Diversity in the Living World

These flashcards cover key concepts from the lecture on biodiversity, classification, and taxonomic hierarchy.

Biology

The science of life forms and living processes.

Biodiversity

The number and types of organisms present on earth.

Nomenclature

The process of naming living organisms in a standardized manner.

Taxonomy

The science of classifying living organisms into categories based on shared characteristics.

Taxon

A group of one or more populations of organisms that constitute a unit of classification.

Binomial nomenclature

A two-word format for naming organisms, consisting of a genus name and a specific epithet.

Species

A group of individual organisms with fundamental similarities.

Genus

A group of closely related species.

Family

A group of related genera.

Order

An assemblage of families that exhibit fewer similarities than found within a family.

Phylum

A higher taxonomic category composed of related classes.

Kingdom

The highest taxonomic category, grouping all related phyla.

Ernst Mayr

A prominent evolutionary biologist referred to as ‘The Darwin of the 20th century’.

Systematics

A branch of biology that deals with classification, nomenclature, and identification of organisms, considering evolutionary relationships.

Morphological differences

Visible characteristics used to distinguish different species.