What Is An Organism In Biology

Levels Skepticism And Deflationary Accounts

Despite the familiarity of scientists and philosophers with the levelsconcept, calls for its dismissal or de-emphasis in the scientificlexicon are increasingly common . For one thing,nature may simply be too messy to fit any layer-cake style picture.Consider as an illustration the putative level oforganisms. Blue whales and yeast cells are both clearlyorganisms and thus should nominally be located at this level, but eachcomprises radically different kinds of entities with radicallydifferent properties . This may still bepalatable, but when we consider the next lower level, namely the oneindicated by the components of these organisms, the picture of levelsas neat horizontal layers breaks down completely. The components ofblue whales include things such as organs, tissues and cells, whereasyeast cells are composed of things like the cell membrane, nucleus andmitochondria . Furthermore, the whaleis in part composed of various symbionts, including gut bacteria. Suchsymbionts are at the same time components of the whale and organismsin themselves. Thus, the components of different kinds organisms donot form any homogeneous level.

More generally, Potochnik and McGill argue thatlevels imposes a radically false, rigid uniformity ontonature:

This identifies these problem with the basic idea of thelevels concept itself. They continue:

What Does Organism Mean

An organism is an individual form of life that is capable of growing and reproducing, and have one or more cells. Animals, plants and bacterium are all organisms. All of these cells come from pre-existing cells, and multi-cellular organisms have specific cells for different functions. Inside the body, organelles or organs work together to sustain life. Organisms can also respond to stimuli, grow and maintain homeostasis.

Conceptual Space Distinctions And Beyond Organisms

Responses to the Focal Question have advanced discussion of at leastthree closely related subsidiary questions:

The first of these questions anchors our discussion in the shorthistory of thinking about biological individuals while acknowledgingthe long past of the Focal Question.

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Mechanisms Used By Fungi In The Remediation Process

It is known that several biological organisms are used to remediate materials contaminated with heavy metals, including species of bacteria and fungi, and most of these have adapted to the contaminated environment, or naturally have specific mechanisms for remediation .

Thus, some fungi are able to support and detoxify metal ions by mechanisms such as active accumulation, intracellular and extracellular precipitation, and change in valence state therefore, they are potential biocatalysts for the bioremediation of heavy metals because they are able to absorb them in mycelia and spores .

Although heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, and copper cannot be destroyed from the medium or transformed into nontoxic forms, they can be reduced or oxidized to water-soluble forms. Thus, the use of microorganisms for this purpose has been presented as an environmentally friendly and low-cost technology .

The bioremediation of treated wood involves complex biological, chemical, and physical reactions that are capable of immobilizing or transforming heavy metals in less toxic forms . Other authors treat bioremediation as a challenging process because the presence of heavy metals can negatively affect microbial activities, such as the production of adenosine triphosphate , carbon mineralization, displacement of the community, and enzymatic function .

Therese Gerbich And Amy Gladfelter

All cells face challenges in spatial organization of their contents. One solution used by eukaryotic cells is to create individual membrane-bound compartments for specialized cellular functions. But cells also need to be able to organize all the cytosolic spaces between these compartments so that biochemistry, signaling, and protein production can be tightly regulated. Gradients are one example of organization that is widely observed from micron-sized bacteria to developing insect embryos . How cytosolic patterns are established and maintained in spite of the dissipative power of diffusion is an area of active investigation in a variety of systems. However, the problem is especially striking in syncytial cells where many nuclei are enclosed in a large, single cytoplasm. Syncytia are found in diverse contexts, including human muscle and placental cells, many fungi, developing insects, and plant tissues. These special cell types face even greater challenges in organizing their cytosolic contents, making them a powerful place to study fundamental principles of cytoplasmic organization.

Fig. 7

Ashbya gossypii as a model for cytosolic organization. Left: image of a growing young mycelium. Middle: A.gossypii hyphae with clustered mRNA transcripts. Asynchronously cycling nuclei are shown in blue and clustered cyclin transcripts in orange. Right: cartoon depiction of A.gossypii hyphae with nuclei and clustered transcripts. Scale bars 5 m

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Characteristics Of Model Organisms

A few of the characteristics of model organisms are listed below.

• Relatively short generation time .

• Relatively easy to maintain and grow in a restricted space.

• Relatively easy to provide necessary nutrients for growth.

• Relatively well-understood development and growth.

• Closely resemble other organisms or systems.

• Baker’s or brewer’s yeast

• Bacterium

Levels Of Organization In Biology

Levels of organization are structures in nature, usually defined bypart-whole relationships, with things at higher levels being composedof things at the next lower level. Typical levels of organization thatone finds in the literature include the atomic, molecular, cellular,tissue, organ, organismal, group, population, community, ecosystem,landscape, and biosphere levels. References to levels of organizationand related hierarchical depictions of nature are prominent in thelife sciences and their philosophical study, and appear not only inintroductory textbooks and lectures, but also in cutting-edge researcharticles and reviews. In philosophy, perennial debates such asreduction, emergence, mechanistic explanation, interdisciplinaryrelations, natural selection, and many other topics, also relysubstantially on the notion.

Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the notion, levels of organizationhave received little explicit attention in biology or its philosophy.Usually they appear in the background as an implicit conceptualframework that is associated with vague intuitions. Attempts atproviding general and broadly applicable definitions of levels oforganization have not met wide acceptance. In recent years, severalauthors have put forward localized and minimalistic accounts oflevels, and others have raised doubts about the usefulness of thenotion as a whole.

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Branches Of Biological Study

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The scope of biology is broad and therefore contains many branches and sub disciplines. Biologists may pursue one of those sub disciplines and work in a more focused field. For instance, molecular biology studies biological processes at the molecular level, including interactions among molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, as well as the way they are regulated. Microbiology is the study of the structure and function of microorganisms. It is quite a broad branch itself, and depending on the subject of study, there are also microbial physiologists, ecologists, and geneticists, among others.

Another field of biological study, neurobiology, studies the biology of the nervous system, and although it is considered a branch of biology, it is also recognized as an interdisciplinary field of study known as neuroscience. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, this sub discipline studies different functions of the nervous system using molecular, cellular, developmental, medical, and computational approaches.

The Evolution Of Biological Individuality

Finally, the evolution of biological individuality continues to be alively topic . The starting point hereis the idea that the history of life is the history of theconstruction of more complicated biological individuals from simplerindividuals, with natural selection facilitating the transitions between these individuals. Underlyingthese ideas is the assumption that many or all biological individualsare hierarchically organized: earlier individuals provide the materialbasis for later individuals. For example, prokaryotes, which aresingle-celled organisms without a nucleus, form the material basis forsingle-celled eukaryotes, which do have a nucleus in turn,single-celled eukaryotes serve as the material basis for multicellulareukaryotes.

The evolution of biological individuals from prokaryotes tosingle-celled eukaryotes around 2 billion years ago, and from those tomulticellular eukaryotes in the last 600800 million years, areestablished facts. In addition, there appear to be no counter-examplesto this evolutionary trend. Yet speculation and controversy surroundalmost everything else that has been said about these evolutionarytransitions. Consider three such issues on which there is a sort ofdefault position in the literature that remains subject to ongoingphilosophical and empirical interrogation.

supplementary perspective that is less hierarchical, less focused onmulticellular events, less replication oriented, and in particular,more metabolic.

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What Is Biology Are Viruses Living Organisms

Alfred& nbspAjibola– Wed, 01st January, 2020 @ 3:22 PM

Topics in Biology

Please check out our Test Your Knowledge page to see all Questions and Answers

In a food chain, the primary consumers are classified under trophic level _____.

• A. Zero

Cold blooded animals are referred to as _____.

• A. Homeotherms

• F. None of the above

All reptiles are vertebrates.

_____ cells are responsible for the formation of osteoblasts.

• A. Osteocytes

_____ is a bone that constitute the axial skeleton.

• A. Clavicle

Which of the following is false concerning cartilages and bones?

• A. Cartilage does not have a direct blood supply while bones have direct blood supply
• B. The process of ossification replaces a cartilage to bone
• C. The protein that makes up cartilage is called chondrin while that that makes up bone is called ossein
• D. Cartilage grows from both ends while bones grow from one of its epiphysis
• E. They both have living cells within them
• F. Haversian system is absent in cartilage but present in bones

A diagram showing the movement of energy through a food chain is called a _____.

• A. Food Chain

Which of the following is NOT a part of the wrist bones ?

• A. Cuboid

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What Is Organismal Biology

Organismal biologybiology

. Beside this, what does organismal biology mean?

Organismal biology, the study of structure, function, ecology and evolution at the level of the organism, provides a rich arena for investigation on its own, but also plays a central role in answering conceptual questions about both ecology and evolution.

One may also ask, is organismal biology hard? Molecular/Cellular BiologyThis area of biology is arguably the most difficult, but it will afford you many opportunities that will lead to future career success. Whether it is molecular/cellular biology, organismal biology or field biology, all of these fields will result in extremely interesting jobs.

Moreover, what can you do with a degree in organismal biology?

Selected Career Choices –Organismal Biology Major

• Agricultural Engineer.
• Farm and Ranch Manager.

What kind of subject is biology?

Guide to Studying Biological Sciences. Biological Sciences includes biochemistry, biomedicine, cell biology, conservation, ecology, genetics, microbiology, pathobiology and physiology.

