Biological development

Introduction
The scope of development
- Types of development
  - Quantitative and qualitative development
  - Progressive and regressive development
  - Single-phase and multiphase development
  - Structural and functional development
  - Normal and abnormal development
- General systems of development
  - Development of single-celled organisms
  - Open and closed systems of development
  - Blastogenesis versus embryogenesis
- Constituent processes of development
  - Growth
  - Morphogenesis
    - Morphogenesis by differential growth
    - Morphogenetic fields
    - Morphogenesis by the self-assembly of units
  - Differentiation
Control and integration of development
- Phenomenological aspects
- Analytical aspects
Development and evolution
- Effect on life histories
  - Length and timing of the reproductive phase
  - Recapitulation of ancestral stages
  - Adaptability and the canalization of development
- Genetic assimilation

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At a Glance

biological development summary

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greylag. Flock of Greylag geese during their winter migration at Bosque del Apache National Refugee, New Mexico. greylag goose (Anser anser)

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External Websites

National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Stages of Biological Development across Age: An Analysis of Canadian Health Measure Survey 2007ï¿½2011

Biological development

biology

Also known as: development

Written by

Conrad H. Waddington

Buchanan Professor of Genetics, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1947–75. Author of Principles of Embryology.

Conrad H. Waddington

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 6, 2026 •History

Biological development, the progressive changes in size, shape, and function during the life of an organism by which its genetic potentials (genotype) are translated into functioning mature systems (phenotype). Most modern philosophical outlooks would consider that development of some kind or other characterizes all things, in both the physical and biological worlds. Such points of view go back to the very earliest days of philosophy. Among the pre-Socratic philosophers of Greek Ionia, half a millennium...

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