properties of life - fundamental qualities of all living organisms

• cellular organization
• sensitivity
• growth/metabolism
• reproduction/heredity
• regulation/homeostasis

taxonomy - science of classification/nomenclature for living things

• 3 purposes
  • identifies known species
  • names/classifies new species
  • shows evolutionary relationships between species
• organisms grouped according to phylogeny and binomial names

phylogenetic systems - evolutionary tree diagrams showing the lineage of each organism

• shows how organisms are related through course of evolution
• branching = divergence of species
• upper branches = recently evolved/diverged species
• lower branches = older, more primitive species
• breaks animals up into 3 domains (Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya)
• domain >> kingdom >> phylum >> class >> order >> family >> genus >> species

binomial nomenclature - based on work of Carolus Linnaeus

• genus - group of closely related organisms
• species - type of organism
• names in Latin
• capitalize genus name, don’t capitalize species name
• underline name when handwritten, italicize when typed