From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theoretical biology is a field of academic
study and research that involves the use of models and theories in biology.
Initial scientific efforts to understand complex biological
phenomena, such as evolution by natural selection or human
consciousness, can be described as theoretical "framework"
approaches. The common use of this word throughout the biological
literature has only recently culminated in a formal definition
offered by Francis
Crick and Christof Koch:
"A framework is not a detailed hypothesis or set of hypotheses;
rather, it is a suggested point of view for an attack on a
scientific problem, often suggesting testable hypotheses.
Biological frameworks differ from frameworks in physics and
chemistry because of the nature of evolution. Biological systems do
not have rigid laws, as physics has. Evolution produces mechanisms,
and often submechanisms, so that there are few “rules” in biology
which do not have occasional exceptions.
A good framework is one that sounds reasonably plausible
relative to available scientific data and that turns out to be
largely correct. It is unlikely to be correct in all the details. A
framework often contains unstated (and often unrecognized)
assumptions, but this is unavoidable."[1]
Such evidence-based logical
frameworks serve to motivate both experimental and further
theoretical refinement, and the formulation of testable hypotheses.
For example, the synchronization of senescence by natural
selection, a concept central to the prevailing evolutionary view of
senescence and initially advanced by George C. Williams in 1957[2] and
later extended and refined by John Maynard Smith[3] has
been described as a framework in agreement with Crick and Koch's
definition[4][5]. Their
definition has been used explicitly in attempts to understand
anorexia nervosa[6] and to
understand and formulate treatment options for obesity[7].
The absence, paucity or dispensability of mathematics in
important theoretical biological frameworks such as those cited
above, and indeed in the foundational work of many evolutionary
theorists including Charles Darwin, are existence proofs
that theoretical biology is somewhat distinct from mathematical or
computational biology. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal of the
theoretical biologist is to explain the biological world using
mainly mathematical
and computational tools.
Though it is ultimately based on observations and experimental
results, the theoretical biologist's product is a model or theory,
and it is this that chiefly distinguishes the theoretical biologist
from other biologists.
Many separate areas of biology fall under the concept of
theoretical biology, according to the way they are studied. Some of
these areas include: animal behaviour (ethology), biomechanics, biorhythms, cell biology, complexity of biological systems, ecology, enzyme
kinetics, evolutionary biology, genetics, immunology, membrane
transport, microbiology, molecular
structures, morphogenesis, physiological mechanisms, systems biology
and the origin of life. Neurobiology is an example of a
subdiscipline of biology which already has a theoretical version of
its own, theoretical or computational
neuroscience.
Theoretical biologists
See also
References
- ^
Crick F, Koch C (2003). "A framework
for consciousness". Nature Neuroscience
6: 119-126. PMID 12555104.
- ^
Williams, G. C. (1957). "Pleiotropy,
Natural Selection, and the Evolution of Senescence".
Evolution 11: 398-411.
- ^
Maynard Smith J C. (1962). "The
causes of ageing". Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
157: 115–127.
- ^
Estep, Preston
(2007), "Chapter 3: The Promise of Human Life Span Extension", in
Poon, Leonard; Perls, Thomas, Annual Review of Gerontology And
Geriatrics: Biopsychosocial Approaches to Longevity, New York:
Springer, pp. 60-127, ISBN
9780826115379
- ^
Estep, Preston
(2009), "Chapter 2: The Evidence-based Pursuit of Radical Life
Extension", in Maher, Derek; Mercer, Calvin, Religion and the
Implications of Radical Life Extension, New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, pp. 25-37, ISBN
9780230607941
- ^
Södersten, P., Bergh, C., &
Zandian, M. C (2006). "Understanding eating disorders".
Hormones and Behavior 50: 572–578. PMID 16890228.
- ^
Bergh C, Sabin S, Shield J, Hellers G, Zandian M, Palmberg K,
Olofsson B, Lindeberg K, Björnström M and Södersten P. (2008), "13:
A Framework for the Treatment of Obesity: Early Support", in
Elliott M. Blass, Obesity: Causes, Mechanisms and
Prevention, Sinauer Associates, Inc., pp. 572–578, ISBN
9780878930371
Bibliographical
references
- Bonner, J. T. 1988. The Evolution of Complexity by Means of
Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Hertel, H. 1963. Structure, Form, Movement. New York:
Reinhold Publishing Corp.
- Mangel, M. 1990. Special Issue, Classics of Theoretical
Biology (part 1). Bull. Math. Biol. 52(1/2): 1-318.
- Mangel, M. 2006. The Theoretical Biologist's Toolbox.
Quantitative Methods for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Cambridge University Press.
- Prusinkiewicz, P. & Lindenmeyer, A. 1990. The
Algorithmic Beauty of Plants. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
- Reinke,
J. 1901. Einleitung in die theoretische Biologie.
Berlin: Verlag von Gebrüder Paetel.
- Thompson, D.W. 1942. On Growth and
Form. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2.
vols.
- Uexküll, J.v. 1920. Theoretische
Biologie. Berlin: Gebr. Paetel.
- Vogel, S. 1988. Life's Devices: The Physical World of
Animals and Plants. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.
- Waddington, C.H. 1968-1972. Towards a
Theoretical Biology. 4 vols. Edinburg: Edinburg University
Press.
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