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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 ...
The definition of life has long been a challenge for scientists and philosophers. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] This is partially because life is a process, not a substance. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] This is complicated by a lack of knowledge of the characteristics of living entities, if any, that may have developed outside Earth.
Not all dinosaur lineages were cut short at the end of the Cretaceous during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and over 11,000 species of avian theropods survive as part of the modern fauna. [153] [154] [155] An ichthyosaur and plesiosaur by Édouard Riou, 1863. This old representation of a plesiosaur lifting its head is not accurate.
Life is divided into domains, which are subdivided into further groups. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown. In biological taxonomy , a domain ( / d ə ˈ m eɪ n / or / d oʊ ˈ m eɪ n / ) ( Latin : regio [ 1 ] ), also dominion , [ 2 ] superkingdom , realm , or empire , is the highest taxonomic ...
Life arose from the Earth's first ocean, which formed some 3.8 billion years ago. [33] Since then, water continues to be the most abundant molecule in every organism. Water is important to life because it is an effective solvent, capable of dissolving solutes such as sodium and chloride ions or other small molecules to form an aqueous solution.
Carol Edith Cleland (born 1948) [1] is an American philosopher of science known for her work on the definition of life [2] and the shadow biosphere, [3] on the classification of minerals by their geological history, [4] on the distinction between historical and experimental approaches to science, [5] and on the Church–Turing thesis on theoretical limits to physical computation. [6]
The first life arose from abiotic chemical reactions. When this happened, how it happened, and even what planet it happened on are uncertain. However, life follows the rules of and arose from lifeless chemistry and physics. It is constrained by principles such as thermodynamics. This is an important concept in the field because it represents ...
This quantity is the amount of entropy that may be increased without changing an internal energy or increasing its volume. [9] In other words, it is a difference between maximum possible, under assumed conditions, entropy and its actual entropy. It corresponds exactly to the definition of negentropy adopted in statistics and information theory.