Glossary f to n

These are some terms that may not be found in an English dictionary, or have special meanings in this book. Double click any word to get its definition.

[a-e ] [ f]
F1, F2: F1 generation - first generation produced by crossing two parental strains. F2 generation: The second filial generation produced by breeding the F1.
falcon : birds related to hawks. Mostly of the genus Falco [3: image Peregrine falcon ], [3: New Zealand falcon images ].
family: The major classification group within an order. A group of genera separated from similar groups by distance of common ancestry. There are 5 kingdoms of living organisms (animal, plant, fungi, moneran, protist) and 7 levels of classification: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.[3: insect classification ]; [3: insect classification ]; [3: insect classification ]
family tree: see timeline.
fauna: animals
faunal assemblage: A group of living or fossil animals found in a specific geographic or geological context, that represents part of a naturally occurring ecological community.
fecundity: Number of offspring a female produces over her lifetime.
Fermat: Pierre de (1601-1665). French mathematician who contributed to geometry and calculus.[3: Fermat ]
fermion : An elementary particle. All particles are either fermions or bosons. Leptons, quarks and baryons are fermions (elementary particles of matter). They have half-integral units of intrinsic spin, as calculated using [2: Planck's constant ]; [2: fermion ]
fern : a green, non flowering plant. [3: ferns ], [3: ferns and seed ferns ]
Feynman Richard, P. (1918-1988): A physicist who worked on the development of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos. Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel Prize with Schwinger and Tomonaga for fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics. [3: Feynman ];
finch, Darwin's: [3: beak size selection ]
fibrinoprotein : fibrinogen, a protein component of human blood plasma involved in blood clotting.
fish : early groups were heavily scaled and slow moving. These were replaced by holostean fish and these in turn were replaced by teleost fishes. Teleosts include most modern bony fishes, and their predators have to have speed and cunning to catch them.[ 2: ] image of fossil fish ]
fission : splitting of a heavy nucleus of an atom into two or more fragments.
fitness: [3: fitness and synergy ]
flintlock musket : in use before the rifle. It was a smooth-bore, long barrelled firearm. Fired with a piece of flint clamped in a piece called the cock. On pulling the trigger, the cock springs forwards, striking a piece of steel on a pivot and creating a spark that ignites the gunpowder.
foramen magnum : the hole in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes from the brain down the spine. Anteriorly, at about 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, it is flanked by the occipital condyles , the articulation point with the first vertebra and another feature used to identify [2: upright walking ].
fossil : any piece or impression of an ancient organism that has been preserved. [3: The Fossil Gallery at the Paleontologisk Museum ]; [ 2 : image of fossil leaf ; 2 : fossil fish , 2 : fossil bird ]; [3: hall of fossil skulls ]
founder effect : founder principle. On the establishment of a new population, the genetic constitution of the population is that of the few pioneering individuals and not the main source population.[3: European Founder Lineages ]
fungi : organisms that lack chlorophyll, so cannot photosynthesize. Fungi may grow on living or dead animals or plants [3: fungi ].
[ g]
Gaia Hypothesis : theory that the whole earth is a self-regulating system that preserves an environment suitable for life. Life processes have this end, hence Gaian teleology. [3: Gaia ]; [3: Gaia ]; [3:meta-system transition ]
galago : the African bushbaby, a large eyed nocturnal primate.
Galapagos Islands : Found 970 kilometres west of Ecuador, South America. Islands of volcanic peaks, that belong to Ecuador. Darwin developed parts of his theory of evolution based on his observations of animals on the island, especially the closely related finches (birds); [3: Galápagos giant tortoises];[3: Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos archipelago.];
Galileo (1564-1642): Italian astronomer mathematician and physicist. Developed and improve the refracting telescope upon which modern telescopes are designed. He supported Copernicus' theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. This brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church who forced him to recant and state publicly that he did not hold or defend Copernicus' theory. He studied fossils, deciding that they once lived and were not inaminate stones. He also saw that the sun rotates. [3: Galileo ]; [1: Kepler ]; [2: Copernicus ]; [2:Einstein ]; [1:Hubble ]; [1:Newton ]; [1: Herschel ]
galley : long narrow wooden warships in use by the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece as early as 2000 B.C. They had at least one mast and a set of sails and one or more rows of oars on each side. They were still used in war in 1717.
Gause, G. F. 1910 -1986). Russian microbiologist.Wrote: [3: The Struggle for Existense .] Williams & Wilkins, Co., Baltimore.1934. He established the principle of competitive exclusion.
gene : the unit of heredity found on the chromosome within the nucleus of the cell. A structural gene has about 1000 base pairs, while the unit of mutation can be a single nucleotide (base pair). A gene will have a specific position on a chromosome and influences all features such ability to digest certain foods, eye colour, tolerance of cold, etc. [2: Genetics ]; [3: Definition of Gene ]; [3: Guidelines for Human Gene Nomenclature ] [2: see allele ]
General Theory of Relativity : Einstein established two theories, the special theory of relativity and the General Theory of Relativity. The special theory of relativity deals with relative motion between non-accelerated frames of reference; the General Theory of Relativity deals with general relative motion between accelerated frames of reference [3: Einstein ].[2: Einstein ]. This theory is inconsistent with the other major descriptive and mathematical theory of our time, [2: quantum mechanics ].
genetic drift : random drift of the genetic constitution of a population due to random, non selective mortalities and dispersal [3: genetic drift ]; [3: gene flow ]; [3: genetic drift ]; [3: genetic drift ] [1: mutation ];
genetic code : the sequence of the bases in the [2: DNA molecule] (chromosomes) of the nucleus. This universal sequence is transmitted through cellular and sexual reproduction. These bases are adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. They determine the structure of 20 amino acids, with three bases in sequence coding for a specific amino acid. The origin of the genetic code is still a mystery to scientists. There is now a competition pending: " [2: Genetics chapter ]; [3: The Origin-of-Genetic-Information Prize "], offered through The Gene Emergence Project ® that invites anyone to propose "a plausible mechanism for the spontaneous rise of genetic information in Nature." DNA is a nucleic acid .
