In biology, a colony (from Latin colonia) refers to several individual organisms of the same species living closely together, usually for mutual benefit, such as stronger defences or the ability to attack bigger prey. Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Some insects (ants and honey bees, for example) live only in colonies. Ants are social Insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related families of Wasps and Bees belong to the order This article refers collectively to all true honey bees for the "common" domesticated honey bee see European honey bee Honey bees The Portuguese Man o' War is an example of a colony of four different polyp forms. The Portuguese Man O' War ( Physalia physalis) also known as the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, or the Portuguese man of war In Zoology, a polyp is one of two forms of individuals found in many species of Cnidarians The two are the polyp or hydroid and the medusa.

An electronic bacterial colony counter. A colony counter is an instrument used to count colonies of Bacteria or other Microorganisms growing on an Agar plate.

A colony of single-celled organisms is known as a colonial organism. Colonial organisms were probably the first step towards multicellular organisms via natural selection. Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of The difference between a multicellular organism and a colonial organism is that individual organisms from a colony can, if separated, survive on their own, while cells from a multicellular lifeform (e. Multicellular organisms are Organisms consisting of more than one cell, and having Differentiated cells that perform specialized functions The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known living Organisms It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living and is often called g. , cells from a brain) cannot. The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain Volvox is an example for the border between these two states. This article is about Volvox a colony of microorganisms For the rock music band with the same name see Volvox (band Volvox

A bacterial colony (or colony of other microorganisms) is defined as a cluster of organisms growing on the surface of or within a solid medium, usually cultured from a single cell. A microorganism (also spelled micro organism or micro-organism and also called a microbe) is an Organism that is Microscopic (usually Because all organisms within the colony descend from a single ancestor, they are genetically identical (except for mutations which occur at a low, unavoidable frequency), thus this technique can be used to isolate genetically pure strains from a genetically mixed population. In biology mutations are changes to the Nucleotide sequence of the Genetic material of an organism

See also

• Colonisation (biology)
• Clonal colony
• Eusociality
• Seabird colony
• Superorganism
• Beehive (beekeeping)

External links

This ecology-related article is a stub. Colonisation is the process in biology by which a species spreads into new areas "Ramet" redirects here For the commune in Alba County, Romania see Râmeţ. Eusociality ( Greek eu: "good" + "social" is a term used for the highest level of social organization in a hierarchical classification A seabird colony is a site which Seabirds visit to breed typically during the summer A superorganism is an Organism consisting of many organisms This is usually meant to be a Social unit of eusocial animals where Division of labour A beehive is in a general sense an enclosed structure in which some species of Honey bees (genus Apis) live and raise their young Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This microbiology-related article is a stub. Microbiology (from Greek grc μῑκρος mīkros, "small" grc βίος bios, " Life " and grc -λογία You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.