Biodiversity- BIG IDEAS
• All living things can be classified according to their anatomical (physical appearance) and physiological (how our organs function) characteristics
• Human activities affect the diversity of living things in ecosystems

Homework Notes- Taxonomy, Classification and Binomial Nomenclature
• Classification is the grouping of organisms based on a set of criteria that helps to organize and indicate evolutionary relationships (it can also be sued to classify anything- e.g. baseball teams
• Rank is a level in a classification scheme such as phylum or order
• Taxon is a named group of organisms such as phylum Chordata or order Rodentia
• Order of Classification for Organisms: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species) (Does King Philip Come Over For Great Soup?)
Homework Notes- Domains
• There are 3 domains: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Inside the Eukarya, there are four kingdoms: Protista, fungi, plantae and animalia.
• Scientists arrived with the 3 different domains based on the diverse genetic and cellular levels. Once they had the technology, they looked at the cellular and genetic differences.
Homework Notes- Other Terms
• Dichotomous key: an identification tool consisting of a series of two-part choices that lead the user to a correct identification. It has questions: if yes, you go to the next question specified, if no, you go to the other question specified.
Determining How Species are Related
• The goal of