Genetics: This is the scientific study of the mechanisms of inheritance to find how physical, physiological, and behavioural traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. William Bateson introduced the term in 1906. Before you delve into this subject, you need som understanding of [2: cytology ]; [2: Genetics chapter ]; [3: A Genetics Glossary ]; [3: Tracing the Genetic History of Modern Man ]; [3: population genetics ]; [3: principles of inheritance & Mendel ]; [3: Introduction to Basic Cell Structures Related to Genetic Inheritance ]; [3: Mendelian Genetics ]; [3: Mendelian Genetics ]; [3: DNA From an Extinct Human ]; [3: Landmarks In the History of Genetics ]; [2: landmarks ]; [3: Basic Genetics: Information and resources for understanding basic genetics concepts ];
genotype : genes on DNA in the nucleus of the cell that make up the genetic constitution of the organism (see phenotype). The complete genetic complement of an organism is called the genome [3: Human Genome Project ]; [3: Primer on Molecular Genetics ]; [3: Primer on Molecular Genetics ]; [3: Molecular Genetics glossary ]; [3: human genome ]; [3: Genetics Education Center: key links ];
genus : taxonomic terminology for a group that includes multiple similar species. e.g. Taxonomists do not put Indian and African elephants into the same genus (African, genus Loxodonta; Indian, genus Elephas), but put many similar animals within a single genus, such as the two camel species, Bactrian camels ( Camelus bactrianus ) and Arabian camels (Camelus dromedarius ).
geology: the science and study of the earth. This includes all parts of the earth such as rocks, rivers, oceans, mountains, soils etc. [2: nineteenth century ]; [3: Illustrated Glossary of Geologic Terms ]; [3: Glossary of Geologic Terms ]; [3: Geological Time Scale ]; [2: see also Timeline ][3: laws of geology ]
Geological time scale: [3: geological time scale gif ]; [3: eras and periods ]; [2: timeline ] [complete detail of all geologic time scale ]; [3: origin of protist and plant life forms image ]; [3: animal life form origin image ]; [3: detailed table ]
Glacial: see [2: interglacial]
glossary: [3: Glossarist.com: a searchable and categorised directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries]; [3: anthropology]; [3: archaeology]; [3: geology] ; . For other useful glossaries, I have a separate dictionary and glossary page .[3: Heredity, Evolution and Society ]; [3: Archaeology - a glossary of several hundred terms related to archaeology]; [ Anthropology - a glossary of several hundred terms related to anthropology.]; [3: Agriculture - a collection of several hundred terms related to agriculture]; [3: Biology - a collection of several hundred terms related to biology]; [3: Biotechnology - a collection of terms related to biotechnology]; [3: Invertebrates - a collection of several hundred terms related to invertebrates]; [3: Plants - a collection of terms related to plants.] [3: Talking glossary of genetic terms]; [3: Glossary of terms encountered in radiocarbon dating]
Gorbachev, Mikhail : Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. President of the Soviet Union from 1990-91. They called his political reform program perestroika. [2: Gorbachev quote ]
gorillas : Largest anthropoid apes, weighing up to 200 kilograms. Species name: Troglodytes gorilla. [3: museum reproductions ];
Great Rift Valley : Extends about 7,200 km from Syria to Mozambique.
Great Wall of China : Longest structure (6,400 km) ever built. Construction of the wall went on from about 400 B.C. until A.D. 1600.
group selectionist : natural selection that acts upon the group as a unit as opposed to individual selection. Genes selected for increase the survival of the population as a whole, possibly to the detriment of the individual. Group selection has failed to attain acceptance as it may select against the individual.
guanine : one of the genetic bases (see genetic code).
Gutenberg, Johannes : (1395?-1468) Invented printing type mould and produced many books at his printing press.
gymnosperm : plants with exposed seeds without ovarian walls. Has four living and three extinct classes.
[ h]
H.M.S. Beagle : The ship Charles Darwin travelled on in his ocean journey around the world.
habitat : An organism's normal environment within an ecosystem.[3: Habitats of the World : Deserts-Forests-Marine-Freshwater-Grasslands-Others]
Hadean : One of four major time divisions of the Earth's history, covering the period earlier than 3.9 billion years ago [3: Hadean ]; [2: hadean ];
Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich: (1834-1919). German zoologist who wrote "The Riddle of the Universe" (1899). Through his lectures and writing, he popularised Darwin's ideas. [3: Haeckel ]; [2: Concept Introduction ]
haemoglobin : pigment that transports oxygen in the blood. Found in the red blood cells.
haplotype: A set of closely linked genetic markers or alleles present at a locus on one chromosome which tend to be inherited together (not easily separable by natural recombination). [3: recombination ]; [3: alleles ]; [3: locus ]
Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium: an equation that expresses an ideal distribution of genotypes within a population, assuming that the gene frequencies are known.[3: Hardy-Weinberg equation ]
Herschel, William. He discovered the planet Uranus in 1781, outlined the shape of the Milky Way and that the sun moves through space. [1: Kepler ]; [1: Galileo ]; [2: Copernicus ]; [2:Einstein ]; [1:Hubble ]; [1:Newton ]
heterozygous : As each individual has paired chromosomes, he or she will have two alleles for each trait, on each chromosome. Where the two alleles are different, say one for green eyes and the other for brown eyes, they term this condition heterozygous. See homozygous.
hieroglyphics : early form of writing, using picture symbols to represent sounds and ideas. Egyptians used hieroglyphics around 3000 B.C. By A.D. 300 a simpler alphabet had replaced this.
hippopotamus : large herbivorous African mammal that spends much time in the water.
Hiroshima : Japanese city on which the first atomic bomb was used (6 August, 1945).
HIV : human immunodeficiency virus, a retrovirus, also called AIDS, acquired immune deficiency. There is no known cure for HIV. [2: Genetics chapter on HIV ]; [3: picture, HIV infection ]; [2: HIV cure ]
Hobbes , Thomas, (1588-1679). Language: English, Date hard copy published: 1651. British philosopher of political theory. In the Leviathan he outlined the practices needed for good government. His ideas form an important part of this book [2:go to chapter on Hobbes ] [3: Philosophy, Hobbes ]; [3: The elements of law, natural and politic ]
holism : a state or condition in nature that occurs through evolution by natural selection of long-associated species, so that the physical form, behaviour and/or physiology of the one species is influenced by the other species. Natural selection acting upon such interactors "favours" a reduction in interactive costs as a selective advantage and/or the enhancement of the interactor's reproductive perpetuation. Coevolutionary processes lead to interdependence as epitomised by the bee and the flower. This occurs through two interlinked processes. An organism adapts to enhance its perpetuation. Without any constraints, this is optimised by increased numbers in each generation, with evolutionary forces acting to shape the form, behaviour and/or physiology of the species. However, as the animal is dependent upon a habitat that includes numerous other species, as the species' numbers increase, there is a negative response from the habitat (habitat destruction, food shortages, lack of nesting sites, increased intraspecific and interspecific costs). The organism also adapts to this, an evolutionary process that has led to ecosystems and associations such as the bee and the flower. In essence, the creature evolves a degree of compatibility with its habitat, for the survival of its habitat equates to the survival of the species. A study of holism entails the study of life, the interactions of life forms and the forces and mechanisms that create the organisation, interdependence and complexity of living systems. The closely coordinated interactions and interdependence of components of a system, be it a body or an ecosystem, require the consideration of wholes as units and hence holism. [ 2: home ][2: holism & creation ]; [2:holism & perpetuity & compatibility ]; [2: note on expressions of holism ]; [3: Whole Systems : devoted to the study of whole systems in all aspects of life including a mailing list & web archive] [3: holism & Jan Smuts, Father of Holism ];
holocene epoch : recent epoch, [2: up to 45,000 years ago ]. It follows the [2: Pleistocene epoch ] with which it makes up the Quaternary Period. [3: Holocene ].
holons : an invented term, not in wide usage. Subsystems, which are both wholes and parts, so that each holon has two opposite tendencies, an integrative tendency to function as part of the larger whole (compatibility), and a self-assertive tendency to preserve its individual autonomy (perpetuity).