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Referencesisbn Links Support Nwe Through Referral Fees

• Alberts, B., et al. 2002. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition. New York, NY: Garland Science. ISBN 0815332181.
• Durrant, Michael . 1993. Aristotle’s De Anima in Focus. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415053404.
• Gill S.R., et al. 2006. Metagenomic analysis of the human distal gut microbiomeScience 312: 1355-1359. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
• Luria, S. E., S. J. Gould, and S. Singer. 1981. A View of Life. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Pub. Co. ISBN 0805366482.
• Margulis L., and D. Sagan. 1986. Microcosmos. New York: Summit Books. ISBN 0671441698.
• Margulis, L., and D. Sagan. 1995. What Is Life? Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684810875.
• Schrodinger, E. 1944/2000. What is Life?. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521427088
• Southwick, E. E. 1983. The honey bee cluster as a homeothermic superorganism. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 75A: 741â745.
• Towle, A. 1989. Modern Biology. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 0030139198

Structuring Conceptual Space Beyond Pluralism

So far some of the pluralistic directions that discussions ofDistinctions and Conceptual Space have taken in the literature havebeen outlined, leading to a conceptual landscape populated by aplethora of adjectivally-modified kinds of individuals: evolutionary,physiological, developmental, functional, genetic, etc.. Althoughsimply equating biological individuals with organisms would be amistake, some biologists have explored the idea that a more nuanced appealto organisms can provide some informative structure to this landscape.Noting that

amongst biologists, the question of what constitutes an individual isusually identical with the question of what constitutes an individualorganism.

Pepper and Herron pose the question of whether any given biologicalindividual is an organism, a part of an organism, or a group oforganisms. Consider then a framework that holds that biologicalindividuals include exactly:

• organisms
• some parts of organisms and
• some groups of organisms .

Figure 2 depicts this framework visually.

Figure 2: A Framework for StructuringConceptual Space.

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Locating Biological Individuals In Conceptual Space

The discussion insection 6 has drawn out more about the conceptual space that physiologicalindividuals occupy and their relationship to evolutionary individuals.This section offers a more complete and integrative overview of thatconceptual space. Before populating the running summary diagram withexamples of various kinds of biological individuals, we first simply addDarwinian or evolutionary individuals toFigure 3 and label the resulting nine regions in it to arrive atFigure 5:

Figure 5: Adding Darwinian Individuals.

As simple as this modification toFigure 3 is, it allows for much more fine-grained answers to the FocalQuestion, both in terms of the relationship between the subsidiarycategories living agents, organisms, and Darwinian individuals, and interms of where particular individuals are located in the resultingconceptual space. It may turn out that some of these regions areunoccupied by actual biological individuals, or that some of theadjacent regions collapse into one another. But the following proceedsby indicating how the preceding discussion suggests all nine regionsare exemplified by distinct kinds of biological individual, movingfrom less contentious to more contentious examples.

Figure 6 completes this running visual summary of conceptual space thatbiological individuals occupy, with the addition of a table whichassociates the regions with the examples discussed above.

The Basic Principles Of Modern Biology

Four principles unify modern biology, according to the book “Managing Science” :

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Contrasting Genealogical And Relational Conceptions Of Identity

We describe in this section the two conceptions of organisms identity at work in experimental and modeling practices in biology, and we focus on their background epistemology. We aim at making explicit their respective strengths and weaknesses which, because of their complementarity, open the way to the elaboration of an integrated conception.

Animal Form And Function

The cells in each animal body are bathed in interstitial fluid, which make up the cell’s environment. This fluid and all its characteristics can be described as the animal’s internal environment, which is in contrast to the external environment that encompasses the animal’s outside world. Animals can be classified as either regulators or conformers. Animals such as mammals and birds are regulators as they are able to maintain a constant internal environment such as body temperature despite their environments changing. These animals are also described as homeotherms as they exhibit thermoregulation by keeping their internal body temperature constant. In contrast, animals such as fishes and frogs are conformers as they adapt their internal environment to match their external environments. These animals are also described as poikilotherms or ectotherms as they allow their body temperatures to match their external environments. In terms of energy, regulation is more costly than conformity as an animal expands more energy to maintain a constant internal environment such as increasing its basal metabolic rate, which is the rate of energy consumption. Similarly, homeothermy is more costly than poikilothermy. Homeostasis is the stability of an animal’s internal environment, which is maintained by negative feedback loops.

Water and salt balance

Nutrition and digestion

Breathing

Circulation

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Shuonan He And Matthew C Gibson

Cnidarians have long attracted attention from biologists and it is easy to see why. From Abraham Trembleys classic illustrations of regenerating hydra to Ernst Haeckels vivid depiction of discomedusae and sea anemones in Art Forms in Nature, these delicate creatures exhibit an exotic beauty . For contemporary studies of evolutionary cell and developmental biology, cnidarians have begun to offer much more than simple visual appeal. Widely accepted as the sister group to bilaterian animals, cnidarians possess apparent radial symmetry, lack definitive mesoderm, and have only a single opening that functions as both mouth and anus . Beyond aesthetic intrigue, these morphological distinctions indicate key evolutionary transitions in the bilaterian lineage after the split of both phyla from their common ancestor, making cnidarian biology central to our understanding of animal evolution. Nevertheless, more than 250 years after Trembleys pioneering work, we still know surprisingly little about the molecular mechanisms that dictate the distinguishing morphological features of cnidarians. One major obstacle has been the absence of a singular cnidarian species that is equally tractable for developmental, cellular, and genomic analysis.

Fig. 11

Addressing this issue, the starlet sea anemone Nematostella venctensis has emerged at the forefront of cnidarian model systems with the potential to serve broad research interests.