Questions looking for clarifications or definitions of biological terminology.
Questions tagged [definitions]
88 questions
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What is a tardigrade "in tun form"?
While reading this article about tardigrades that had been previously frozen, I came across some verbiage I wasn't sure of and couldn't find any real explanation given the context. The article kept making mention of the tardigrades "in tun form",…
txtechhelp
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What is the meaning of deep winter mixing?
I was reading a paper about eutrophication and there was a term "deep winter mixing" in which an abundant supply of phosphorus is released to the surface waters. I searched a lot but nowhere I could find a definition for that.
Dante
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What does "crude" mean in this context?
Taken from Ian Freshney's Culture of Animal Cells:
The enzymes used most frequently for tissue disaggregation are
crude preparations of trypsin, collagenase, elastase, pronase, Dispase, DNase, and hyaluronidase...
What does crude mean in this…
libby
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What does endochorous dispersers means?
In an article (Guerrero and Tye, 2009) it talks about endochorous dispersers.
Guerrero, A. M., and A. Tye. 2009. Darwin's Finches as Seed Predators and Dispersers. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121:752–764.
The highest proportions of feces…
M. Beausoleil
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What does pseudo-irreversible mean?
In this publication (PDF) I encountered the following word:
Binding of rupatadine to histamine H1 receptors isolated from the
guinea-pig cerebellum and lung was demonstrated by inhibition of
3H-mepyramine binding; equilibrium inhibition…
Carey Gregory
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What the difference between an inverted and everted retina?
I'm looking specifically for examples and comparisons, because the definitions of inverted and everted are remarkably similar; e.g. from Dictionary.com/Reference.com:
everted
verb (used with object)
to turn outward or inside…
derGral
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Is there a formal definition of `nature` in Biology?
I've been discussing with a friend about Earth Day and at a certain point came out the question
What do you call "nature"?
He said that he considers "nature" basically all matter, including plastics and all kind of man-made materials.
I said that…
Federico
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Can a relationship exist that is mutualistic/parasitic/etc. but not considered symbiotic?
Wikipedia definition of symbiosis: "Symbiosis (from Greek σύν "together" and βίωσις "living")[2] is close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological species."
Wikipedia definition of mutualism: "Mutualism is the way two…
C_Z_
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Hydrogen Ions — Common, right?
The Wikipedia entry for Ion states "A positively charged hydrogen ion (or proton) can readily combine with other particles and therefore is only seen isolated when it is in a gaseous state or a nearly particle-free space." Cells pumping ions across…
Steve Gray
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