Holy Quraan : the Revelation from God to the Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Muhammad was the successor predicted by Jesus. [3: Whole Quraan search for Koran] [3: Quraan by chapter ]
hominid : In older documents and books, a vernacular term for a member of the human family, Hominidae, with bipedal locomotion and relatively large brains [3: Hominid species ], [3: maps of migration and fossil sites ]. Molecular evidence has changed the taxonomic arrangement [2: hominoid taxonomy ]; [3: see skulls of Homininae ]. The family Hominidae has become more inclusive, now including the common ancestor of the living African apes (i.e. Homo, Pan, and Gorilla) and all of its descendants. The gorilla and chimpanzee are now also called hominids [ref ]. Each species within this group has been defined by a representative fossil called a [3: type specimen ]. The earliest species is [2: Ardipithecus ramidus ]; [2: Australopithecus anamensis (see also the "Hominid species" link)]; [3: gif cartoon file ]; [3: hominid species timeline ]; [3: Hominid Evolution ]; [ Guided Tour - Hominid Evolution An introduction ] ; [3: Hominid Fossil Image Links ]; [3: Hominid phylogeny gif ]; [3: hominid tools ]; [3: hominid brain ], [3: Chinese fossil hominids ]; [3: Hominid Index for images, photos and pictures: A. ramidus, A. anamensis, A. afarensis, A. africanus, A. bahrelghazali, A. aethiopicus, A. boisei, A. robustus, A. garhi, H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, H. ergaster, H. erectus, H. antecessor, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens : this site has good images]; See also [2: Australopithecus ,Paranthropus ]; [3: hominid tree]
hominin: (Tribe Hominini) the term now used (Potts, 1998) (in place of hominid) to indicate the group of bipedal apes to which humans belong (genera Homo, Australophitecus, Paranthropus, and Ardipithicus). The term "hominin" refers to any genus in the human tribe (Hominini), in which Homo sapiens (modern man) is the only living species. The systematics of apes now recognizes that humans and chimpanzees are sister taxa. Within the superfamily Hominoidea (apes) is the family Hominidae (hominids), including great apes, orangutans and humans. The subfamily Homininae ('hominines') includes humans and chimpanzees. The tribe rank of Hominini, then, is reserved for humans and related bipeds since the split from the chimpanzee lineage. Early Pliocene bipeds no longer comprise a valid subfamily, so the informal term australopiths may be used to refer to them.[2: hominoid taxonomy ];
hominine: the subfamily Homininae, family Hominidae, superfamily Hominoidae. Recent molecular evidence allows the chimpanzee (and possibly the gorilla) to be included within the hominines, together with the genus Homo.
Hominoid : a member of the anthropoid superfamily Hominoidea and including lesser apes (Hylobatidae), great apes and the human lineage. There is currently a reorganisation of hominoid taxonomy (see table of primates ). [2: hominoid@ human evolution introduction ].
Hominoidae : a superfamily of anthropoid apes characterised by the absence of a tail, and separate from the Old World monkeys (Cercopithecoidae). It includes humans, the lesser apes, and the great apes (orangutans, gorillas and chimps). (In older documents, the family Hominidae is split into earlier hominids of the genus Australopithecus and the later hominines, consisting of the genus Homo.) Recent molecular evidence of evolutionary relationships has led to changes in taxonomic groupings and the inclusion of the gorilla, orangutan and chimpanzee within the Family Hominidae (see [2: table ]).
Homo: the genus term refers to modern humans (see Leakey (1959) description )( Subtribe Hominina ('hominans') ) and some extinct species of primate, including [2: Homo habilis , Homo erectus , Homo neanderthalensis , Homo sapiens , Homo rudolfensis . H. ergaster ]; [3: Homo rudolfensis, H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. erectus ].[3: Human origins lab manual ]; [3: human anatomy ]; [3: African Emergence of Homo ]; [3: Homo erectus ; H. erectus - Peking Man Reconstruction , New Peking Man Reconstruction , KNM-WT 15000 , Zhoukoudian XII , Solo 6 , Solo 9 , Sangiran 2 , Sangiran 17 , Gongwangling , Yuanmou , Chenjiawo , Zhoukoudian 5 , PA 86 , EV 9001 (Yunxian) , EV 9002 (Yunxian) , Hexian , Dmanisi , ]; [3: Homo habilis ]; [3: Homo antecessor ]; [3: Homo heidelbergensis H. heidelbergensis - Arago XXI , Apidima 2 , Broken Hill 1 , Atapuerca 4 , Atapuerca 5 , Petralona 1 , Steinheim , Bodo , Mauer 1 , Box Grove Tibia ]; [3: Homo ergaster ]; [3: Homo rudolfensis ]; [3: Homo heidelbergensis - image of jaw]; [3: H. erectus in China ]; [3: H. sapiens - Cro Magnon 1 , Arene Candide , Cohuna , , Coobool 49 , Coobool 65 , Coobool 76 , Coobool 86 , Kow Swamp 1 , Kow Swamp 5 , Kow Swamp 7 , Nacurrie 1 , Skhul 5 , Upper Cave 101 , Upper Cave 102 , Border Cave 1 , Omo I , Omo II , Mungo I , Mungo III , WLH 50 , Dali , , Qafzeh IX , Klasies River , Liujiang , Wadjak 1 , Wadjak 2 , Xujiayao 2 , Xujiayao 3 , Xujiayao Mandible , Maba , Jinniushan , Roonka 20 , Roonka 80 , Roonka 108 , Keilor , , , Florisbad , Predmosti 3 ]; [3: early Cavemen Evidence, Human Evolution, TV Programmes...at BBC ];
homology: A kind of similarity in the features of a living creature that involves similar structures which perform different functions. Features that are homologous are inherited from a common ancestor. As such, a bat's wing and a whale's flipper are homologous, while the eye of the octopus and mammal are not. [3: HOMOLOGY IN BIOLOGY ]
homozygous : where the two alleles of paired chromosomes are identical, the individual is said to be homozygous for that trait. [3: Homozygote from Wikipedia]; [3: homozygous]; [3: homozygous at about.com]; [3: audio explanation]. See heterozygous.
Hooke, Robert: (1635-1703); He discovered plant cells using a microscope. [3: Hooke ];
horse: [3: A chronological journey through the history of humans and the horse .]; [ 58 MILLION B.C. - 450 A.D. ]; [3: Introduction to perissodactyla ]; [3: horse evolution ]; [2: ancestors ]
hox genes: Animals' and plants' body plans appear to be shaped initially by genes (called Hox genes ) and then by species-specific developmental genes.
HTML: [3: HTML Tag Reference Guide ]; [3: HTML Primer ]; [3: HTML for the complete idiot ]; [3: HTML writer's guild ]
Huang He Valley : Valley of a long river in China, also spelt Huang Ho.
