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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 tree of life or universal tree of life is a metaphor, conceptual model, and research tool used to explore the evolution of life and describe the relationships between organisms, both living and extinct, as described in a famous passage in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859). [1]
The idea of a tree of life arose from ancient notions of a ladder-like progression from lower into higher forms of life (such as in the Great Chain of Being).Early representations of "branching" phylogenetic trees include a "paleontological chart" showing the geological relationships among plants and animals in the book Elementary Geology, by Edward Hitchcock (first edition: 1840).
Evolutionary tree showing the divergence of modern species from the last universal ancestor in the center. [5] The three domains are colored, with bacteria blue, archaea green, and eukaryotes red. The project of a complete description of the phylogenetic relationships among all biological species is dubbed the "tree of life".
Taxonomy (Greek language τάξις, taxis = 'order', 'arrangement' + νόμος, nomos = 'law' or 'science') is the classification, identification and naming of organisms. . It is usually richly informed by phylogenetics, but remains a methodologically and logically distinct discipline.
John Lindley provided an early definition of systematics in 1830, although he wrote of "systematic botany" rather than using the term "systematics". [2] In 1970 Michener et al. defined "systematic biology" and "taxonomy" (terms that are often confused and used interchangeably) in relationship to one another as follows: [3]
Family tree showing the relationship of each person to the orange person, including cousins and gene share. A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms.
The Open Tree of Life is an online phylogenetic tree of life – a collaborative effort, funded by the National Science Foundation. [2] [3] The first draft, including 2.3 million species, was released in September 2015. [4] The Interactive graph allows the user to zoom in to taxonomic classifications, phylogenetic trees, and information about a ...