Portal:Biology
Introduction
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Darlingtonia_californica.jpg/135px-Darlingtonia_californica.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Harvestman_opilio_canestrinii_male.jpg/270px-Harvestman_opilio_canestrinii_male.jpg)
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary information encoded in genes, which can be transmitted to future generations. Another major theme is evolution, which explains the unity and diversity of life. Energy processing is also important to life as it allows organisms to move, grow, and reproduce. Finally, all organisms are able to regulate their own internal environments.
Biologists are able to study life at multiple levels of organization, from the molecular biology of a cell to the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals, and evolution of populations. Hence, there are multiple subdisciplines within biology, each defined by the nature of their research questions and the tools that they use. Like other scientists, biologists use the scientific method to make observations, pose questions, generate hypotheses, perform experiments, and form conclusions about the world around them.
Life on Earth, which emerged more than 3.7 billion years ago, is immensely diverse. Biologists have sought to study and classify the various forms of life, from prokaryotic organisms such as archaea and bacteria to eukaryotic organisms such as protists, fungi, plants, and animals. These various organisms contribute to the biodiversity of an ecosystem, where they play specialized roles in the cycling of nutrients and energy through their biophysical environment. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Zoology (/zoʊˈɒlədʒi/ zoh-OL-ə-jee) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one of the primary branches of biology. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion ('animal'), and λόγος, logos ('knowledge', 'study').
Although humans have always been interested in the natural history of the animals they saw around them, and used this knowledge to domesticate certain species, the formal study of zoology can be said to have originated with Aristotle. He viewed animals as living organisms, studied their structure and development, and considered their adaptations to their surroundings and the function of their parts. Modern zoology has its origins during the Renaissance and early modern period, with Carl Linnaeus, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke, Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel and many others. (Full article...)Selected picture -
Major topics
Selected biography -
General images -
Did you know -
- ... that seeds of the fossil fruit Suciacarpa have fossil fungi inside them?
- ... that the fossil ant genus Agastomyrma was described from a single queen, and males of the fossil ant Proceratium eocenicum have a hair fringe?
- ... that less than 50 years after being discovered, Heterelmis stephani is now presumed extinct?
- ... that in 1981 Bobbi Campbell became the first person to publicly identify as a person living with HIV/AIDS?
Things you can do
Related portals
Biology portals
Categories
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/C_Puzzle.png/42px-C_Puzzle.png)
Anatomy - Anthropology - Astrobiology - Biochemistry - Bioengineering - Bioinformatics - Biotechnology - Botany - Cell biology - Conservation biology - Developmental biology - Ecology - Environmental science - Evolutionary biology - Genetics - Mathematical biology - Medicine - Microbiology - Immunology - Molecular biology - Mycology - Neuroscience - Paleontology - Palynology Parasitology - Pharmacology -
Phylogenetics - Physiology - Systems biology - Taxonomy - Toxicology - Virology - ZoologyMore topics
WikiProjects
![WikiProjects](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Community.png)
WikiProjects connected with biology:
A complete list of scientific WikiProjects can be found here. See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species.
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus