wildlife biology Flashcards
classification
the action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics.
taxonomy
the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematic.
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 principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name, e.g., Leo.
family
all the descendants of a common ancestor.
order
the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method.
class
a set or category of things having some property or attribute in common and differentiated from others by kind, type, or quality.
phylum
a principal taxonomic category that ranks above class and below kingdom.
division
the action of separating something into parts, or the process of being separated.
kingdom
a realm associated with or regarded as being under the control of a particular person or thing.
domain
an area of territory owned or controlled by a ruler or government.
phylogeny
the branch of biology that deals with phylogenesis.
characters
the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.
molecular clock
the average rate at which a species’ genome accumulates mutations, used to measure their evolutionary divergence and in other calculations.
cladistic
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
another term for archaebacteria.
protists
Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms that are not fungi, plants, or animals and are chiefly unicellular or colonial.
fungus
any of a group of unicellular, multicellular, or syncytial spore-producing organisms feeding on organic matter, including molds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools.