Hubble, Edwin: (1910-1953). He enlarged our view of the universe vastly, by proving that the universe extends beyond the Milky Way galaxy. The many luminous nebulae identified- gas clouds in our galaxy - were really other large galaxies outside our own. He also established a system for classifying galaxies and showed that our universe is expanding. This finding provided evidence for the big bang theory and helped Einstein improve his general theory of relativity.[3: Edwin Hubble discovered in 1929 that the universe is expanding.]
human evolution: [3: Chart of Human Evolution ] [3: Yahoo! Science:Biology:Evolution:Human Evolution ]; [3: National Center for Science Education ]; [3: Human Evolution links ]; [3 The Evolution of Man ]; [3: Human origins site maps] ; [3: Human Prehistory : An Exhibition ]; [ Human evolution in China ]; [1: Kepler ]; [1: Galileo ]; [2: Copernicus ]; [1: Herschel ]; [2:Einstein ]; [1: Newton ]; [3: genetic history of the human race ]; [3: timeline ]; [3: Ancient DNA and the origin of modern humans ]
hunter-gatherer : People whose mode of existence is to live of the natural production of the land, through hunting available wildlife and gathering various plants and seeds [2: hunter gatherers ]; [3: hunting and gathering ].
Hutton : James (1726-1797). A Scottish Geologist who is considered the father of modern geology due to his ideas on the origin of the earth. He introduced the idea of change into the understanding of the earth's geological processes. He developed the Theory of Uniformitarianism that forms the basis of modern geology and paleontology. The main principle of this theory is that certain geological processes operated in the past as they do today. Because of this, geological structures and processes can only be explained if the earth is very old. Hutton influenced the British geologist Charles

Lyell

Huxley , Thomas Henry: (1825-1895). Writer and naturalist who defended and promoted Darwin's theory of evolution. [3: T. Huxley ]
hybridisation : the crossing of different races to produce a mix or hybrid.
hypothetico-deductive method: an approach to problem-solving that involves

[ i]
i-factor : an interactive factor, a relative value used in the modified energetic Lotka-Volterra model ( MELV model) to show the difference in energetic costs between average intraspecific interactions and average interspecific interactions. By definition, the averages of intraspecific interactions are allocated an [2: i-factor ] of one. See [2: adaptive radiation ].
ibex : a wild goat-antelope of the Alps of Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa and the Himalaya of central Asia.
IBM : International Business Machines Corporation.
ice age: The last Ice Age peaked about 20,000 years ago, after which the Earth again began to warm. [3:" During the past billion years, the Earth's climate has fluctuated between warm periods - sometimes even completely ice-free - and cold periods, when glaciers scoured the continents. " ], [3: Ice Ages ], [3: Global land environments since the last interglacial ], [3: A quick background to the last ice age ], [3: Sudden climate transitions during the Quaternary ], [3: Snowball Earth ]. [1: see also interglacial]
Ichthyostega : a very early (late Devonian), primitive tetrapod (four legged land animal). It had many fish-like features, such as the structure of its skull and shoulder girdle, lateral line canals and a large tail fin.
idaltu: Homo sapiens idaltu. See [3: skull at Nature, 2003]; [3: skull at NPR];[2: Fossil details]
Indus valley : The Indus river runs through what is today Pakistan. One of the first civilisations (Indus Valley or Harappan civilisation) flourished in this valley 4,500 years ago.
Inquisition : the policy of the Roman Catholic church to seek out and punish heretics (opponents of church teachings). This took place mostly in Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Inuit : Eskimo.
isotope : nuclear elements of an element such as oxygen or carbon may differ. This does not lead to chemical differences but is revealed in different atomic weights and nuclear differences. These different forms of the same element are called isotopes. [2: isotopic analysis ]
internet glossary: Glossary of Internet Terms
Interglacial: A warm climatic phase (global warming) between glacial episodes. The earth goes through 100,000 year climatic oscillations as evidenced from the Vostok ice core in Antarctica (Petit et al, 1999). These are termed Milankovitch cycles, based on the fact that every 95,800 years the earth's orbit changes from being roughly circular to elliptical. With increased elliptical orbits, the Northern Hemisphere develops greater seasonality and growth of the ice sheets, while the Southern Hemisphere experiences less seasonality.There are also 41,000 year cycles and 21,000 year cycles that cause short-term fluctuations within the major climatic cycles. The 41,000 year cycle is related to the cyclic change in the earth's axis tilt or inclination between 21.39 and 24.36 degrees (Mithen, 2003). The higher angles cause more intense seasons - hotter summers and colder winters. The 21,700 year cycle is caused by a wobble on the axis of the earth's rotation and its relation to the earth's orbit around the sun. When this wobble directs the Northern Hemisphere towards the sun and the earth's orbit is relatively close to the sun, the winters tend to be short and warm, while if the orbit is distant, winters tend to be longer and colder. During the glacial periods, water locked up as ice leads to a significant drop in sea levels. Changes in global climate resulted in a succession of glacials and interglacials, as illustrated by the Greenland Ice Core record (GRIP, 1993). These caused fluctuations in the sea level, with drops down to 130 metres below present levels (Chappell & Shackleton, 1986; Zazo, 1999; Rodríguez Vidal & Gracia, 2000; Zazo et al., 2000). Cycles in the sun's output of solar radiation may also influence global warming. There appears to be a 1,500 year periodicity in solar radiation output that is evident over the past 15,000 years and evidence of increased output over the last 130 years (Mithen, 2003). Volcanic eruptions and meteor impacts increase atmospheric dust and so have a coolong effect, with the infamous impact of 65 million years ago probably leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs and allowing our ultimate evolution from the mammalian speciation that followed. While these orbital changes are gradual, the climatic changes tend to be rapid indicating other contributory factors that amplify the effects. One that has been identified is an alteration in ocean currents as the global climate shifts slightly that direct warm ocean currents away from Europe. Such a current shift would be rapid and cause a rapid transition in the earth's climate. There is evidence from carbon dioxide gas trapped in ice cores that such changes in respons to the Milankovitch cycles have occurred in the past (Mithen, 2003). The growth of ice sheets due to the Milankovitch cycle would also increase the degree of albedo (amount of radiation reflected by their whiteness), so amplifying the effect in a self re-enforcing cycle: more whiteness - more reflection - more cold - more whiteness . . .
interspecific : interactions between species as opposed to interactions within a species termed intraspecific.
intraspecific : interactions that occur between individuals of the same species.
Islam: [3: Allfaiths] The divine monotheistic religion that completed the line of prophecy that encompasses Judaism (religion of the Jewish people) and Christianity. In all three religions, the Prophets are the same, but Judaism rejects Jesus and Muhammad as Prophets. In Christianity, they reject the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims also await the return of Jesus as do Christians, while Jews await their own special Messiah. Divine inspiration sent to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is recorded as the Holy Quraan. This revelation serves as the "criterion" for all previous scriptures, correcting errors in previous records. For example, the Holy Quraan emphatically states not to use the Trinity idea, an area of Biblical controversy amongst Christian scholars even today! [3: U.S.C. Muslim Students Association Islamic Server -a search facility ]; [3: Islam & Science ]; [2: see also Quraan ]; [1: Holy Quraan ]; [3: Glossary of Islamic Terms and Concepts ]
[ j]
Java Man : classified as Homo erectus. [3: Java man at Encyclopedia.com]; [3: Java man (Pithecanthropus erectus) skullcap
Java : an island of Indonesia, today heavily populated (more than 91 million).
