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The initial stages of human embryogenesis
Parts of a human embryo
This article concerns Ontogeny in biology. Not to be confused with the philosophy concepts of ontology, or the medical term oncology, and odontology.

Ontogeny (also ontogenesis or morphogenesis) is the origin and the development of an organism: for example, from the fertilized egg to mature form. In time frame, it can cover the study of an organism's lifespan. The word ontogeny comes from the Greek ὄντος, ontos, present participle singular 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 degree and type of organization which allow that unity to exist.[2] More recently, the term ontogeny has been used in cell biology to describe the development of various cell types within an organism.[3]

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 (i.e., ontogenetic) processes can influence subsequent evolutionary (e.g., phylogenetic) processes[4] (see evolutionary developmental biology), individual organisms develop (ontogeny), while species evolve (phylogeny).

Nature and nurture[edit]


See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

  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. ^ Thiery, Jean Paul (1 December 2003). "Epithelial–mesenchymal transitions in development and pathologies". Current Opinion in Cell Biology 15 (6): 740–746. doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2003.10.006. PMID 14644200. 
  5. ^ Niko Tinbergen (1963). "On aims and methods of ethology". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie (renamed Ethology in 1986) 20: 410–433.  See page 411.

External links[edit]

  • Media related to Morphogenesis at Wikimedia Commons
  • The dictionary definition of ontogeny at Wiktionary