Branches of biology and what they study

Etymologically, “biology” the Greek terms Bios, which means “life”, and Logía, which means “study” or “science”. Therefore, biology is the science that studies the origin, evolution and characteristics of all living beings , which is why it studies the biodiversity of the planet. In addition, it also studies their vital processes, behavior and interactions with each other and with their environment.

Biology as a whole is responsible for describing and analyzing the behaviors and characteristics of living beings, individually or as species, and characterizing the laws that govern the life of different organisms.

Given that a large number of organisms of a great variety of species inhabit the Earth, biology is divided into multiple branches that delve into all the aspects that characterize the different organisms, in order to better study them.

The fields of study of each of the branches of biology are:

• Anatomy: anatomy studies the internal structure of living things and their organs.
• Environmental biology: studies the relationship of living beings with their environment and with human beings.
• Cell biology or cytology: this is the branch of biology that studies the structure and function of cells, but not at the molecular level.
• Evolutionary biology: this branch studies the changes that living beings have undergone and are experiencing throughout evolutionary history, as well as descendants and ancestors common to different groups of organisms.
• Human biology: studies human populations from the point of view of genetic variability, their different biotypes, diseases that affect humans, etc.
• Marine biology: studies the biological phenomena that occur in the marine environment, as well as the organisms that inhabit it.
• Molecular biology: studies biological phenomena at the molecular level and the function, structure and composition of the molecules that make up life. Molecular biology studies, for example, the synthesis of proteins, aspects of metabolism or DNA replication.
• Biochemistry: studies the different chemical reactions that occur in living beings. It is also considered a branch of chemistry.
• Biotechnology: science fundamentally based on microbiology and is based on its application as a technology to improve medical, industrial or agricultural processes.
• Botany: branch that studies and classifies plant organisms.
• Ecology: branch of biology that studies the living beings that inhabit each ecosystem, the interrelationships that are established between them and with their environment.
• Entomology: branch that studies arthropod organisms.
• Epidemiology: branch that studies diseases and their spread.
• Ethology: branch that studies the behavior of living beings. It is also related to psychology.
• Embryology: branch that studies the development and processes that take place during the gestation period of living beings.
• Physiology: branch that studies the phenomena that occur in living beings. It is divided, in turn, into animal physiology, which studies phenomena such as respiration, blood circulation or the nervous system, and plant physiology, which studies how sap circulates or the reproduction of plants.
• Pathophysiology: branch that studies the dysfunctions that cause diseases in living beings.
• Genetics: branch that studies genes, their expression or their inheritance.
• Histology: branch that studies the function and composition of the tissues that are part of living beings.
• Immunology: studies the function and composition of the immune system of living beings.
• Mycology: studies the structure and composition of fungi and mushrooms. It also studies human pathogenic fungi.
• Microbiology: branch that studies microorganisms. In turn, it includes virology and bacteriology.
• Parasitology: branch that studies helminths, trematodes, nematodes or amoebas, that is, parasites.
• Taxonomy: branch that classifies living beings to simplify their study.
• Zoology: branch that studies animals.

Some of the most famous biologists in history and who contributed the most to the development of the different branches of science were:

• Gregor Mendel – Scientist who laid the foundations for genetic inheritance in the late 9th century.
• Louis Pasteur: scientist considered the father of microbiology and discoverer of some vaccines. He proposed that some diseases were caused by microorganisms.
• Alexander Fleming: biologist who contributed to the development of antibiotics with the discovery of penicillin in the fungus Penicilium sp. . He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945.
• Charles Darwin: English biologist who proposed that species evolved from each other.
• Edward Jenner: considered the father of immunology, he was the one who developed the first vaccine against smallpox.