Jefferson, Thomas: (1743-1826). Author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence [3: U.S. Declaration of Independence ]and third president of the United States. "But the irony is that the very principles which underpin American democracy were originally British and were shamelessly appropriated from Locke, Hobbes and Mills by the likes of such Americans as Jefferson and Paine (Time, July 13, 1998)."
Jurassic period : of the Mesozoic Era, 213 to 144 Mya. [3: The Jurassic Period, with table of subdivisions such as the Toarcian]; [3: Life of the Jurassic Period]; [3: Palaeos Mesozoic: Jurassic: The Jurassic Period]; [3: Jurassic dinosaurs]
[ k]
k-factor : K-values, the carrying capacity of the particular habitat of a resident species. This value is an estimate used in the Lotka-Volterra model.
Kalahari : desert of 500,000 in Southern Africa.
Kant, Immanuel : (1724-1804). German philosopher, who investigated the nature and limits of human knowledge in "Critique of Pure reason". [3: Kant ]; [3: "Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics" ]; His other works include Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), Critique of Judgement (1790), [3: 1790 THE CRITIQUE OF JUDGEMENT by Immanuel Kant]
Kenyapithecus : a ramipithecine. Ramapithecines lived in open woodlands in Africa, Asia and possibly parts of Europe during the late Miocene. They ate tough plant food. Their teeth were hominid like, with reduced canines and incisors and thick enamel coating the molars. They may represent a lineage that led to orangutan, separating from the pongids 13 to 17 Mya. It also represents the last common ancestor of the gorilla, chimpanzee and hominid lineages. The pongid lineage started as the Dryopithecines, a forest-dwelling primate of Africa and Europe. Ramapithecines became extinct eight million years ago. There is then a gap before fossil hominids of four to five million years ago are found.
Kenyanthropus sp.: jaws, teeth and a skull dated to between 3.2 and 3.5 million years old from mudstone sediments in northern Kenya's Turkana basin. [3: about ]. An early hominid from the same time period, but quite distinct from A afarensis, Kenyanthropus has a far flatter face and smaller molar teeth.feeding-related differences that suggest the two groups could have coexisted without competing for food resources [3: kenyanthropus ]. Before the discovery of Kenyanthropus platyops, scientists believed that hominids evolved a flat face about two million years ago.[3: KNM-WT4000 ]; [2: return to main article ]; [3: K. platyops]
Kepler's Laws : fundamental laws of planetary motion [3: Kepler ]. Johannes Kepler established that the planets move in elliptical (oval) orbits around the sun. [1: Galileo ]; [2: Copernicus ]; [1: Newton ]
ketones: [3: ketones ]
kinship theory : kin selection. As closely related individuals share many genes, natural selection may favour behaviour or features that enhance the survival of a relative as a means to gene transmission.
kite : a bird that preys on small animals or feeds on carrion.
Koobi Fora : A famous anthropological site in [3: Kenya ]
KNM WT 17000: By 2.7 million years ago, a new lineage of early humans had evolved in East Africa: [3: Paranthropus aethiopicus].
Kruger National Park : in South Africa, the largest national park in the world (19,455 square kilometres).
[ l]
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste (1744-1829). French biologist and botanist. First to propose a theory of biological evolution. His theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics stated that change took place through repeated usage. In this theory the giraffes long neck evolves from the continual effort to reach the higher leaves of trees. [3: Lamarck ]
land bridges: During ice ages, sea levels dropped, creating temporary land connections between continents and allowing migration of people and animals. [3: image ]
language family : several language families reflect our recent history. A collection of languages with a common ancestry forms a language family. Forms of a single language spoken in a local area are called dialects. More than one half the world's people speak a language of the Indo-European family. See [3: Ethnologue country index ]; [3: Ethnologue is a catalogue of more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries. (Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc.)];
laws: physics and nature see [3: The Laws List ]
lemuroids : prosimians, such as the lemur, indri and aye-aye of Madagascar.
Leopold: , Aldo. ?-1948. Author of Game Management (1933), viewing all nature as productive resources, Leopold provided an economic view to nature. One of his last essays, "The Land Ethic" expressed an ecological environmental philosophy. He saw the value of nature as a natural artistic creation: "There is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. . . . The lad relation is still strictly economic, entailing priviledges but not obligations . . .Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land." [2: Leopold & wolf ] [3: Aldo Leopold ]; [2: ref ]
lichen : an organism, that is a symbiosis of an algae and fungus living together. They require moisture and light to survive.
limpet : a mollusc, living on the rocky ocean shoreline. They have served as for for much of humanities history.
Linnaeus : Swedish botanist, Carl von Linne (1707-1778). Published his "Systema Naturae" a system of plant classification [3: Linnaeus ]; [3: Linnean Herbarium ]; Linneus developed the concept of binomial nomenclature (genus, species, etc. in Latin) and a hierarchical classification based on the principle that the species was the smallest unit, and that each species (or taxon) belonged to a higher grouping.
lion: species - Panthera leo . The lion's behaviour is discussed in this book. This is the second largest cat species after the tiger. Lions occupy a wide range of habitats, from arid areas such as the Kalahari desert, to its optimal open woodland and thick scrub grasslands and to mountainous terrain such as up to 4240 m in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. It preys on medium to large herbovires, including wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, springbok, warthog, impala, kudu, waterbuck, kob and gemsbok. It even predates on larger animals such as elephant, hippo and rhino. The gestation period is 98 to 115 days and an average of 2 to 4 cubs are born. Prides are usually made op of 4 to 12 individuals, but can include as many as 50. Pride territory varies with prey density, among other factors, varying between 30km ²(Nairobi), 200 km ² (Serengeti Plains) and 200km ²(Etosha). Males in the wild live for about 12 years and although sexually mature at 26 months, do not usually breed in their first 5 years. Females may live longer (18 years) and first conceive at about three and a half to 4 years old.
lithics: stone artifacts used as tools by humans. [3: Lithic analysis] is the systematic examination of prehistoric stone artifacts. [3: lithic assemblages ]; [3: Lithic stone technology]
Locke, John (1632-1704): English philosopher. " A treatise concerning the principle of human understanding "; " Second Treatise on Government " ]; [3: Locke ].
Logical positivism : philosophical term, see in [3: " History of Western Philosophy "];
logistic model : mathematical model or formula producing a sigmoid curve. [3: Logistic Equation]
lorisoids : primates, family Lorisidae.
Los Alamos National Laboratory : a leading research station involved in the production of nuclear warheads. As part of the World War II Manhattan Project, they developed the first nuclear weapon.
