Rikunarita-ORG/Wikinium huggingface dataset:
# Plasmodium falciparum

| *Plasmodium falciparum* |
| --- |
|  |
| Blood smear of *Plasmodium falciparum* |
| Scientific classification |
| Domain: | Eukarya |
| Kingdom: | Chromalveolata |
| Phylum: | Apicomplexa |
| Class: | Aconoidasida |
| Order: | Haemosporida |
| Family: | Plasmodiidae |
| Genus: | *Plasmodium* |
| Binomial name |
| Plasmodium falciparum |

Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan parasite, one of the species of *Plasmodium* which cause malaria in humans. It is transmitted by the female *Anopheles* mosquito. *P. falciparum* is the most dangerous of these infections as *P. falciparum* (or malignant) malaria has the highest rates of complications and mortality.

There are about 200 species in the genus *Plasmodium*, divided into 15 sub-genera. The parasites are partners in a complex co-evolution with mosquitos and land vertebrate species.
# John Everett Millais

| Sir John Everett Millais, Bt |
| --- |
|  |
| Born | (1829-06-08)8 June 1829 Southampton, England |
| Died | 13 August 1896(1896-08-13) (aged 67) Kensington, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Royal Academy of Art |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing, Printmaking |
| Movement | Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood |

**Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet**, PRA 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter. He was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and painted several of their most famous works.

By the time has was 30 he had changed to become a portrait painter of famous people. He was equally good at that, and became one of the best of the later 19th century.

His marriage to Effie (Euphemia Chalmers Gray) had a history. She had married John Ruskin, but Ruskin did not consummate the marriage.

When she met Millais some five years after her marriage, she was still a virgin. She left her husband, and their marriage was annulled in 1854. In 1855 she married Millais and they had eight children. The triangle has been used in drama and literature many times.

* Millais' portrait of Effie
* Gladstone by Millais
* *Ophelia*: one of the most famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings
* The Princes in the Tower

## Other websites

* The Millais Site Archived 2010-03-28 at the Wayback Machine includes many pictures and a complete list of his works
# PubMed Central

**PubMed Central** is a free database of scientific literature in biomedical and life sciences. It is on the Internet. It grew from the online Entrez PubMed biomedical literature search system. PubMed Central was developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) as an online archive of biomedical journal articles. It was started in 2000. As of 2021, it had over 7 million science papers in it.

All the words in the PubMed Central articles can be read freely. Some publishers, though, do not show their articles for some time after they publish them on paper (usually about six months).

## History

PubMed Central was started in 2000. At first, it only had papers from *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* and *Molecular Biology of the Cell*. People can add older papers to PubMed Central. The oldest papers in PubMed Central are from the 1700s.

As of September 2004, PubMedCentral, PubMed, and related NLM services had about 1,300 hits every second, and gave 1.3 terabytes of data every day. The Library of Congress and the British Library showed support for the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It has also been popular with journal service providers.

## PubMed Central and PubMed

PubMed Central is different from PubMed. The regular PubMed has papers' titles and abstracts, and PubMed central has the whole paper. Scientists call this "full text."

## PMCID

The PubMed Central Identifier (PMCID) is an ID tag for papers written by scientists and doctors. It is like an ISBN is for books. It shows the reader where to find the paper in the PubMed Central database.

## Other websites

* PubMed Central Archived 2008-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
* PubMed Central FAQ Archived 2009-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
* National Institutes of Health Submission System (NIHMS)
* NIH Public Access Policy
# Barcode of Life Data Systems

The **Barcode of Life Data System** (commonly known as **BOLD** or **BOLDSystems**) is a web platform specifically devoted to DNA barcoding.

It is a database and analysis system developed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Canada.

## Other websites

* Official website
# Encyclopedia of Life

The Encyclopedia of Life (**EoL**) is an online source of information. The Encyclopedia of Life lists plants, animals and all other kinds of living things. It gives this information in many languages. It has more than 2 million species in it, making it one of the largest sources of species information in the world.

Many different groups work together to make and run the encyclopedia. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History is the leader.

## History

In 2008, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gave the Smithsonian the money to start the encyclopedia.

In 2018, EoL started a new way of showing information that allowed users to search for species in new ways. For example, it is more easy to see and search for which living things eat which other animals or plants.

