繁殖, 生殖 and 増殖: reproduction, process and proliferation
Compare 繁殖, 生殖 and 増殖 in fish, plants and cells. Separate organisms reproducing from people studying or observing their processes while preserving overlap between the names.
繁殖 in breeding fish and observing plant reproduction
繁殖 (はんしょく) means reproduction or breeding. 「池では春になると小さな魚が繁殖します。」 means “Small fish breed in the pond when spring arrives.” The sentence describes the fish breeding when spring arrives.
「植物の繁殖方法を温室で観察しました。」 means “We observed methods of plant reproduction in the greenhouse.” Plants are also an object of 繁殖, so this example does not support an animals-only meaning. Observing methods is a different action from the organisms reproducing.
生殖 as a process studied or shown
生殖 (せいしょく) means reproduction. 「理科の授業で植物の生殖を学んだ。」 means “We learned about plant reproduction in science class.” Reproduction is the subject of learning; the sentence does not report that the learners conducted a reproductive experiment.
「この図は魚の生殖の過程を示している。」 means “This diagram shows the reproductive process of fish.” The diagram shows a process involving fish, whereas the class example concerns plants. These objects do not support restricting 生殖 to plants alone.
増殖 on video and in a story
増殖 (ぞうしょく) means proliferation or growth. 「映像で細胞の増殖を観察した。」 means “We observed cell proliferation on video.” Here the subject observed is cell proliferation on video, not the enlargement of one cell or a directly conducted experiment.
「物語では不思議な植物が増殖する。」 means “In the story, a strange plant multiplies.” The multiplying plant belongs to the story. The three process names can overlap; read their objects together with what is being described, learned or observed.
Do 植物の繁殖 and 魚の生殖 support dividing 繁殖 into animals only and 生殖 into plants only?
Show the answer and why
No. The examples use 繁殖 for methods of plant reproduction and 生殖 for a diagram of fish reproduction. The cell 増殖 example describes observing proliferation on video, without changing it into one cell growing larger or a directly conducted experiment.