Lotka-Volterra model : mathematical models that study interspecific competition and predator/prey relationships. Discussed in detail in this book. This model is modified to reflect energy exchanges and costs that result from an interaction. I have called the changed model the modified energetic Lotka-Volterra model or MELV model. In it the i-factor reflects an energy value [2: human evolution ]; [2: technology & industry ]; [3: Lotka-Volterra competition with graphical model simulations]; [3: predator-prey, simulation model]; [2: population dynamics ]; [3: equations]; [3: Lotka Volterra]
Lovelock, James: Creator of the Gaia hypothesis, thatthe whole earth is a living, self-regulating organism.
Lucretius (99-55 B.C.): Roman poet and philosopher proposed that all living things were related and that they had changed over time. His ideas were also proposed earlier by the Ancient Greek philosopher [2: Anaxiamander ](611-547 B.C.). Amongst the observations of [3: Lucretius ] are that the world is made of atoms in constant motion, that objects are made up of atoms, that some plants and animals have become extinct and that the universe has a beginning and an end (Simmons, 1997); [2: Lucretius ]
Lucy : a fossil skeleton, 40% complete.[3: Image of Lucy & map of location ]; [ 2: lucy ]; [3: Lucy at the Institute of Human Origins ] [3: Lucy walked upright ] [3: dentition , more on the teeth]; [3: Lucy]
lungfish : fish common in the middle of the Paleozoic Era, but with only three living genera today. Scientists call it a living fossil.
Lyell: Sir Charles (1797-1875). A British scientist & geologist, early founder of modern geology. His "Principle of Geology" influenced Darwin's (and Wallace's) theory of evolution. He taught that geological change was a continual process of slow change over long periods of time. [3: www.biography.com: search for Lyell ]; [3: Lyell @ Malaspina Great Books ]; [3: C. Lyell, with images ]
[ m]
maize : food crop and grain, associated with humanity for at least 10,000 years. Initially it was collected wild, and cultivated by the Indians of Mexico 7000 years ago. It only spread to other parts of the world after 1492 when Christopher Columbus took some seeds to Spain. [2: Paradigm chapter & maize ];
Malaria : a protozoan (Plasmodia) disease transmitted by (Anopheles) mosquitos and infects humans in many parts of the world [3: malaria & sickle cell anemia ].
Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766-1834): English economist and author of "Essay on the principle of population" (1798). His ideas that a population tends to increase more rapidly than its food supplies influenced Darwin's ideas on Evolution. [3: Malthus ]; [3: Malthus ]
Malthusian Parameter: [3: parameter "r" in the exponential equation of population growth]
mammal: A higher vertebrate of the class Mammalia characterized by live birth, body hair, and mammary glands in the female that secrete milk for feeding the young. There are three groups of mammals alive today: placentals, which give birth to young that are nourished in the mother's womb; marsupials, such as kangaroos, which give birth to premature and helpless embryos that climb into the mother's pouch, where they continue to develop; and monotremes, which lay eggs.
mammoth : Extinct relative of elephants. Early humans painted drawings of mammoths on cave walls.
Manhattan Project : Established by the United States government in 1942 to produce the first atomic bomb.
Makapansgat: This extensive dolomite cave which lies 16 km from Potgietersrus (South Africa) was formed in Pre-Cambrian dolomite limestone.
marmoset : a small primate, genus Cebuella and Callithrix.
marsupial : mammals, order Marsupialia, whose young are born in an immature state, and usually nourished in a pouch called the marsupium. Only to be found in the Americas and Australia. Animals such as the kangaroo and koalas are marsupials.
mass extinction event: Five mass extinction events have reduced the earth's biodiversity during is 4.6-billion year history. Human impacts on life are causing the sixth, with an estimated 50 percent of fauna and flora extinct within the next 100 years (Morell, 1999). As species evolve and become extinct, 99 percent of all species that have ever lived are extinct. Mass extinction events destroy whole families of species within a very short time period. These events occurred during the Ordovician Period (440 mya), the Devonian (370 mya), the Permian (250 mya), the Triassic (210 mya) and the Cretaceous (65 mya). Mass extinctions may have a variety of causes, such as cataciysmic events (celestial body impacts with the earth, intense volcanic activity), or gradual shifts in environmental conditions (Gore & Blair, 1989) [table of the geological time scale ].[3: mass extinction image ]
mastodon : an extinct relative of the elephant. They emerged about 40 million years ago. The American mastodon became extinct 10,000 years ago.
mastoid process : A prominent bulge on the human skull, just behind the ear, containing air-spaces connected to the middle ear. It is aids in the balance needed for upright walking.
matchlock : see flintlock.
Maxwell's Law : a law of magnetic flux and involving equations on electromagnetic waves.
Mayr , (1904-- ) Ernst. Scientist, ornithologist, evolutionist. He showed that the evolution of separate species in higher animals depends on the geographic isolation and developed his theory of " peripatric speciation " Commercial site book review, " This is Biology. The Science of the Living World. "
megadont: meaning large toothed, see example of the [3: robust forms]
Megalotragus : an antelope genus.
meiosis : nuclear division leading to the formation of the gametes (egg & sperm) with half (haploid) the number of chromosomes. [2: Genetics chapter on meiosis ]; [3: tutorial ]; [3: tutorial 2 ]; see also [1: mitosis ]; [3: meiosis ]
Melanesian : One of 9 geographical races, the others being African, American Indian, Asian, Australian, European, Indian, Micronesian, and Polynesian. The Micronesian, Melanesian and [2: Polynesian people ] occupy separate parts of the Pacific Islands and have different features. Melanesians are short, with dark skin and black woolly hair. Some are called negritos. The Micronesians are taller and paler than the Melanesians. Their hair is usually woolly, but near Asia, their hair is straighter and they have Asian features. Polynesians are the tallest and have the lightest skin of the Pacific people.
MELV model : This is the [1: modified, energetic, Lotka-Volterra model ]; [2: MELV & paradigms ]; [2: MELV & genetics ]; [2:MELV & ritualisation ]; [2: MELV & interactive costs ]. For more complex types of models see [3: John Conway's Game of Life ]; [3: ecological niche modelling ]; [3: Formalisation of the ecological niche pdf ]; [3: in business]; [3: Lotka-Volterra Model]
Mendel, Gregor Johann (1822-1884): Austrian botanist and monk who was the first to establish the basic laws of heredity. He found that plant traits are passed down from one generation to the next through hereditary elements in the gametes. Today, scientists call these elements genes. [3: Mendel Web ]; [3: Mendel ]; [3: Principles of inhertiance ]; [3: Gregor Mendel ]; [3: MendelWeb/ ]
Mesolithic: A period, 10000 to 8000 Mya., also called the Middle Stone Age characterised by use of more complex tools and technology such as house building and increased sophistication of art and religion. These features originated in the Upper Palaeolithic about 40,000 years ago.[3: Southern Greek Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Sequence at Franchthi] This period is followed by the Neolithic period.
Mesozoic Era : of the Phanerozoic Aeon, 248 to 65 Mya [3: Mesozoic Era ] This era is subdivided into the Cretaceous (146 to 65 mya), Jurassic (208 to 146 mya), Triassic (245 to 208 mya) .[3: mesozoic ]; [3: image of geologic time scale of mesozoic ]; [ mesozoic - age of reptiles ]
metallurgy : Science of the separation of metals from their ores and preparing them for use. These two fields of study are called extractive or process metallurgy and physical or alloy metallurgy.
metaphysics : Philosophy dealing with the basic nature of reality. While the natural sciences deal with specific features of the world, metaphysics uses pure reason to figure out the more general, fundamental features of what exists.
meteorite: [2: asteroid ]; [2: comet ]. A celestial body traveling through space that happens to strike the surface of the earth. By definition, asteroids and comets can become meteorites.
