Outline of biology

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to biology:

Biology – study of living organisms. It is concerned with the characteristics, classification, and behaviors of organisms, how species come into existence, and the interactions they have with each other and with the environment. Biology encompasses a broad spectrum of academic fields that are often viewed as independent disciplines. However, together they address phenomena related to living organisms (biological phenomena) over a wide range of scales, from biophysics to ecology. All concepts in biology are subject to the same laws that other branches of science obey, such as the laws of thermodynamics and conservation of energy.

Branches of biology

• Acarology
• Anatomy
• Arachnology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics
• Biomechanics
• Bionomics
• Biophysics
• Biotechnology
• Botany
• Cell biology
• Ecology
• Entomology
• Evolution
• Genetics
• Gerontology
• Herpetology
• Histology
• Ichnology
• Ichthyology
• Immunology
• Limnology
• Marine biology
• Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Mycology
• Myrmecology
• Neurobiology
• Ornithology
• Paleontology
• Palynology
• Parasitology
• Photobiology
• Phycology
• Physiology
• Plant physiology
• Biological psychology— Radiobiology
• Sociobiology
• Structural biology
• Taxonomy
• Virology
• Zoology

History of biology

Main article: History of biology

• Anatomy
• Biochemistry
• Biotechnology
• Ecology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary thought
• Medicine
• Model organisms
• Modern evolutionary synthesis
• Molecular biology
• Molecular evolution
• Natural history
• Plant systematics

Ecology and evolution

• Life: origin of life — hierarchy of life - Miller-Urey experiment

• Ecology:
  • Autecology: autotroph — heterotroph — acclimatization — endotherm — ectotherm — hibernation — homeostasis — behavior — circadian rhythm
  • Population ecology: population — competition — mating — biological dispersal — endemism — niche — growth curve — carrying capacity
  • Community ecology: community — keystone species — mimicry — symbiosis — pollination — mutualism — commensalism — parasitism — predation — invasive species — environmental heterogeneity — edge effect
  • Ecosystems: biodiversity — biome — habitat — plankton — thermocline — carbon cycle — water cycle — nitrogen cycle — food web — trophic level — saprobe — decomposition

• Evolutionary biology (evolution)
  • Microevolution: species — speciation — adaptation — selection — natural selection — directional selection — sexual selection — genetic drift — sexual reproduction — asexual reproduction — colony — allele frequency — neutral theory of molecular evolution — population genetics — Hardy-Weinberg principle
  • Macroevolution: adaptive radiation — convergent evolution — extinction — mass extinction — fossil — taphonomy — geologic time — plate tectonics — continental drift — vicariance — Gondwana — Pangaea — endosymbiosis
  • Systematics: taxon — taxonomy — scientific classification — phylogeny — evolutionary tree — cladistics — synapomorphy — homology — molecular clock

Organismal biology

(also known as functional biology)

• Groups of living organisms
  • viruses : DNA viruses — RNA viruses — retroviruses
  • Single-cell organisms:
    • prokaryotes : microbe — bacteria — archaea
    • eukaryotes: fungi — algae — protozoa — protista
  • Multicellular organisms:
    • plantae — plants — bryophytes — pteridophytes — seed plants
    • animalia — animals — metazoa — insects — molluscs — vertebrates
    • fungi — lichen — mycorrhizae
• Developmental biology : gamete — spermatid — ovum — zygote — embryo — cellular differentiation — morphogenesis —homeobox
  • Animal development: stem cell — blastula — gastrula — egg (biology) — fetus — placenta
  • Plant development: seed — cotyledon — meristem — apical meristem — vascular cambium — cork cambium

• Morphology, anatomy and physiology:
  • Techniques: electrophysiology — electron microscopy
  • tissues — organ — senescence
  • Plant systems: root — shoot — stem — leaf — flower
    • vascular tissue — Casparian strip — turgor pressure — xylem — phloem — transpiration — wood
    • alternation of generations — gametophyte — antheridium — archegonium — sporophyte — spore — sporangium
    • tropism — taxis
  • Animal systems: skin cell
    • skeleton — bone — cartilage — joint — muscle — tendon — actin — myosin — reflex
    • circulatory system — respiration — lung — heart — artery — vein — capillary — blood — blood cell
    • digestive system — stomach — intestine — liver — nutrition — primary nutritional groups metabolism — kidney — excretion
    • nervous system: limbic system — vestibular system — neuron — axon — dendrite — brain — eye — vision — audition — proprioception — olfaction — memory
    • nerve signaling: action potential — signal transduction — synapse — receptor
    • endocrine system — hormone
    • reproductive system — testes — ovary — pregnancy

• Medicine:
  • Diseases: cancer — diabetes — obesity — hereditary disease — communicable disease
  • immune system: antibody — host — vaccine — immune cell — AIDS — T-cell — leucocyte
  • Drugs: antibiotic — barbiturate — SSRI
  • Techniques: MRI — Computed axial tomography — blood count

