Life

1. According to Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus (2ed.) , life is

defined as the fact or act of living. The property oforganisms (ending at

death) that makes it possible for them to take in food, grow, and

reproduce.

2. Our text book calls living things – organisms

3. Our textbook does not provide a formal definition of life. However, it

does list the following 5 major characteristics of life.

• Living things - are organized

a. atoms combine and organize to form molecules

b. molecules combine and organize to form elements

c. cells combine and organize to form tissues

d. tissues combine to and organize to form organs

e. organs combine and organize to form organ systems

f individual bees come together and organize a colony

g. there are a host of other examples

• Living things - acquire materials and energy

a. includes the ability to take in food to make body pa rts

and products and to produce en-ergy

5. Together the genus and specific epithet names make up the binomial name used to name a species

 The Genus name is always capitalized, and the specific epithet is never capitalized.

 The Genus and specific epithet are always together, and italicized (or underlined).

 Example: Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens

B. Taxonomic classification is hierarchical.

1. A group of related genera make up a Family.

2. Related families make up an Order.

3. Related orders are grouped into a Class.

4. Related classes are grouped into a Phylum or Division.

5. Related phyla or divisions are grouped into a Kingdom.

6. Related kingdoms are grouped into a Domain, the highest level of classification in the modern system.

7. The gold standard for “related” is based on DNA sequence similarities, but other criteria are used as
well (we don’t have

the complete DNA sequence of all known species)

C. The most widely accepted classification system today includes three domains and six kingdoms

1. Two domains consist of prokaryotes, organisms with no true cellular nucleus

 Domain Archaea – Kingdom Archaebacteria – bacteria typically found in extreme environments;

distinguished

from other bacteria mainly by ribosomal RNA sequence; include methanogens, extreme halophiles, and
extreme

thermophiles

 Domain Bacteria – Kingdom Eubacteria – very diverse group of bacteria; examples: blue-green algae,
Escherichia

coli

2. One domain, Eukarya, consists of eukaryotes, organisms with a discrete cellular nucleus; it is divided
into four

kingdom