Microbiology: [3: microbiology testbook ]
Micronesia : An area in the Pacific; see Melanesian.
Middle East : Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran
Middle Stone Age: This flake technology followed the Acheulian technology in Africa, in use from 250,000 to roughly 22,000 years ago. This stone technology lacks handaxes and cleavers. Flake-blades had various uses and are associated with Homo sapiens.
migration: [3: migration ]
Milankovitch cycles: see [1: interglacial]
Milky Way : This is our galaxy, with a diameter of about 100,000 light years and 10,000 light years thick at the central bulge.
millet : the name for a group of grasses that produce small, edible seeds. They cultivate these as a crop, leading producers being China, India and Russia.
millipede : A many-legged animal of the phylum Arthropoda, class Diplopoda.
mimicry : Occurs where one creature closely resembles another. This may involve appearance or behaviour and usually deters predators or attracts prey. [3: mimicry ]
Minoan (Crete) : Part of the Aegean civilisation. See Aegean. See galley.
Miocene Epoch : The period from 248 to 65 Mya, of the Phanerozoic Aeon [3: Miocene ].
Mississippian : An old term for part of the [2: CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD ] (286 to 360 mya) covering the period [2: 360 to 320 mya ]; [3: Carboniferous ].
mites : A relative of ticks, spiders and scorpions, order Acarina.
mitochondria : a cell organelle involved in respiratory metabolism. It has its own DNA ring, termed mtDNA. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from the mother and carries genetic sequences distinct from those in nuclear DNA. [3: Mitochondrial DNA and Neandertals];
mitosis : The process of nuclear division preceding normal cell division that occurs in the body. It leads to the formation of two identical daughter nuclei.[3: Phases of Mitosis , includes quick time movies]; [3: Mitosis ]; [3: animation ]; [3: more mitosis ]. See also [1: meiosis ]; [3: mitosis ]
moa : An extinct group of 13 bird species from New Zealand. Some were the size of a large turkey and others up to 13m tall. The process of extinction followed the Polynesian colonisation of New Zealand 1,000 years ago.
model: See [2: discussion of models ]; [2: see MELV model]; [3: Models on line ]; [3: Ecological Modelling ];
Modern Synthesis : The fields of genetics, systematics, and palaeontology established a framework of common evolutionary processes and concepts in the 1930's and 1940's. This provided a basis for the modern neo-Darwinian theory. [3: modern synthesis ]; [3: The Modern Synthesis ]
Mojave squirrel (Citellus mojavensis): A rodent of the family Sciuridae, a spermophile or ground squirrel living in the Mojave Desert of California.
Mojave Desert : desert of South Eastern California, USA.
moraine: debris deposited by glaciers.
molecular basis of life: Atoms combine chemically to form molecules. Molecular structure is defined by the characteristics of the elements. Any evolutionary change is essentially a molecular change at the genetic level of the organism. [2: distinction between life and matter ]; [3: structural organisation ]
Molecular biology : the biological science that studies life (cells and organisms) at the molecular level, looking at molecular structure and function and chemical processes and mechanisms such as cell replication. Much of this field focuses on genetics, the nucleic acid's DNA and RNA, enzymes and other proteins. DNA is the molecule that transmits hereditary information at the time of the union of the sperm and egg. RNA is an important molecule in the protein synthesis during cell growth and replication. [3: Molecular Biology Gateway to the WWW ]; [3: Cell & Molecular Biology online ]; [3: Illinois State Academy of Science: LINKS OF INTEREST IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ]; [3: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Biosciences) ]; [3: MOLECULAR EVOLUTION ]; [3: MOLECULAR EVOLUTION ]; [3: molecular evolution image: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |] [3: molecular biology ]; [3: basic molecular biology ]; [3: biotechnology textbook ]
molecular clock hypothesis: This postulates that DNA sequence evolution is roughly constant over time in all evolutionary lineages. Comparisons show that, for example, mtDNA lineages evolve at `clock-like' rates. Using a gorilla sequence as an outgroup, no significant difference was found between the evolutionary rate (mutation rate) of human and chimpanzee mtDN (excluding the D-loop) (Ingman, 2000).
Mongoloid : of Mongolia. This country lies between China and Russia in east-central Asia.
morals: concerning principles, human character or behaviour considered good or bad, right or wrong. Accepted rules and standards of human behaviour. [2: ethics ]
Morocco : country in the northwestern corner of Africa, lying on the Atlantic ocean.
Moseley's law : an approximate law in physics, dealing with the X-ray spectrum of an element.
Mount Carmel : found in northwestern Israel.
Moustrerian : Tool tradition more recent than the [2: Acheuléen], and lasting from 200,000 years ago and until about 40,000 years ago ([2: middle paleolithic]). These tools were made by both Neandertals and early Homo sapiens. Also known as the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Africa or the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe. [3: Mousterian industries (with images)]; [3: stone age reference collection ]; [3: tool traditions (see tool image)] ; [3: book, ecology]; [3: Tradition]; [2: Oldowan]; [2: Upper Paleolithic];
Mufti : a Muslim scholar of Islam, able to expound the law.
Muhammad (570-632): Prophet of Islam and the last Messenger of God.
Muslim : followers of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
mutation : a change in the genetic material that is heritable and therefore transmitted to the next generation [3: mutation ]; [3: Types of mutations ]; [3: mutation ,] [1: genetic drift ], migration, selection, non-random mating]; [3: genetic drift simulation model]
mutualism : an association that is beneficial to both interacting species.
Mycenaean : the Late Bronze Age on the Greek mainland, from 1550 to 1100 B.C. Mycenae was a city in ancient Greece.
myxomatosis : a viral disease that attacks rabbits, introduced into Australia in an attempt to reduce the numbers of European rabbits. This disease originated in the tapiti, a South American rodent.
