Bio Words referring to “life” :
“biosonar” to “biotaxy”
Part 14 of 20
bio-, bi-, -bia, -bial, -bian, -bion, -biont, -bius, -biosis, -bium, -biotic, -biotical, -biotic (Greek: life; living, live, alive).
Don’t confuse this element with another bi- that means “two”.
If you would like to take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section, then click
Bio-Quiz so you can see how much you know about the following
“bio” words.
biosonar:
The use of ultrasonic instruments to analyze and map parts of the body.
2. The use by certain animals of echoes of sounds they produce to locate objects in the perceptual field as with bats as they move around.
biospectrometry:
Spectroscopic determination of the types and amounts of various substances in living tissue or fluid from a living body.
biospeleology:
1. The study of organisms whose natural habitat is wholly or partly subterranean.
2. The study of the fauna of caves.
biospecies:
1. A biological species.
2. A species defined primarily on biological characters.
biosphere, biospheric:
1. The regions of the earth’s crust and atmosphere that are occupied by living organisms; occasionally, the living organisms themselves.
2. The realm or sphere or life in which the total biological process takes place. The biosphere includes both the individual and his/her environment not as interacting parts of constituents that have an independent existence, but as aspects of a single reality that can be mentally separated only by abstraction.
biostabilizer:
A composting system that tumbles moistened soil waste in a drum until the waste biodegrades into a fine dark compost.
biostasis:
The capacity of an organism to tolerate changes in its environment without undergoing adaptive change itself.
biostat:
A vessel in which the biomass of a continuous culture is monitored by parameters other than turbidity.
biostatics:
1. The science of the relation between structure and function in organisms.
2. The study of the structure of organisms in relation to their functions, as opposed to biodynamics.
biostatistics:
1. The science of statistics applied to biological or medical data.
2. Vital statistics; the numerical representation of conditions associated with life.
biostereometrics:
Three-dimensional measurement of the body utilizing two stereo cameras to make bodygrams, used in medical diagnosis and anthropological research.
biostitute (bigh AWS tuh toot),
biostitution (bigh AWS tuh too"
shuhn):
A biologist who supports a company or activity that is harmful to the environment. This inflammatory term is a blend of the words biologist and prostitute. Biostitutes refers to scientists who are working for certain polluting industries and who lie and deceive the American public by saying there's no such thing as global warming as a result of polluting by industrial output.
biostratigraphy, biostratigraphic:
The study and classification of rock strata based on their fossil content; stratigraphic paleontology.
biostratinomy:
The study of the relationship between fossils and their environments.
biostrome:
An accumulation of fossils that are distinctly bedded but do not form a mound-like or reef-like structure (bioherm); a fossil bed having no pronounced topographical relief.
biosynthesis, biosynthetic:
1. Formation of a chemical compound by enzymes, either in the organism (in vivo) or by fragments or extracts of cells (in vitro).
2. The production of organic compounds by living organisms.
biosystem:
A living organism or any complete system of living things that can, directly or indirectly, interact with others.
biosystematics:
1. A botanical term designating the systematic study of populations and species, especially by means of ecological or experimental methods.
2. The study of the relationships among groups of species using criteria such as morphology, biochemistry, and DNA comparisons, especially to determine the evolutionary history of a species (used with a singular verb).
biota:
A collective term for the total animal (fauna) and plant (flora) life of a region.
biotaxy, biotaxis, biotactic:
1. The directed reaction of a motile organism towards (positive) or away from (negative) a biological stimulus.
2. The classification of living beings according to their anatomical characteristics.
You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by just clicking on
Bio Quiz #5 to check your word knowledge.