Chemoreception

Chemoreception is a physiological process whereby organisms respond to chemical stimuli. Humans and most higher animals have two principal classes of chemoreceptors: taste (gustatory receptors), and smell (olfactory receptors).

Biological Rhythms

People frequently talk about body clocks, a term that refers to the patterns of energy and exhaustion, functioning and resting, and wakefulness and sleep that characterize everyday life. In fact, the concept of the body clock, or circadian rhythm, is part of a larger picture of biological cycles, such as menstruation in mammalian females.

Behavior

In biology the term behavior refers to the means by which living things respond to their environments. At first glance, this might seem to encompass only animal behavior, but, in fact, plants display observable behavior patterns as well.

Instinct and Learning

Among the most fascinating areas in the biological sciences is ethology, or the study of animal behavior—in particular, the areas of ethology that deal with instinct and learning. Instinct is a stereotyped, or largely unvarying, behavior that is typical of a particular species.

Migration and Navigation

Among the most intriguing aspects of animal behavior and perception is the tendency to migrate long distances, coupled with the navigational ability that makes this possible. Most such migration is seasonal, a primary example being birds' proverbial flight south for the winter.

The Biosphere

The biosphere is simply "life on Earth"—the sum total, that is, of all living things on Earth. Yet the whole is more than the sum of the parts: not only is the biosphere an integrated system whose many components fit together in complex ways, but it also works, in turn, in concert with the other major earth systems.

Ecosystems and Ecology

Composed of living organisms and the remains of living things as well as the nonliving materials in their surroundings, an ecosystem is a complete community. Its components include plants, animals, and microorganisms, both living and dead; soil, rocks, and minerals; water sources above and below ground; and the local atmosphere.

Biomes

On a political map of the world, Earth is divided into countries, of which there are almost 200. But nature, of course, knows no national boundaries, and therefore the natural divisions of the planet are quite different from those agreed upon by humans.

Symbiosis

Symbiosis is a biological relationship in which two species live in close proximity to each other and interact regularly in such a way as to benefit one or both of the organisms. When both partners benefit, this variety of symbiosis is known as mutualism.

Biological Communities

An ecosystem is a complete community of interdependent organisms as well as the inorganic components of their environment; by contrast, a biological community is just the living members of an ecosystem. Within the study of biological communities there are a great number of complexities involved in analyzing the relationships between species as well as the characteristics of specific communities.

Succession and Climax

Eventually almost everyone has the experience of watching an old neighborhood change. Sometimes we perceive that change for the better, sometimes for the worse, and the perception can have more to do with our individual desires or needs than it does with any qualities inherent in the change itself.

Earth, Science, and Nonscience

To understand the composition and structure of Earth, one must comprehend the forces that shaped it. Much the same is true of the earth sciences themselves, which originated from attempts to explain the origins of Earth and the materials of which it is composed.

Geoscience and Everyday Life

How can learning about rocks help us in our daily lives? The short answer is that geology and the related geologic sciences (sometimes referred to collectively as geoscience) give us a glimpse of the great complexity inherent in the natural world, helping us appreciate the beauty and order of things.

Earth Systems

A system is any set of interactions set apart from the rest of the universe for the purposes of study, observation, and measurement. Theoretically, a system is isolated from its environment, but this is an artificial construct, since nothing is ever fully isolated.

Studying Earth

The physical sciences include astronomy, physics, chemistry, and the earth sciences, but the last of these sciences is quite unlike the other three. Whereas the objects of study in physics and chemistry often seem abstract to the uninitiated and astronomy is concerned with faraway planets and other bodies, the earth sciences are devoted to things that are both concrete and immediate.

Measuring and Mapping Earth

Today a sharp distinction exists between the earth sciences and geography, but this has not always been the case. In ancient times, when scientists lacked the theoretical or technological means to study Earth's interior, the two disciplines were linked much more closely.

Remote Sensing

Scientists of many disciplines are accustomed to studying data that cannot be observed through direct contact. Physicists and chemists, for instance, know a great deal about the structure of the atom, even though even the most high-powered microscope cannot make an atom visible to the human eye.