BIOLOGY: HISTORY, WHAT IT STUDIES, BRANCHES, BASES - BIOLOGY - 2025

The biology studies life as an energy state of all living beings, their interrelationships and their relationships with the environment around them. A biologist studies the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of living organisms.

Modern biology is a vast and eclectic science, composed of multiple sub-disciplines. However, despite its broad spectrum, there are certain unifying concepts within this science that allow grouping all these disciplines within the same subject of study in a coherent way (Paul, 2002).

In general, biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the essential units for heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the creation of new species.

In the same way, it understands that all living organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy, with the aim of regulating its internal mechanism and staying stable within the vital condition called homeostasis.

Brief historical review of the study of biology

The first humans had to study the animals they hunted and they had to identify where to find the plants that they collected for food. That constitutes the elementary practice of biology.

The Greeks laid the foundations for zoology, botany, and medicine. Then da Vinci ventured into anatomy and later the first illustrated books on biology appeared, highlighting a writing by the German Leonhart Fuchs in 1542 on botany.

The natural sciences were at the center of scientific debate and curiosity during Victorian times and in the 19th century. Not surprisingly, it was around this time that Charles Darwin's Origin of Species appeared, and in 1900 Mendel's work on genetics appeared.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, they gave prominence to the study of DNA and the possibilities offered by the combination of biology and technology.

The modern trend towards interdisciplinarity has allowed knowledge from other fields - chemistry, medicine and physics, for example - to be combined with that of biology in areas such as biochemistry, biomedicine and biophysics.

In these times, the social effect of the work of biologists in society has been evidenced to extremes that have forced them to redefine their obligations and social functions, particularly in matters that lead to ethical dilemmas such as human control of the environment or manipulation of genes to direct evolutionary development.

Basis of biology

The branches of biology arise from five premises about living beings:

Cell theory

The cell theory indicates that the cell is the fundamental unit of life and all living elements are composed of one or more cells whose number can increase thanks to the process of cell division.

In multicellular organisms, each cell in the body is derived from a stem cell in the egg that was fertilized during the reproductive process of the parental generation.

The cell is also considered the basic unit in many pathological processes. Also, the phenomenon of energy movement occurs in cells during the metabolic process. Finally, cells contain hereditary information (DNA), which is passed from one cell to another during the division process.

Energy

All living things require energy, and it flows in all living things and their environment.

Heritage

All living things have DNA codes.

Balance

All living beings must maintain homeostasis or a state of balance with their environment.

Evolution

This is the engine of biological diversity.

Biological principles

- Homeostasis: principle according to which living beings maintain a constant internal environment.

- Unity: implies that all living organisms, regardless of their uniqueness, have certain biological, chemical and physical characteristics in common.

- Evolution: the ability of organisms to adapt to the conditions of their environment and is a biological phenomenon common to all living beings, which is confirmed in the study of fossils.

- Diversity: implies that there is a diversity of life between species and within each natural population.

- Continuity: this principle implies that life comes only from the pre-existing, that is, it is only through reproduction that successive generations can exist.

Biology areas

The following branches of biology could be mentioned:

-Anatomy: tries to describe the structure of the organism, its external and internal appearance, the organization of its organs and the links between them, etc.

-Biophysics: studies the positions and flow of energy in organisms; that is, how energy flows, is distributed and transformed in living beings.

-Cell Biology: as its name indicates, it studies the properties, structure and functions of cells.

-Molecular Biology: studies the vital processes of living beings based on the characteristics of their molecular structure.

-Biochemistry: studies the molecular structure of living beings, as well as the processes that involve transformations of matter.

-Botany: studies the structure, characteristics, properties and relationships of plants.

-Ecology: studies the interactions between living beings and their environment.

-Embryology: studies the development of animals and plants, from their germinal stage to their birth as complete individuals. It is also known as Developmental Biology.

-Etology: studies the behavior of living beings that have a cephalized central nervous system, even inquiring into the genetic and environmental origin of said behavior. This science is also known as Psychobiology, Biopsychology or Behavioral Biology.

-Evolutionary biology: studies all the changes that terrestrial biodiversity has caused.

-Physiology: studies the functions of living beings; how each organ works, how they regulate themselves and how they affect the functions of an organ and organelle the rest of them.

-Genetics: study heredity.

-Immunology: is responsible for studying the defensive reactions that organisms display against any external and internal agent.

-Medicine: studies the methods and remedies by means of which diseased organisms can regain health.

-Micology: studies fungi, pathogenic or non-pathogenic.

-Microbiology: study of microorganisms, both harmless and pathogenic.

-Paleontology: studies living beings that existed in prehistoric times.

-Protozoology: studies protozoa, algae and mycetozoids.

-Sociology: studies the formation and behavior of societies and the links between various societies of organisms (human or not).

-Taxonomy: consists of the organization and classification of living beings and viruses.

-Virology: it is a branch of Biology dedicated to the study of viruses.

-Zoology: study of animals.

From the list we are going to highlight some of the most powerful fields within this science:

Evolution

One of the key concepts that biology studies is evolution. In this way, one of the central beliefs of biology is that all life forms in the world have a common origin.

The theory of evolution postulates that all organisms that have inhabited the earth, both those that are already extinct and those that are still living, are descendants of a common ancestor or a set of ancestral genes.

This common ancestor of all organisms is believed to have appeared approximately 3.5 billion years ago. Biologists recognize the ubiquity of this genetic code as the definitive evidence in favor of the theory of a universal ancestor that gave rise to all bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic cells.

Charles Darwin was commissioned to propose a scientific model of natural selection as the ultimate force that drives evolution. In this way, this theory is currently used to explain the existence of the different types of living beings that inhabit the planet.

The theory of evolution is relevant to biology as it allows you to understand the natural history of all life forms. Therefore, evolution is central in all fields of biology (UF, 2017).

Genetics

The second key concept that biology studies is genetics. Genes are the primary units within the inheritance of all organisms. A gene is a hereditary unit that corresponds to a region of DNA and influences the form and function of an organism in specific ways.

All organisms, from bacteria to animals, share the same DNA copying and inheritance mechanism through proteins and a process of acid transfer and translation of genetic codes (Mayr, 1997).

References

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