|
In biology, the question of what is an individual is related to the question of what is an organism, which is an important question in biology and philosophy of biology, but there has been little explicit work devoted to the biological notion of an individual.[3] An individual organism is not the only kind of individual that is considered as a "unit of selection".[3] Genes, genomes, or groups may function as individual units.[3] Asexual reproduction occurs in some colonial organisms, so that the individuals are genetically identical. Such a colony is called a genet, and an individual in such a population is referred to as a ramet. The colony, rather than the individual functions as a unit of selection. In other colonial organisms, the individuals may be closely related to one another, but differ as a result of sexual reproduction. |
About us|Jobs|Help|Disclaimer|Advertising services|Contact us|Sign in|Website map|Search|
GMT+8, 2014-3-30 14:58 , Processed in 0.080751 second(s), 17 queries .
