The increasing concentration of a compound, usually applied to fat soluble pesticides such as DDT, in the bodies of living organisms at successively higher levels in the food chain. Also known as: biological amplification and biomagnification.

Plant or animal species that accumulates heavy metals or other environmental contaminants in its tissues, and can be used as an indicator of the presence of chronic pollution by these compounds, especially where amounts of pollutant in the environment are too low to be easily detectable.

1. The science dealing with the effects of sound fields or mechanical vibrations in living organisms.
2. The science dealing with the communicating sounds made by animals.
3. The study of the effects of sounds on living things.

Referring to a substance that can be acted upon by a living organism or by an extract from a living organism.

The effect that a substance or agent has on living tissue or an organism.

1. A modification of the activated sludge method of purifying sewage.
2. A system of purifying sewage by oxidation, in which crude sewage is passed through special centrifugal pumps.

A type of behavior in which an organism benefits another member of its species without concern for its own welfare and often to its own detriment.

A branch of anthropology that deals with humans as biological organisms, including areas such as primatology, human genetics, human ecology, paleoanthropology, and fields of applied anthropology such as anthropometrics and forensic anthropology.

A discipline in which the concepts of human biology are integrated with anthropological archeology.

Determination of the potency or concentration of a compound by its effect upon animals, isolated tissues, or microorganisms, as compared with an analysis of its chemical or physical properties.

The study of the effects of space travel and space habitation on living organisms.

The study of the possibility of life in the universe other than on Earth.

1. A bioassay of certain compounds, usually antibiotics or vitamins, by evaluating their ability to enhance the growth of some organism and to repress that of others.
2. Classification of organic material by using solid absorbents that have affinities for specific elements.

1. The physiological availability of a given amount of a drug, as distinct from its chemical potency; proportion of the administered dose which is absorbed into the bloodstream.
2. The degree to which a drug administered is distributed throughout the body and thus available for action at the desired receptor sites.

An elementary unit of protoplasmic structure.

“An event in which dozens of scientists fan out across some unlikely habitat, hell-bent on recording every species they can find, dead or alive, in a 24-hour period.”

As described in the April, 2000, issue of Smithsonian, in an article titled “Wanted, Dead or Alive” by Richard Conniff, page 21. The sub-title states, “When scientists go scavenging at a BioBlitz, anything they can find that’s organic [apparently non-vegetarian] is considered fair game”.

The number of contaminating organisms found on a given amount of material prior to undergoing an industrial sterilization procedure.

A substance of biological origin that can catalyze a reaction; q.v. (quod vide = “which see”), an enzyme.

The sum of all the living components of an environment or habitat.

1. The study of biotic communities.
2. The study of communities of organisms and of the relationship among the members of such communities.

1. An assemblage of species living in a particular biotope (biotic community).
2. An ecological unit comprising both plant and animal populations of a habitat.

Regarding or treating life as a central fact.

A specialist in biochemistry.

1. The chemistry of living organisms and of the chemical, molecular, and physical changes occurring therein; such as, biological chemistry and physiological chemistry.
2. The science dealing with the substances present in living organisms and with their relation to each other and to the life of the organism; biological or physiological chemistry.

Biochemistry includes the chemical reactions of living cells. It is based on the idea that all of life can be understood as chemistry. Situated between biology and chemistry, the field of biochemistry relates to all branches of chemistry and biology, ranging from genetics to physical chemistry, from medicine to agriculture, from nutrition to biotechnology.

Denoting the relationship between biologic action and chemical structure, as in food and drugs.

1. The study of the relationship between biologic action and chemical structure.
2. Macroscopic or gross morphology as revealed by biochemical
techniques.

An experimental type of integrated circuit whose basic components are organic molecules.

The largest division or region of animal and plant environment; such as, forest, desert, grassland, etc. A smaller area is called a biotope.

Any natural coloring matter of plants or animals; natural pigment.