A biological rule or biological law is a generalized law, principle, or rule of thumb formulated to describe patterns observed in living organisms. Biological rules and laws are often developed as succinct, broadly applicable ways to explain complex phenomena or salient observations about the ecology and biogeographical distributions of plant and animal species around the world, though they have been proposed for or extended to all types of organisms. Many of these regularities of ecology and biogeography are named after the biologists who first described them.
Emery's rule states that insect social parasites like cuckoo bumblebees choose closely related hosts, in this case other bumblebees.
Lack's principle matches clutch size to the largest number of young the parents can feed
Image: Cambrian Trilobite Olenoides Mt. Stephen
Image: FMIB 35665 Common Crayfish (Astacus fluviatilis, Male) (cropped)
Aristotle's biology is the theory of biology, grounded in systematic observation and collection of data, mainly zoological, embodied in Aristotle's books on the science. Many of his observations were made during his stay on the island of Lesbos, including especially his descriptions of the marine biology of the Pyrrha lagoon, now the Gulf of Kalloni. His theory is based on his concept of form, which derives from but is markedly unlike Plato's theory of Forms.
Among Aristotle's many observations of marine biology was that the octopus can change colour when disturbed.
Aristotle spent some 20 years at Plato's academy in Athens.
Aristotle argued by analogy with a woodcarving that a thing takes its form both from its design and from the material used.
Embryogenesis: Aristotle saw the chick embryo's heart beating. 19th century drawing by Peter Panum
