Biological Influences

Biological influences:

[Most all of these are in fact properly subsets of ‘transformation’ The classificationist can debate how many deserve special treatment as opposed to treatment as kinds of transformation. If given special treatment, users searching by transformation in general or of particular types should be alerted to the existence of these classes.]

There are first a set of evolutionary influences (denoted by ‘e’):

→ee Evolving (It is likely useful to distinguish evolving within and across species) (It may also be useful to distinguish evolution at the level of genes versus

organisms) [Breeding or eugenics would be selecting from evolution]

→ea Adapting (can be combined with climate, people etc.)

→et Activating or Triggering versus Suppressing of a gene.

There are then a set of influences within the development of a particular organism. It makes sense here to distinguish (at least) plants from animals, since the developmental processes are so distinct. We start with plants (‘f’ for ‘flaura’):

→fd Development

→fg Germinating

→fp Photosynthesis [Technically this is energizing through using sunlight in transforming carbon dioxide and water into nutrients. It deserves special

treatment in the classification.]

→fr Reproducing (various types should be identified, perhaps through linked notation) [Fertilize in the narrow sense is cause reproduction, while ‘spread

fertilizer’ is facilitate reproduction of plants]

Influences relevant to animals (denoted by ‘a’):

→aa Affinity (as between antigen and antibody)

→ab Breastfeeding the young

→ac Cytolisis (The breakdown of cells by destruction of outer membrane)

→ad Development [Overdevelopment is excessive development] [Developing into would be captured by linking to developmental forms]

→ae Embryonic development

→af Functioning or metabolism [a general term for the normal function of an organ/tissue; note that dysfunction could then also be captured.

Metabolism is properly the set of physical and chemical transformations that allow the organism to function] [Note that Khoo (1995) has a whole

class of physiological reactions such as sweating which might best be treated as subclasses of function.]

→ah Heterogenesis (as in caterpillar transformed into butterfly; a type of transformation that deserves special treatment)

→ar Reproducing [asexual indicated through compound notation]

→as Shedding a body part [An important process for a subset of animals; it might nevertheless be captured by compounding rather than special treatment.]

→aw Discharging waste

It may or may not be desirable to provide special treatment for transformations such as Spoil or Ferment, rather than just identify these in terms of what is transformed into what.

Likewise, chemical processes within an organism may or may not deserve special treatment.

Birth is HF0, Death is HM0, [live/die captured above] Injury is HI. Ingesting could combine energizing with HN or HR for respiration. Digestion – and functions associated with other organs -- could be captured by combining transforming or energizing with the stomach or other organ. Poisoning would combine ingesting with injury or death. Migration could be captured with moving and seasonal. Crystallizing is a form of transformation associated with shapes Hydrolysis is likewise a transformation [associated with electricity?]. Various precise terms for combination of (or creation/destruction of, or caused by) cells or genes etc. can be generated by compound terminology (likewise desensitizing). Faint is lose consciousness. Symbiosis is cooperation between species