copiously branching bush, continually pruned by the grim reaper of extinction, not a ladder of predictable progress."
Indeterminism is the idea that events (or certain events, or events of certain types) are not caused, or are not caused deterministically. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance. It is highly relevant to the philosophical problem of free will, particularly in the form of metaphysical libertarianism.
The method of event pairing attempts to overcome this by comparing the relative timing of two events at a time. [20] This method detects event heterochronies, as opposed to allometric changes. It is cumbersome to use because the number of event pair characters increases with the square of the number of events compared.