Facultative Information
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Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" (antonym obligate), used mainly in biology in phrases such as:
- Facultative anaerobe, an organism that can use oxygen but also has anaerobic methods of energy production
- Facultative biped, an animal that is capable of walking or running on two legs in spite of normally walking or running on four limbs or more
- Facultative carnivore, a carnivore that does not depend solely on animal flesh for food but can also consume non-animals.
- Facultative heterochromatin, a tightly packed but non repetitive form of DNA which can lose its condensed structure and become a transcriptionally active gene
- Facultative lagoon, a type of stabilization pond used for biological treatment of industrial and domestic wastewater
- Facultative parasite, a parasite that can complete its life cycle independent of a host.
See also
- (antonym) Obligate
Categories: Biology terminology
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