Information about Morphology (biology)
The term morphology in biology refers to the outward appearance (shape, structure, color, pattern) of an organism or taxon and its component parts. This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function.
Also in use is the term "gross morphology", which refers to the prominent or principal aspects of an organism or taxon's morphology. A description of an organism's gross morphology would include, for example, its overall shape, overall colour, main markings etc. but not finer details.
Most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, but there are exceptions to this. Cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire similar appearance through convergent evolution or even through mimicry. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, to be two distinct species, may in fact be shown by DNA analysis to be a single species.
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Also in use is the term "gross morphology", which refers to the prominent or principal aspects of an organism or taxon's morphology. A description of an organism's gross morphology would include, for example, its overall shape, overall colour, main markings etc. but not finer details.
Most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, but there are exceptions to this. Cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire similar appearance through convergent evolution or even through mimicry. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, to be two distinct species, may in fact be shown by DNA analysis to be a single species.
See also
Comparative morphology is comparing the physical aspects of organisms. Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the scientific study of life.
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Plantae Chromalveolata Heterokontophyta Haptophyta Cryptophyta Alveolata
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For the journal, see .
A taxon (plural taxa), or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or group of organisms. A taxon is assigned a rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary..... Click the link for more information.
Physiology (from Greek: φυσις, physis, “nature, origin”; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms.
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In biology, a cryptic species complex is a group of species that satisfy the biological definition of species — that is, they are reproductively isolated from each other — but which are not morphologically distinguishable.
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In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches[1].
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mimicry (also known as mimetism) describes a situation where one organism, the mimic, has evolved to share common outward characteristics with another organism, the model, through the selective action of a signal-receiver or "dupe".
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Generally, morphometrics (from the Greek: "morph," meaning shape or form, and "metron”, meaning measurement) comprises methods of extracting measurements from shapes. In most cases applied to biological topics in the widest sense.
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Plant morphology (or phytomorphology) is the general term for the study of the morphology (physical form and external structure) of plants.[1] This is usually considered distinct from plant anatomy, which is the study of the internal structure of plants,
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Cladistics is a philosophy of classification that arranges organisms only by their order of branching in an evolutionary tree and not by their morphological similarity, in the words of Luria et al. (1981).
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Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
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phenetics, also known as numerical taxonomy, is an attempt to classify organisms based on overall similarity, usually in morphology or other observable traits, regardless of their phylogeny or evolutionary relation.
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Cladistics is a philosophy of classification that arranges organisms only by their order of branching in an evolutionary tree and not by their morphological similarity, in the words of Luria et al. (1981).
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