Biology 11 - Unit 1 Vocabulary

taxonomy

the study of naming and grouping organisms into taxa

species

a group of organisms that share similar characteristics and can interbreed with one another to produce fertile offspring

genus

a group of closely related species

family

a group of closely related genera

order

a group of closely related families

class

a group of closely related orders

phylum

a group of closely related classes

kingdom

a group of closely related phyla

monera

a kingdom that contains all prokaryotic organisms. all organisms in kingdom monera are unicellular. can be subdivided into kingdom eubacteria (domain bacteria) and kingdom archaebacteria (domain archaea). reproduce by binary fission.

protista

a kingdom that contains eukaryotic, primarily known for being unicellular organisms (seaweed is an example of a multicellular protists). all unicellular eukaryotes belong in kingdom protista. can be subdivided into animal-like, plant-like, and fungus-like protists.

fungi

a kingdom that contains eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms. their cell walls do not contain cellulose.

plantae

a kingdom that contains eukaryotic, primarily multicellular organisms. plantae are autotrophic and their cell walls do contain cellulose.

animalia

a kingdom that contains eukaryotic, multicellular organisms. animalia are heterotrophic. their cell membranes do not contain cell walls.

binomial nomenclature

created by Carolus Linnaeus, a two-part sceintific name. naming an organism by its genus and followed by its species. the first letter of the genus is always capitalized. when typed out, the two-part name is italicized. when handwritten, it is underlined.

multicellular

a description of an organism that is made up of more than one cell, some of which are typically specialized for particular functions.

unicellular

a description of an organism that is made up of a single cell.

autotroph

an organism that gains energy by using a source of energy (ex. sun) to produce its food from inorganic, raw material.

heterotroph

an organism that cannot produce its own food, but instead gains energy from the food it consumes.

eukaryotic

description of an organism that is made up of cells that contain a nucleus.

prokaryotic

description of an organism that s made up of cells that do not contain a nucleus.

homologus structure

homologus structures, studied in adult organisms, developing embryos, and well-preserved fossils, are structures in two different organisms with similar morphology, but physically look different and serve different purposes. this means that they share a common origin but have diverged to be used for different purposes.

analogus structure

structures in organisms that are similar in physical appearance and function but do not share common origins and usually have different morphology.

cladogram

a hypothesis of how different organisms are related to each other.

phylogenetic tree

a branching of organisms and how they’re related to each other. the distance between organisms and the size of the branches matter. length represents the time since the split of an organism.

domain

a three-domain classification system that is based on biochemical differences that show how vastly the three groups are different from each other.