Branches of Biology
The field of biology is subdivided into separate branches for convenience of study, though all the subdivisions share basic principles. Biology encompasses fields such as botany, genetics, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, and much more.
Branches of Biology Encyclopedia Articles
Featured Articles
taxonomy
Taxonomy, in a broad sense the science of classification, but more strictly the classification of living and extinct organisms—i.e., biological classification. The term is derived from the Greek taxis...
physiology
Physiology, study of the functioning of living organisms, animal or plant, and of the functioning of their constituent tissues or cells. The word physiology was first used by the Greeks around 600 bce...
evolution
Evolution, theory in biology postulating that the various types of plants, animals, and other living things on Earth have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences...
philosophy of biology
Philosophy of biology, philosophical speculation about the concepts, methods, and theories of the biological sciences. The sharp increase in understanding of biological processes that has occurred since...
genetics
Genetics, study of heredity in general and of genes in particular. Genetics forms one of the central pillars of biology and overlaps with many other areas, such as agriculture, medicine, and biotechnology....
biological development
Biological development, the progressive changes in size, shape, and function during the life of an organism by which its genetic potentials (genotype) are translated into functioning mature systems (phenotype)....
community ecology
Community ecology, study of the organization and functioning of communities, which are assemblages of interacting populations of the species living within a particular area or habitat. As populations of...
botany
Botany, branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, including their structure, properties, and biochemical processes. Also included are plant classification and the study of plant diseases and...
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur French chemist and microbiologist who was one of the most important founders of medical microbiology. Pasteur’s contributions to science, technology, and medicine are nearly without precedent....
morphology
Morphology, in biology, the study of the size, shape, and structure of animals, plants, and microorganisms and of the relationships of their constituent parts. The term refers to the general aspects of...
biophysics
Biophysics, discipline concerned with the application of the principles and methods of physics and the other physical sciences to the solution of biological problems. The relatively recent emergence of...
zoology
Zoology, branch of biology that studies the members of the animal kingdom and animal life in general. It includes both the inquiry into individual animals and their constituent parts, even to the molecular...
Carl Cori and Gerty Cori
Carl Cori and Gerty Cori were American biochemists, a husband-and-wife team whose discovery of a phosphate-containing form of the simple sugar glucose, and its universal importance to carbohydrate metabolism,...
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley was an English biologist, educator, and advocate of agnosticism (he coined the word). Huxley’s vigorous public support of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary naturalism earned him the nickname...
microbiology
Microbiology, study of microorganisms, or microbes, a diverse group of generally minute simple life-forms that include bacteria, archaea, algae, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. The field is concerned with...
biochemistry
Biochemistry, study of the chemical substances and processes that occur in plants, animals, and microorganisms and of the changes they undergo during development and life. It deals with the chemistry of...
human genetics
Human genetics, study of the inheritance of characteristics by children from parents. Inheritance in humans does not differ in any fundamental way from that in other organisms. The study of human heredity...
population ecology
Population ecology, study of the processes that affect the distribution and abundance of animal and plant populations. A population is a subset of individuals of one species that occupies a particular...
biology
Biology, study of living things and their vital processes. The field deals with all the physicochemical aspects of life. The modern tendency toward cross-disciplinary research and the unification of scientific...
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin English naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. An affable country gentleman, Darwin at first shocked religious...