## Other websites

* Official website
# Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Global Biodiversity Information Facility|  |
| Abbreviation | GBIF |
| Founded | 2001 (2001) |
| Website | www.gbif.org |

The **Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)** is an organization that provides information about living things. It was started in 2001. Governments pay for the GBIF to work, and GBIF gives the information to whoever wants it. GBIF is the largest data platform for living things in the world, and it is the one that scientists use the most.
# INaturalist

iNaturalist|  |
| Company type | Joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. |
| Industry | conservation |
| Founded | 2008, California, United States |
| Key people | Ken-ichi Ueda Scott Loarie Patrick Leary Alex Shepard |
| Website | www.inaturalist.org |

**iNaturalist** is an American website where people post scientific information about plants, animals and other living things. Usually, they send photographs of which living things they saw and say where and when they saw them.

iNaturalist works by crowdsourcing, by asking many, many people to work on the project. Some of the people who send information to iNaturalist are professional scientists and some are citizen scientists, ordinary people who want to help scientific projects. iNaturalist sends information to International Union for the Conservation of Nature and other projects that watch endangered animals and other populations. iNaturalist users can help park rangers and other people who work in forests find and identify invasive species, for example kudzu. According to one park ranger from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the United States, rangers usually already know an invasive plant is in their park, but iNaturalist and programs like it help them find out exactly where it is. Then they can gather people to remove it.

Parks, conservation programs and research teams in many countries have used iNaturalist, for example the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

## History

Students at the University of California at Berkeley founded iNaturalist in 2008. It was a master's thesis project. Since 2014, the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society have run iNaturalist together.

## Platform

People use their smart phones to look at or send information to iNaturalist, usually photographs but sometimes the sound the living thing makes. Then other users on the website figure out what is in the picture.

## Seek

In 2020, iNaturalist launched a smaller program called Seek. Users with Seek can point their phones at a plant or animal and the program will try to tell them its name. According to iNature's Tony Iwane, "Seek's machine-learning model is based entirely on observations from . . the iNaturalist community, so it's really the hard work of thousands and thousands of people on iNaturalist that enables Seek to function."

## Related pages

* AmphibiaWeb
* IUCN
# Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera| Abbreviation | IRMNG |
| Formation | 2006 (2006) |
| Headquarters | Ostend, Belgium |
| Manager & curator | Tony Rees |
| Main organ | Website |
| Parent organization | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (2006-2014); Flanders Marine Institute (2016-current) |
| Website | www.irmng.org |

The **Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera** (**IRMNG**) is a database of life.

It includes published scientific names for all domains of life from 1758 in zoology (1753 in plants, flowers, and trees) up to the present. It has a consistent order. The database holds over 1.7 million species names (1.3 million listed as "accepted").

## Database location and hosting

The database was created by Australian biologist and data manager Tony Rees in 2006. For his work on this and other projects, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility awarded him the 2014 Ebbe Nielsen Prize. IRMNG identifiers have also been associated with numerous Wikipedia taxon pages, based on content harvested from IRMNG and stored in Wikidata.

## Related pages

* Rees, Tony (2008). "18.8. IRMNG—the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera" (PDF). *The Proceedings of TDWG*. **2008**: 72–73.
* Rees, Tony; Vandepitte, Leen; Decock, Wim; Vanhoorne, Bart (2017). "IRMNG 2006–2016: 10 years of a global Taxonomic Database". *Biodiversity Informatics*. **12**: 1–44. doi:10.17161/bi.v12i0.6522.
* Rees, Tony; Vandepitte, Leen; Vanhoorne, Bart; Decock, Wim (2020). "All genera of the world: an overview and estimates based on the March 2020 release of the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG)". *Megataxa*. **1** (2): 123–140. doi:10.11646/megataxa.1.2.3.

## Other websites

* Official website
# National Biodiversity Network

The **National Biodiversity Network** was set up in 2000 in the United Kingdom. It makes biodiversity information available. It runs the NBN Atlas, a data search website. It was started by the NBN Trust.

About 60,000 people routinely record biodiversity information in the UK and Ireland. Most of them are not paid. There are about 2,000 national societies and recording schemes. The British government also collects biodiversity data. There is a network of Local Environmental Records Centres.

In 2012, it was listed in the top 1,000 UK charities that raised most donations.
# Open Tree of Life

Open Tree of Life| Available in | English |
| URL | opentreeoflife.org |
| Commercial | no |
| Registration | not required |
| Launched | September 2015 |
| Current status | active |

The **Open Tree of Life** is a project by the National Science Foundation. The first draft had 2.3 million species. The first draft was made public in September 2015. The Interactive graph allows the user to view collected data. The tree has taxonomic data with phylogenetic trees. Clicking on a species will return its source.

The tree of life
## History

The Open Tree of Life started in June 2012. A National Science Foundation award was given to some researchers. In 2015, a two-year award was made.
# Evolutionary biology

**Evolutionary biology** is a subfield of biology that studies how species start and change over time; or in other words, how species evolve. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an **evolutionary biologist**.

## History

Evolutionary biology became an academic subject as a result of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that universities had departments which used the term *evolutionary biology* in their titles.

As a result of the rapid growth of molecular and cell biology, many universities have split their biology departments into *molecular and cell biology*-style departments and *ecology and evolutionary biology*-style departments. These have absorbed older departments such as paleontology, zoology, botany and the like.

