Classification Flashcards
(20 cards)
classification
process by which scientists group living organisms. Organisms are classified based on how similar they are.
taxonomy
science of naming, describing and classifying organisms and includes all plants, animals and microorganisms of the world.
binomial nomenclature
the system of nomenclature in which two terms are used to denote a species of living organism, the first one indicating the genus and the second the specific epithet.
taxon
a taxonomic group of any rank, such as a species, family, or class.
genus
A taxonomic category ranking used in biological classification that is below a family and above a species level, and includes group(s) of species that are structurally similar or phylogenetically related.
family
ne of the eight major taxonomic ranks; it is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks above the rank of genus.
order
order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes.
class
class is a taxonomic rank, as well as a taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. Other well-known ranks in descending order of size are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order.
Phylum
a level of classification or taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above Class.
Division
is a taxonomic rank in biological classification that is used differently in zoology and in botany. In botany and mycology, division refers to a rank equivalent to phylum.
Kingdom
a taxonomic category of the highest rank, grouping together all forms of life having certain fundamental characteristics in common: in the five-kingdom classification scheme adopted by many biologists, separate kingdoms are assigned to animals (Animalia), plants (Plantae), fungi (Fungi), protozoa and eucaryotic algae
Domain
a domain, also superkingdom or empire, is the highest taxonomic rank of organisms in the three-domain system of taxonomy designed by Carl Woese, an American microbiologist and biophysicist
Phylogeny
The evolutionary development and history of a species or higher taxonomic grouping of organisms. phylogenesis. The evolutionary development of an organ or other part of an organism.
Characters
any observable feature, or trait, of an organism, whether acquired or inherited. An acquired character is a response to the environment; an inherited character is produced by genes transmitted from parent to offspring (their expressions are often modified by environmental conditions).
Molecular clock
figurative term for a technique that uses the mutation rate of biomolecules to deduce the time in prehistory when two or more life forms diverged.
Cladistics
a method of classification of animals and plants according to the proportion of measurable characteristics that they have in common. It is assumed that the higher the proportion of characteristics that two organisms share, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor.
Cladogram
a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species.
Archaea
Any of the unicellular microorganisms that is genetically distinct from bacteria and eukaryotes, and often inhabiting extreme environmental conditions.
Protists
eukaryotic organisms that cannot be classified as a plant, animal, or fungus.
Fungus
any of a large division (Eumycota) of thallophytes, including molds, mildews, mushrooms, rusts, and smuts, that are parasites on living organisms or that feed upon dead organic material: fungi lack chlorophyll, true roots, stems, and leaves, and reproduce by means of spores: in some systems of biological classification …
