Defining biology as a life science

vertical -- evolutionary changes over time, descendants, inheritance

horizontal -- ecological changes over area and in composition over time

McCloskey on diachronic & synchronic means that differ.

E. O. Wilson on the diversity of life.

What are individual organisms, species, ecosystems and the Earth?

ontos the characteristics of the individual shared by an entire species or race; that is, of populations of creatures with common ancestry. The "development of an individual," 1872.

phylos the characteristics of the individual's lineage, "genesis and evolution of a phylum," 1872, by Ernst Haeckel.

See, etymology on line.

What is biology? The study of organisms and the life cycle of creatures as they congregate or separate to occupy habitat and leave offspring.

How does genetics inform the biological investigation process?

What is a genotype? the sequence of bases that code for amino acids.

What is a phenotype? the expression of the proteins or the apparent character traits of an organism.

How is protein folding so important to Lewontin's case?

Coevolution,

feed back loops confuse causes and effects

99-101

Lewontin

catastrophe -- loss of habitable areas

chaos -- "developmental noise" shapes an organism

complexity -- "This complex behavior of the separate genetic entities bl,BL and td,TD is a consequence of our cutting up the genome of grasshoppers in a way that is inappropriate for the problem."

87.

"Finally organisms determine by their biology the actual physical nature of signals from the outside."

The transduce one physical signal into quite a different one, and it is the result of the transduction that is perceived by the organism's functions as an environmental variable."

63.

Biodiversity

Biological "game of life"

Biology, history of

Diseases: Tuberculosis, TB

Human Genome | Crucial role of genetics | Genetics | Genetics Index