ZOOLOGY AND SUBDISCIPLINES.

https://www.environmentalscience.org/zoology

Zoology (also known as animal science) is the branch of biology devoted to study animal life. It covers areas ranging from organism structure to the subcellular unit of life. Some zoologists are interested in the biology of particular groups of animals. Others are concerned with the structure and function of animal bodies.

Still, others study how new animals are formed and how their characteristics are passed on from one generation to another. Zoologists study the interactions of animals with one another and their environments, as well as the significance of the behavior of animals.

Zoology is both descriptive and analytical. It can be approached either as basic science or as an applied science. A worker in basic zoology is interested in knowledge of animals for its own sake without considering the direct application of the information gained. In contrast, workers in applied zoology are interested in information that will directly benefit humans and animals.

Zoology today is as diverse as the animal kingdom it studies, broadening its range to include such fields as genetics and biochemistry. It now is considered an interdisciplinary field that applies a great variety of techniques to obtain knowledge of the animal kingdom. For instance, the genetic study of DNA from various animals can provide insights into their evolutionary history. Zoologists who concentrate on morphology (the study of structure, including muscles, bones, cells, and cellular components) employ many techniques first developed in the biochemistry lab.

SUBDISCIPLINES OF ZOOLOGY

Subdisciplines that concentrate on specific divisions of animal life:

Entomology

Insects

Entomology is the study of all species classed as insects but not including arachnids which are not insects (spiders, fleas, mites, and ticks). Insects represent the most populous class of any species and known to have evolved some 400 million years ago, out-surviving the dinosaurs. Because the class is so large, entomology is further broken down into:

Coleopterology: Refers to the study of any insect classed as a beetle
Dipterology: Anything classed as a fly such as gnats, houseflies, and mosquitoes
Hemipterology: The study of so-called “true bugs” such as aphids, leafhoppers, bedbugs, and cicadas
Isopterology: The study of all termite species
Lepidopterology: Concerning moths and butterflies
Melittology: The study of the many species of bee
Myrmecology: Concerning ants
Orthopterology: locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers
Trichopterology: Caddisflies
Vespology: The study of wasps

Herpetology

Amphibians and reptiles

This is the study of all aspects of the life and lifestyle, genetics, and nature of reptiles and amphibians. Even these two groups are now subdivided due to diversity. Generalists are still called herpetologists, but those whose studies are limited to amphibians (cold-blooded reptiles that can live in the water as well as on land) are called batrachologists while those who study only snakes are known as ophiologists.

Ichthyology

Fish

Fish are one of the most abundant forms of life in our waterways, from freshwater lakes and rivers to the deepest oceans. They include many families and species. Their study is called “ichthyology”. This covers vertebrate fish, cartilaginous fish such as sharks, and the jawless fish species. Whether involved in conservation, genetics, environmental study, evolutionary development, or their place in the food chain, fish is a vital part of zoology

Invertebrate Zoology

Animals without backbones

Some phyla have backbones (vertebrates) while some do not (invertebrates). Invertebrate zoology is an umbrella term for anyone who studies animals that do not have a spine. This includes arthropods, mollusks, and some fish. Around 95% of all species in the animal kingdom do not have a backbone. Evidence suggests that the first rudimentary vertebrates emerged during the Cambrian Explosion. They survive better in the fossil record, but invertebrates clearly had an enormous head start.

Malacology

Mollusks

Mollusca or mollusks are the second largest group of animals by the numbers. These animals can be land-based such as snails and slugs, or aquatic life such as squid and octopi. Mollusks are invertebrates, so it is a division of invertebrate zoology, but what sets them apart from other invertebrates is that they have a soft body (unsegmented) and no legs. They live in damp to wet environments. Researchers are interested in all areas in other fields, but some are dedicated to examining their unique physiology for medical purposes such as the treatment of diseases caused by flatworms that live in snails.

Mammalogy

Mammals

The study of all mammals begins when the first true mammals appeared around 200 million years ago, around halfway through the age of dinosaurs. Mammals are warm-blooded, possess hair or fur, give birth to live young which the females suckle with milk-giving mammary glands. There are one or two exceptions to these rules such as the platypus and echidna - both lay eggs. Even whales, dolphins, and porpoises have a small amount of hair in the form of whiskers. Some other mammals are reported to be able to raise and lower body temperature using external environments in the way that cold-blooded creatures may. It's also important to note that marsupials are mammals.

Ornithology

Birds

Ornithology is the study of birds which are classified as animals with feathers that reproduce through the laying of eggs. It is commonly believed that all birds fly. This is not true. Some, like the emu, rhea, and ostrich, are too large. Others have undeveloped wings such as the kiwi which has the bone structure for wings but too small and lacks support. Others are aquatic and use their “wings” to swim such as the penguin. It is one of the most successful areas of “citizen science” as it requires the amateur observers of the public to report sightings of certain birds, especially those that go on large migrations

Primatology

Primates

Primates include monkeys, chimpanzees, all apes (gorillas, orangutans, humans), lemurs, and tarsiers. Today, primatology is further divided into two subcategories: strepsirrhines (lemurs and lemur-like) and haplorhini (tarsiers and all simians including apes, which means humans too). Primates are mammals with a relatively large brain. With the exception of humans, they live only within the tropics and subtropics and broadly divided into Old World and New World primates.

OTHER SUBDISCIPLINES

Ecology

Interactions between animals and their environment.

Animals do not exist in isolation; they have an ecological role to fulfill that impacts and is impacted by plants, predators, prey, human actions such as agriculture, urbanization, and land clearance for any other reason. It is likely that zoology will move more in line with the intended outcomes of environmental sciences, especially as recent degree options include such titles as conservation biology.

Embryology

Development of animals before birth

In any animal species, an embryo develops following the conception of species that reproduce sexually. Embryo means “unborn” in Greek, so this means the study of anything from fertilization to birth in the animal kingdom. There are many applications and ways of approaching embryology. It can be a medical science (looking for abnormalities and defects), the study of the process of conception (the study of pre-birth development) or to look for common ancestry. Fetuses of most mammal species are difficult to tell apart until the latter stages of the first trimester.

Ethology

Animal behavior

Ethology is the scientific study of behaviors. Although widely applying to human actions, zoologists are also interested in animal behaviors. They are interested in groups rather than individual behavior or one particular aspect of a species actions (such as variations in fight-or-flight). This means their social structure, how rogues are treated, attitudes and actions towards competition, and such things as aggression across groups or entire species. Effects on adaptation, relationships, symbiosis, predator and scavenger dynamics

Paleontology

The study of Fossils

Sociobiology

Behavior, ecology, and evolution of social animals such as bees, ants, schooling fish, flocking birds, and humans.

The types of jobs zoologists perform also are quite diverse. The zoology undergraduate major is chosen by many students who seek a career in one of the several health care professions (veterinary medicine, medicine, dentistry) or careers in the environmental sciences. Jobs are available in the agricultural, biotechnological/pharmaceutical, and environmental/ecological fields. There are jobs available,, working outdoors doing fieldwork and working in a lab. Career options include government departments, environmental agencies, education (including universities and colleges), and industry (including consulting firms and biomedical companies). Depending on how biological sciences are organized at a particular college or university, the student interested in majoring in zoology could receive a degree in biology with a concentration in zoology.

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