Ontogeny

Ontogeny
The initial stages of human embryogenesis

Ontogeny (also ontogenesis or morphogenesis) is the origin and the development of an organism – for example: from the fertilized egg to mature form. It covers in essence, the study of an organism's lifespan. The word "ontogeny" comes from the Greek ὄντος, ontos, present participle genitive singular neuter of εἶναι, "to be"; and from the suffix -geny, which expresses the concept of "mode of production".[1] In more general terms, ontogeny is defined as the history of structural change in a unity, which can be a cell, an organism, or a society of organisms, without the loss of the organization which allows that unity to exist.[2] More recently[when?], the term ontogeny has been used in cell biology to describe the development of various cell types within an organism.

Ontogeny comprises a field of study in disciplines such as developmental biology, developmental psychology, developmental cognitive neuroscience, and developmental psychobiology.

Within biology, ontogeny pertains to the developmental history of an organism within its own lifetime, as distinct from phylogeny, which refers to the evolutionary history of species. In practice, writers on evolution often speak of species as "developing" traits or characteristics. This can be misleading. While developmental or ontogenetic processes can influence subsequent evolutionary or phylogenetic processes[3] (see evolutionary developmental biology), individual organisms develop (ontogeny), while species evolve (phylogeny).

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ See -geny in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989; online version March 2011, accessed 09 May 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1898.
  2. ^ Maturana, H. R., Varela F. J. (1987). The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Boston: Shambhala Publications Inc., page 74
  3. ^ Gould, S.J. (1977). Ontogeny and Phylogeny. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

External links



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  • ontogeny — ontogeny. См. онтогенез. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • ontogeny — (n.) development of an individual, 1872, from ONTO (Cf. onto ) + GENY (Cf. geny) …   Etymology dictionary

  • ontogeny — [än΄tə jen′ə sisän täj′ə nē] n. pl. ontogenies [ ONTO + GENY] the life cycle of a single organism; biological development of the individual: distinguished from PHYLOGENY: also called ontogenesis [än΄tə jen′ə sis] ontogenetic [än΄tə jə net′ik] adj …   English World dictionary

  • Ontogeny — Ontogenesis On to*gen e*sis, Ontogeny On*tog e*ny, n. [See {Ontology}, and {Genesis}.] (Biol.) The history of the individual development of an organism; the sequence of events involved in the development of an organism; the history of the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ontogeny — ontogenezė statusas T sritis augalininkystė apibrėžtis Individuali organizmo raida nuo sporos, apvaisintos kiaušialąstės arba vegetatyvinio pradmens susidarymo iki gyvenimo pabaigos. atitikmenys: angl. ontogenesis; ontogeny rus. онтогенез …   Žemės ūkio augalų selekcijos ir sėklininkystės terminų žodynas

  • Ontogeny and Phylogeny (book) — Ontogeny and Phylogeny is Stephen Jay Gould s first technical book, published in 1977 by Belknap, a division of Harvard University Press. Gould wrote that Ernst Mayr suggested in passing that he write the book, but that I only began it as a… …   Wikipedia

  • ontogeny — noun Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary Date: 1872 the development or course of development especially of an individual organism …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • ontogeny — the development from embryo to adult …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • ontogeny — n. [Gr. on, being; genesis, beginning] The development or course of development of an individual organism from zygote to maturity; as distinguished from that of a species; ontogenetic a; see phylogeny …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • ontogeny — The total of the stages of an organism s life history …   Dictionary of molecular biology

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