I am providing a glossary of technical terms that appear on this website. This glossary will grow as more content is added to the site. You will usually be able to link directly to the appropriate definition directly from that article it is used in. If you like to learn new vocabulary, or are just pedantic, feel free to browse the glossary in your free time.

 

Anatomy: In the biological sciences, anatomy is the study of the physical structure, or organization (e.g. bones, muscles, organs) of an animal. Even in literature you will see "anatomy" used to refer to the structure of something. For example, an article discussing the "anatomy of a blockbuster" is clearly referring to a what is was about the structure of the movie that made it popular.

Evolution: The big one, that pisses off creationists all the time. Evolution technically refers to change in any system over time (e.g. in adaptive computer programs). Biological evolution refers to how organisms change over time. It has been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt. Evolutionary "theories" are completeing explanatory models that attempt to describe the most important processes that drive evolution. Evolutionary "theories" should never, EVER, be construed as indicating that the fact of biological evolution is in any way in doubt.

Functional Morphology: This scary sounding term is easier if it is broken down. 'Morphology' means thw study of shape, so strictly speaking, functional morphology is the study of how the shapes of things affect their function. In paleontological terms, you would normally be studying how the shapes of bones relate to how they are used. For example, the shape of the knee joint in Tyrannosaurus rex shows that its knees were always bent like a birds. T. rex could never straighten its knees all the way like we can (by the way, this condition is pretty common). Functional morphology isn't just done by paleontologists. A biologist who studies bacteria might be interested in the functional morphology of flagella; by that I mean he or she would be interested in how the shape of the flagella makes it better or worse at swiming.

Homology: Homologous structures are those that are inherited from a common ancestor; in contrast, analogous structures may look alike and/or serve the same purpose, but have evolved independently. Sometimes even very ancient structures are homolgous. For example, the legs of all living land vertebrates have been inherited from a Devonian ancestor, so your legs are homolgous with the legs of a newt. On the other hand, the wings of birds and the wings of bats evolved independently so they are not homologous, although they are analogous (they serve the same purpose).

Nomenclature: In short, a nomenclature is any set of names applied to a group of objects. In science, it is an agreed upon "official" system of names. For example, "biological nomenclature" refers to the system of naming animals that we learn in biology class. For example, human beings are members of the species Homo sapiens under the rules of biological nomenclature.

Vertebrates: The group of all animals with backbones (yes, politicians are vertebrates too).