The Living World: Diversity and Taxonomy

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the basics of biology, taxonomic hierarchy, nomenclature rules, and key scientists from the first chapter of the living world.

Biology

The science of life forms and living processes.

Ernst Mayr

A Harvard University evolutionary biologist ($1904-2004$) called ‘The Darwin of the 20th century’ who pioneered the currently accepted definition of a biological species.

Triple Crown of Biology

The three prizes awarded to Ernst Mayr: the Balzan Prize ($1983$), the International Prize for Biology ($1994$), and the Crafoord Prize ($1999$).

Biodiversity

The number and types of organisms present on earth, currently estimated between $1.7-1.8$ million species.

Nomenclature

The process of standardising the naming of living organisms so that a particular organism is known by the same name all over the world.

Identification

The process of describing an organism correctly to determine what name should be attached to it.

ICBN

International Code for Botanical Nomenclature; the agreed principles and criteria for naming plants.

ICZN

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature; the system evolved by taxonomists for naming animals.

Binomial Nomenclature

A naming system given by Carolus Linnaeus where each scientific name has two components: the Generic name and the specific epithet.

Generic Name

The first word in a biological name which represents the genus and starts with a capital letter.

Specific Epithet

The second component in a biological name representing the species and starting with a small letter.

Mangifera indica Linn.

The scientific name for mango, where 'Linn.' indicates the species was first described by Linnaeus.

Classification

The process by which organisms are grouped into convenient categories based on some easily observable characters.

Taxa

The scientific term for categories used in classification at different levels, such as plants, mammals, or dogs.

Taxonomy

The process of classification of all living organisms based on their characteristics.

Systematics

A branch of study derived from the Latin word ‘systema’ that accounts for the diversity of organisms and their evolutionary relationships.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

The arrangement of all taxonomic categories in a hierarchy of steps, where each step represents a rank or category.

Taxon

A unit of classification representing a specific rank or category in the taxonomic hierarchy.

Species

The lowest taxonomic category, consisting of a group of individual organisms with fundamental similarities.

Genus

A taxon comprising a group of related species which has more characters in common compared to species of other genera.

Family

A taxonomic category containing a group of related genera, characterized by both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species.

Order

An assemblage of families which exhibit a few similar characters based on the aggregates of characters.

Class

A taxonomic category that includes related orders, such as order Primata and Carnivora being placed in class Mammalia.

Phylum

A higher category for animals based on common features like the presence of a notochord and dorsal hollow neural system.

Division

The taxonomic category used for plants that is equivalent to the rank of Phylum used for animals.

Kingdom

The highest category in the taxonomic hierarchy, such as Kingdom Animalia or Kingdom Plantae.

Homo sapiens

The biological name for human beings, belonging to the genus Homo and species sapiens.

Musca domestica

The biological name for the housefly, belonging to the family Muscidae and order Diptera.

Triticum aestivum

The biological name for wheat, belonging to the family Poaceae and order Poales.