Cellular and molecular biology

• Cell biology: the cell
  • Techniques: cell culture — microscope — SEM — TEM
  • cell components:
    • organelles: Golgi apparatus — nucleus — cytoplasm — vacuole — vesicle — lysosome — peroxisome — mitochondrion — plastid — chloroplast
    • membranes: plasma membrane — endomembrane system — endoplasmic reticulum — mitochondrial membrane — chloroplast membrane
    • Other subcellular features: cell wall — pseudopod — cytoskeleton — mitotic spindle — flagellum — cilium
  • Cell processes:
    • diffusion — osmosis — isotonic — active transport — phagocytosis
    • energy pathways: fermentation — glycolysis — cellular respiration — citric acid cycle — photosynthesis — Calvin cycle
    • protein biosynthesis — ribosomes
    • cellular reproduction: cytokinesis — centromere — meiosis
    • nuclear reproduction: mitosis — interphase — prophase — metaphase — anaphase — telophase
    • programmed cell death — apoptosis — cell senescence

• Biochemistry:
  • Biomolecules:
    • Small: amino acids — Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — fats — lipids — oil — phospholipid — prion — sugar — vitamins — neurotransmitter — wax
    • Medium-sized:
      • pigments: chlorophyll — carotenoid — xanthophyll — melanin
    • Biopolymers/macromolecules
      • proteins: primary structure — secondary structure — tertiary structure — conformation — native state — protein folding — enzyme — receptor — transmembrane receptor — ion channel — membrane transporter— collagen — silk
      • DNA — RNA
      • polysaccharide: cellulose — carbohydrate — chitin — glycogen — starch
  • Biochemical mechanisms: proteolysis — cooperativity
  • Techniques: electrophoresis — His tag —affinity chromatography — x-ray diffraction — Proteomics — mass spectrometry

• Molecular biology:
  • genetic structure: DNA — DNA replication — nucleosome — genetic code — codon — transcription factor — transcription — translation — RNA — histone — telomere
  • gene expression — heterochromatin — promoter — enhancer — operon
  • mutation — point mutation — crossover — recombination —plasmid — transposon
  • molecular genetics: DNA fingerprinting — genetic fingerprint — microsatellite — gene knockout— imprinting — RNA interference
  • Genomics: computational biology — bioinformatics
  • Molecular Techniques: gel electrophoresis — transformation — PCR — PCR mutagenesis — primer — chromosome walking — RFLP — restriction enzyme — sequencing — shotgun sequencing — cloning — culture — DNA microarray

• Genetics (classical genetics) :
  • heredity — Mendelian inheritance — gene — locus — trait — allele — polymorphism — homozygote — heterozygote — hybrid — hybridization — dihybrid cross — Punnett square
  • genotype-phenotype distinction — genotype — phenotype — dominant gene — recessive gene
  • genetic interactions — Mendel's law of segregation — genetic mosaic — maternal effect — penetrance — complementation — suppression — epistasis — genetic linkage
  • chromosomal effects: chromosome — haploid — diploid — polyploidy — dosage effect — inbreeding
  • Model organisms: Drosophila — Arabidopsis — Caenorhabditis elegans — mouse — Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Escherichia coli — Lambda phage — Xenopus — chicken — zebrafish — Ciona intestinalis — amphioxus
  • Techniques: genetic screen — paternity test — linkage map — genetic map

Biologists

Main articles: Biologist and List of biologists

• Charles Robert Darwin
• Alfred Russel Wallace
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
• Gregor Mendel
• Hugo De Vries
• Aristotle
• Carolus Linnaeus
• Konrad Lorenz
• Robert Hooke
• Louis Pasteur
• Robert Koch
• Marcello Malpighi
• Ernst Haeckel
• Alexander Fleming
• Sydney Brenner
• Linus Pauling
• Frederick Sanger
• Hans Adolf Krebs
• Kary Mullis
• Ernst Mayr
• Theodosius Dobzhansky
• Stephen Jay Gould
• Francis Galton
• Thomas Henry Huxley
• James D. Watson
• Francis Crick
• Lynn Margulis
• Carl Woese
• Ronald Fisher
• Sewall Wright
• J. B. S. Haldane
• Thomas Hunt Morgan
• Edmund Beecher Wilson
• Nettie Stevens
• François Jacob
• Jacques Monod
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
• Eric F. Wieschaus
• Alexander von Humboldt
• Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
• Jacques Cousteau
• Jane Goodall

See also

• Invasion biology terminology
• Bibliography of biology
• List of omics topics in biology

Related outlines

• Outline of engineering
• Outline of technology
• List of social sciences

External links

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• MIT video lecture series on biology
• A wiki site for protocol sharing run from MIT.
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• What is Biotechnology : a voluntary program as Biotech for Beginners.

Journals

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