## Related pages

* Evolution
* Modern evolutionary synthesis
* Speciation
* Natural selection
# Darwin's finches

| Darwin's finches |
| --- |
|  |
| Large ground finch, Medium ground finch Small tree finch, Green warbler-finch |
| Scientific classification |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genera |
| *Geospiza*
*Camarhynchus*
*Platyspiza*
*Certhidea*
*Pinaroloxias* |

**Darwin's finches**, also known as the **Galapagos finches**, are finches that live on the Galápagos Islands. They are not actually finches, but they are a kind of passerine bird.

Charles Darwin used the finches to provide evidence for natural selection. He realized that the finches have different beaks because they are adapted to eat different kinds of food. For example, a finch with a big beak is very good at cracking open nuts, and a finch with a long beak is very good at catching insects. Darwin was able to see that the finches had a common ancestor which is why they were so similar except for their beaks. Eventually, this led to the theory of evolution.

* Darwin, Charles (1859), *On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life* (1st ed.), London: John Murray
* Grant, Peter R.; Grant, B. Rosemary (2008), *How and Why Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches*, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-13360-7
* Sulloway, Frank J. (Spring 1982), "Darwin and His Finches: The Evolution of a Legend" (PDF), *Journal of the History of Biology*, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–53, doi:10.1007/BF00132004, S2CID 17161535, retrieved 2008-12-09
# John Gould

| John Gould |
| --- |
|  |
| Born | (1804-09-14)14 September 1804 Lyme Regis, Dorset |
| Died | 3 February 1881(1881-02-03) (aged 76) |
| Nationality | English |
| **Scientific career** |
| Fields | Ornithology |
| Influences | Charles Darwin |
|  |

**John Gould** (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist (bird scientist). The Gould League (a bird group) started in Australia in 1909, was named after him. His knowledge of the birds now called "Darwin's finches" was a turning point in the Charles Darwin's thinking about evolution by natural selection. They are barely mentioned in Charles Darwin's book, *On the Origin of Species*.
# Population genetics

**Population genetics** is the branch of genetics which studies the genetic composition of populations. It brings together genetics, evolution, natural selection, breeding, statistics and mathematics. Mathematical and computer models are produced, and field research is done to test the models.

"Population geneticists spend most of their time doing one of two things: describing the genetic structure of populations, or theorizing on the evolutionary forces acting on populations.
## A brief history

Starting, perhaps, with G. Udny Yule's paper in 1902, population theorists tackled key issues in genetics and evolution. G.H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg showed that if a population had random mating, no selection, migration or mutation, then the proportion of alleles would remain the same generation after generation. This was the Hardy–Weinberg law, the first great result of this new field of research.

Population genetics made great progress from 1918 to 1937. During this period, Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane and Sewall Wright worked on the connection between evolution and genetics, using new mathematical techniques, such as statistical probability. E.B. Ford and Theodosius Dobzhansky did field research on the genetics of natural populations of lepidoptera and *Drosophila*, respectively. Broadly speaking, this work proved that the newly rediscovered Mendelian genetics could be reconciled with Darwinian evolution. This laid the groundwork for the modern evolutionary synthesis, which took place in the following years, from about 1937 to 1953.

In the second half of the 20th century, population geneticists tackled a range of complex evolutionary problems, such as the evolution of sex, sexual selection, kin selection (altruism), mimicry and molecular evolution. The key figures included John Maynard Smith, Motoo Kimura and William Hamilton. Techniques developed for population genetics help to decide what contribution heredity and environment make in developmental biology.

## Genetic hitch-hiking and selective sweep

These concepts apply when a mutation is strongly favoured and "pulls along" nearby genes on its chromosome. The genes pulled along are genes which are previously under little selection. In a selective sweep, positive selection causes the new mutation to reach *fixation* (be the only allele present at that locus in all members of the population) so quickly that linked alleles can "hitchhike" and also become fixed. Evidence is growing that this effect does happen.
# Variation

**Variation** in biology means the differences between organisms in a species. These differences can be observed in how they appear, how their bodies function, or how they behave. For example, variation in the human species includes differences in height, skin color, eye color, and blood type.

No two individuals are exactly the same. Variation is important for the study of genetics, evolution, and populations.

There are two main causes for variation: genetics and the environment.

## Sources of variation

### Genetic variation

This is a variation in the DNA of individuals. It is heritable, which means it can be passed from parents to their children. Genetic variation is the basis of evolution. It comes from two main sources:

* **Mixing genes**: In sexual reproduction, an offspring gets a unique mix of genes from both parents. The shuffling of genes creates new combinations of traits. This is why children look a bit like their parents but are not identical to them.

