Theoretical biology

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : Theoretical biology

Theoretical biology is a field of academic study and research that involves the use of quantitative tools in biology.

Many separate areas of biology fall under the concept of theoretical biology, according to the way they are studied. Some of these areas include: animal behaviour (ethology), biomechanics, biorhythms, cell biology, complexity of biological systems, ecology, enzyme kinetics, evolutionary biology, genetics, immunology, membrane transport, microbiology, molecular structures, morphogenesis, physiological mechanisms, systems biology and the origin of life. Neurobiology is an example of a subdiscipline of biology which already has a theoretical version of its own, theoretical or computational neuroscience.

The ultimate goal of the theoretical biologist is to explain the biological world using mainly mathematical and computational tools, though not necessarily. Though it is ultimately based on observations and experimental results, the theoretical biologist's product is a model or theory, and it is this that chiefly distinguishes the theoretical biologist from other biologists. Over recent years the theoretical biologist has become nearly obsolete, as tests prove the impossibility of accurate results where the environment of the observations is not homogeneous.

Contents

1 Theoretical biologists
2 See also
3 Bibliographical references
4 External links

4.1 Journals
4.2 Related societies

Theoretical biologists

Bibliographical references

Bonner, J. T. 1988. The Evolution of Complexity by Means of Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hertel, H. 1963. Structure, Form, Movement. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corp.
Mangel, M. 1990. Special Issue, Classics of Theoretical Biology (part 1). Bull. Math. Biol. 52(1/2): 1-318.
Prusinkiewicz, P. & Lindenmeyer, A. 1990. The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Thompson, D.W. 1942. On Growth and Form. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2. vols.
Vogel, S. 1988. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

External links

[Theory of Biological Anthropology (Documents No. 9 and 10 in English)]

Journals

Related societies