Encyclopedia of Biology
Encyclopedia of Biology – Despite the often-extreme specialization and intimate knowledge required to make a contribution to science, most scientific disciplines are quick to adapt new technologies and advances developed from other fields.
Inevitably, a new vocabulary follows these advances, the purpose of which is to convey meaning with a word that once required a descriptive paragraph or even a page.
The Encyclopedia of Biology pulls together the specialized terminology that has found its way into the language of the biologist. It addresses the often duplicitous meanings in an easily understood, succinct fashion.
As each discipline has become more of a specialty, each has developed terms that serve as a shorthand for concepts within that discipline. On rare occasion, different disciplines develop the same term with radically different definitions.
By indicating a discipline, the encyclopedia directs the reader to a definition relevant to the topic at hand. An example of this is
the word genotype. Historically, this was a taxonomist’s term meaning “the type of the genus.”