* **Mutation**: A mutation is a permanent change in the DNA. Mutations are the source of all **new** genetic traits. Most mutations have no effect or are harmful, but some can cause a new, helpful trait to appear.

### Environmental variation

These are differences caused by an organism's life and surroundings, not by its genes. This kind of variation is not passed down to the children.

For example, a plant with genes to be tall might not grow tall if it does not get enough water, sun, and food. A person who exercises a lot will build muscle, but their children will not be born with large muscles.

## Why variation is important

Variation is necessary for evolution by natural selection.

Natural selection is the process by which living things with beneficial traits are more likely to survive and have offspring. For this to happen, there must be a variety of traits to "select" from. Variation provides this variety.

White-bodied peppered moth
Black-bodied peppered moth
A famous example is the peppered moth:

1. In England, most peppered moths were light-colored, which camouflaged them on light-colored trees. A few had a mutation that made them dark-colored.
2. When factories made the trees dark with soot, the light moths were easy for birds to see and eat.
3. The dark moths, however, were now camouflaged. They survived better and had more babies.
4. Over time, most of the moths in the population became dark.

If there had been no dark moths (no variation), the species might have died out when the environment changed.

## Related pages

* Biodiversity
# Mutation

Occasional errors may occur during DNA replication.
Chromosome mutations
In biology, a **mutation** is a change in the genetic material. This means changes to the DNA or to the chromosomes which carry the DNA. These changes are heritable (can be passed on to the next generation) unless they have lethal effects.

Mutations can happen for several reasons. It can happen because of errors when *meiosis* produces the gametes (eggs & sperms). Damage by radiation, or by certain chemicals may cause mutations. Mutations occur at random.

Also, by derivation, an individual carrying the mutation may be called a **mutant** or a *mutation*. So is the trait (character) most obviously affected by the mutation.

## Types of mutation

Gene duplication causes different lengths at a single locus (allele). Shows variation in one gene in six individuals.
### DNA mutations

When DNA is copied mistakes are sometimes made – these are called mutations. There are four main types of mutations:

* *Deletion*, where one or more DNA bases are left out.
* *Insertion*, where one or more extra base is put in.
* *Substitution*, where one or more bases are changed for another base in the sequence.
* *Duplication*, where whole genes are copied.

### Chromosome mutations

These terms are explained in the third diagram.

* *Deletion*: a piece of chromosome is lost, together with any genes which may be on it.
* *Duplication*: part of a chromosome is repeated
* *Inversion*: part of a chromosome is reversed end to end
* *Insertion*: a smaller chromosome is added into a longer chromosome
* *Translocation*: part of a chromosome gets moved onto another chromosome

## Results of mutation

Mutations may be bad for the organism, or neutral, or benefit the organism. Sometimes mutations are fatal for the organism – the protein made by the 'new' DNA does not work at all, and causing the embryo to die. On the other hand, evolution is moved forward by mutations, when the new version of the protein works better for the organism.

Mutations are the ultimate source of variation, upon which *natural selection* acts. What happens is that some mutations affect the organism's ability to live and reproduce. This is an important part of the theory of evolution. The amount of heritable variation carried by a population can be huge, and as a result natural populations can change and adapt to conditions in their environment.

## Related pages

* Bioethics
* Variation
# Gene flow

**Gene flow** or **gene migration** is the name for the transfer of alleles or genes from one population to another. The most usual cause is the movement of animals or (with plants) the movement of seeds or fruits.

Various barriers to gene flow can occur. The most usual is a geographical barrier of some kind. The beginnings of speciation often depends on the separation of populations which were once interbreeding (panmictic).
# Biodiversity

## The term

The term **biological diversity** was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann in 1968, where he advocated conservation. It was widely adopted only in the 1980s.

The term **biodiversity** first appeared in a publication in 1988 when entomologist E. O. Wilson used it as a title. Since then, the term has often been used by biologists, environmentalists, political leaders, and citizens. A similar term in the United States is "natural heritage." It predates the others and is more accepted by the wider audience interested in conservation. Broader than biodiversity, it includes geology and landforms.

## Definitions

Biologists most often define biodiversity as the "totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region". An advantage of this definition is that it seems to describe most circumstances. There are three levels at which biological variety can been identified:

* species diversity
* ecosystem diversity
* genetic diversity.

## Threats

The idea can be used for tackling practical problems in conservation, for example:

* loss of species
* destruction of habitats
* introduced and invasive species
* genetic pollution
* over-exploitation
* effect of climate change

## Related pages

* Biodiversity Convention
* Conservation biology
* Endemism
* Neurodiversity

* Levin, Simon A. 2013. *Encyclopedia of biodiversity*. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-384719-5
* Wilson E.O. 2016. *Half-Earth: our planet's fight for life*. Liveright. ISBN 978-1631490828