[ n]
Nagasaki : They dropped the second atomic bomb used in warfare on this city on Aug. 9, 1945. Historically it has been a trading port with the west since 1571.
naturalistic fallacy : [3 Moore ] [2: back to Hobbes ]
natural law : Natural theology is built upon the observation of natural laws in nature. This subject is considered within the context of Creationism [2: Creationism ]; [2: Creationism links ]. Thomas Hobbes describes natural laws that bind us to a certain moral temperament. We can wilfully ignore this law, but it still has force upon our lives. Through reason, he develops a true moral philosophy. In the Holy Quraan, this same quality is translated as our possession of a natural "criterion". Natural law as a philosophical premise has largely been discredited, and is said to have [3: lost viability ], but through the influence of holism, this idea will again become valid. [3: Natural Theology ]
natural selection : the mechanism of evolution proposed by Charles [2: Darwin ]. To function, it has three requirements: variation, heritability, and differential fitness. As the offspring from parents show variation (physical, physiological and behavioural) with a [2: genetic ] basis, there may be differential survival at each generation. Differential survival occurs when one feature offers a real benefit over another variation of that feature (alternative phenotypes), providing a selective advantage.Environmental factors will "select" for features that suit the prevailing conditions in a process defined as natural selection. An animal may survive a drought because of a better kidney function. This may lead the animal to survive and reproduce in a period of drought when many other individuals die. If this characteristic is genetically based - reflected in some [2: allele ] combination in the organism - survival and reproduction will enable the transmission of this trait (differential fitness). [2: Allele ] frequencies within the population may therefore shift while subject to environmental forces. [2: Genetics chapter on natural selection ]; [2: See introductory definition of natural selection ]; [3: Natural Selection: explains the processes of Natural Selection]; [3: natural selection ] [see 1: mutation , 2: genetic drift ]; [3: natural selection] [3: Natural Selection ];
natural theology: A natural theologist finds in all creation evidence of God's handiwork, wisdom and power and as a scientist, seeks to explain nature from this perspective. In doing so he better understands God. One such naturalist, philosopher and theologian was, [2: John Ray .] Others were Louis [2:Agassiz ] (1807-1873), [2: Paley ], [3: Sedgwick ], and Buckland. For early natural theologians, an animal's adaptation to their environments, were signs of God's design and hence worthy of study. Creation scientists of today are not natural theologians as they reject and oppose evolutionary theory, believing creation events were one-time events and are not taking place today.
Nature conservation : [3: NATURE CONSERVATION EDUCATION SERVERS ]; [3: EUROPEAN NATURE CONSERVATION VIRTUAL LIBRARY ];
nature experiment: This is to use natural conditions and natural organisation to reason out the validity of ideas. If we think of the natural world as one large mind and natural processes as the thought processes, then what is possible can be reasoned out from examples from nature. For example, a statistician claims that all associations in nature are random and provides mathematical proofs to show that the species that are present in an area are the same that which would occur if the recruitment had been random. In doing so, he says that there are no ecosystems. A simple nature experiment to test this is scatter fish eggs and soya seeds onto a ploughed field. If recruitment is random, the fish will flourish as well as the soya seeds. Clearly, nature experiments rapidly eliminate many impossible hypotheses more easily than torturous philosophical reasoning. This is very different to the random imagination of thought experiments.
Neanderthal : an archaic Homonid that may have species status alongside Homo sapiens. The Neanderthals were an ancient race of people who inhabited Europe, the Near East, Central Asia, and probably western Siberia during the late Pleistocene (over 200,000 years ago [2: 1 ,2 ] and early recent Epochs (100000 to 35000 years ago). Neandertal mtDNA evolved separately from that of modern humans for a substantial amount of time and indicating that they did not contribute mtDNA to contemporary modern humans (Krings, et al, 1999) (there is still some possibility of Neanderthal genes in the human genome ).Although some paleontologists view Neandertals as a distinct branch in hominid evolution that became extinct without any direct genetic contribution to present-day humans, others consider the Neandertals to have contributed genes to modern Europeans. [2: Neanderthal ]; [3: Neanderthal Flute ] [3: Guided Tour - Hominid Evolution: An introduction at Hunterian Museum ]; [3:Homo neanderthalensis ]; [3: Neandertal Exhibition ] see also [1: hominid ]; [3: H. neanderthalensis - Neanderthal 1 , La Chapelle-aux-Saints , Mt. Circeo, Krapina (follow link) , Krapina Teeth , Saccopastore 1 , Teshik-Tash , Kebara 2 , Amud 1 , Amud 7 , Shanidar 1 , Shanidar 2 , Shanidar 5 , La Ferrassie 1 , Le Moustier , Saint-Césaire , Zafarraya Mandible , Hochdal , Altamura , Tabun 1 ]; [3: Neanderthal DNA Sequencing ]; [3: Comparing Neanderthals and modern humans ]; [3: Neanderthal DNA Sequencing pdf document ]; [3: Neanderthal DNA Sequencing pdf document ];
nearctic region : of the Arctic and temperate parts of north America.
nectivore : animals that rely upon the flowers of plants as a source of food and inadvertantly function as pollinators.
negative feedback : an inhibitory feedback process, such as eating sating hunger.[3: Feedback Inhibition ]
Neo-Darwinism : is the modern version of Darwinian evolutionary theory: the synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinism. [3: Neo-Darwinism paraigm ];[3: Modern-synthesis.html ];[ 3: iscid.org encyclopedia on Neo-Darwinism];
Neolithic : of the New Stone age period, from 8000 to 3000 Mya, characterised by the development of agriculture and animal domestication, the weaving of cloth, milling of seeds (wheat) and pottery-making. There is also the development of religious beliefs and religion. see also [2: Mesolithic ] and [2:Paleolithic ] [3: Neolithic Settlements & Life ];
New Stone Age (10000 B.C.): see stone age.
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727): English scientist, astronomer, and mathematician who invented calculus. Newton formulated the law of gravitation, that bodies attract each other with a force directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to their distance apart. He used calculus to describe the orbits of celestial objects. He published his findings in "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica". In this publication are his laws of motion, such as that for every action there is always an equal or cortrary reaction. [1: Kepler ]; [1: Galileo ]; [2: Copernicus ]; [1: Herschel ]; [2:Einstein ]; [1:Hubble ]
New World Monkey: [2: Platyrrhine ] monkeys of the Americas. The [3: New World monkeys] are the platyrrhines.
niche : the functional role of an organism in its natural environment. The animal defines the niche through all its features and is the total range of conditions in which an organism thrives.The sum of [2: adaptations] of an organism to its particular environment tell us about a creatures niche (e.g. webbed feet of a duck vs. talons of an eagle). Niches do not exist before animals occupy them, but a range of potentialities exists. An organism uses certain potentialities of its environment and so defines its niche. The niche is therefore a compromise between the biotic and abiotic environment of an organism and the phenotype of the organism. Behaviour, physiology and physical form delimit an organism's niche. [2: H. Argument definition ]; [2: Home definition ]; [2: Paradigm chapter & niche ]; [2: niche expressions in P&C ]
notochord : a flexible dorsal rod of cartilage found in primitive chordates embryological development. It is replaced by the vertebral column in most adult chordates.
nuclear fusion : a nuclear reaction between light atomic nuclei the releases energy.
nucleic acid: [2: DNA ] and [2: RNA ] molecules. DNA contains the [1: genetic ] information and RNA is involved in the cellular manufacture of [ 2: protein in glossary ]; [3: nucleobases ] [3: nucleic acid ].
nucleus : (a: atomic structure) the positive charged, massive central part of an atom
nucleus: (b: biology) A nucleus is found in all cells as one of the variety of [2: cell ] organelles ("organ" of a cell). It is a small, membrane enclosed body containing the [2: chromosomes ] that contain the genetic information. [2: nucleus in Genetics chapter ];
nucleotides: [3: nucleotides ]; [3: nucleotides ]
[o ]

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