classifications Flashcards
(31 cards)
Biodiversity
The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat
Classification
The arrangement of animals and plants in taxonomic groups according to their observed similarities
Taxonomy
The science of naming, defining and classifying groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics.
Systematics
The study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time.
Cladistics
A biological classification system that involves the categorization of organisms based on shared traits.
Nomenclature
A system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences.
Binomial Nomenclature
The system of nomenclature in which two terms are used to denote a species of living organism
Hierarchical
An arrangement based on rank.
Taxon
A taxonomic group of any rank, such as a species, family, or class.
Clade
A group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor.
Kingdom
A taxonomic rank that is composed of smaller groups called phyla (or divisions, in plants).
Phylum
A level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.
Division
A rank equivalent to phylum.
Genus
A taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses
Species
The fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus.
Domain
A taxon in the highest rank of organisms, higher than a kingdom.
Prokaryote
Unicellular organisms that consist of a single prokaryotic cell.
Eukaryote
Any cell or organism that possesses a clearly defined nucleus.
Heterotrophic
An animal that can’t make its own food supply, so they have to eat other things, like plants or other animals, to survive.
Autotrophic
An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy.
Saprotrophic
Any organism, esp a fungus or bacterium, that lives and feeds on dead organic matter.
Unicellular
An organism that has only one single cell
Multicellular
An organism having or consisting of many cells.
Motility
The ability of organisms and fluid to move or get around.