Editing Invertebrate (section)

== In research ==

For many centuries, invertebrates were neglected by biologists, in favor of big vertebrates and "useful" or [[charismatic species]].<ref name="Aristotle"/> Invertebrate biology was not a major field of study until the work of [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] and [[Lamarck]] in the 18th century.<ref name="Aristotle">{{cite web |url=http://nmnh.typepad.com/no_bones/2015/06/why-study-invertebrates-a-philosophical-argument-from-aristotle.html |title=Why study invertebrates? A philosophical argument from Aristotle |last1=Ducarme |first1=Frédéric |date=2015 |website=No Bones (Smithsonian Institution website) |access-date=15 July 2015 |archive-date=15 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715175131/http://nmnh.typepad.com/no_bones/2015/06/why-study-invertebrates-a-philosophical-argument-from-aristotle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 20th century, invertebrate zoology became one of the major fields of natural sciences, with prominent discoveries in the fields of medicine, genetics, palaeontology, and ecology.<ref name="Aristotle"/> The study of invertebrates has also benefited law enforcement, as arthropods, and especially insects, were discovered to be a source of information for forensic investigators.<ref name=forensic />

Two of the most commonly studied model organisms nowadays are invertebrates: the fruit fly ''[[Drosophila melanogaster]]'' and the nematode ''[[Caenorhabditis elegans]]''. They have long been the most intensively studied [[model organism]]s, and were among the first life-forms to be genetically sequenced. This was facilitated by the severely reduced state of their [[genome]]s, but many [[gene]]s, [[intron]]s, and [[genetic linkage|linkages]] have been lost. Analysis of the [[starlet sea anemone]] genome has emphasised the importance of sponges, placozoans, and [[choanoflagellate]]s, also being sequenced, in explaining the arrival of 1,500 ancestral genes unique to animals.<ref>{{cite journal |author=N.H. Putnam |date=July 2007 |title=Sea anemone genome reveals ancestral eumetazoan gene repertoire and genomic organization |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=31 |issue=5834 |pages=86–94 |doi=10.1126/science.1139158 |pmid=17615350|first1=N.H.|last2=Srivastava |first2=M.|last3=Hellsten |first3=U. |last4=Dirks |first4=B.|last5=Chapman|first5=J.|last6=Salamov |first6=A.|last7=Terry |first7=A.|last8=Shapiro |first8=H. |last9=Lindquist |first9=E.|last10=Kapitonov|first11=J.|last12=Genikhovich|first12=G. |last13=Grigoriev|first13=I.V. |last14=Lucas|first14=S.M.|last15=Steele |first15=R.E.|last16=Finnerty |first16=J.R.|last17=Technau |first17=U.|last18=Martindale |first18=M.Q.|last19=Rokhsar |first19=D.S. |first10=V. V. |last11=Jurka |bibcode=2007Sci...317...86P |s2cid=9868191 |display-authors=3 |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc884638/ |access-date=21 January 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801213038/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc884638/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Invertebrates are also used by scientists in the field of [[aquatic biomonitoring]] to evaluate the effects of water pollution and [[climate change]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Lawrence|first1=J.E. |first2=K.B.|last2=Lunde |first3=R.D. |last3=Mazor |first4=L.A.|last4=Bêche |first5=E.P.|last5=McElravy |first6=V.H.|last6=Resh | title = Long-Term Macroinvertebrate Responses to Climate Change: Implications for Biological Assessment in Mediterranean-Climate Streams | journal = Journal of the North American Benthological Society | volume =29 | pages =1424–40 | year = 2010| doi= 10.1899/09-178.1 | issue =4 |s2cid=84679634 }}</ref>