🌍 The Living World

1. What is 'Living'?

Living organisms exhibit distinct characteristics: Growth, Reproduction, Metabolism, Cellular organization, and Consciousness (ability to sense the environment and respond).

Defining Features

Growth and Reproduction are NOT defining properties of living organisms because non-living things (like mountains) can grow by accumulation, and sterile organisms (like mules) cannot reproduce.

Metabolism, Cellular organization, and Consciousness are defining features.

2. Diversity in the Living World

The number of species that are known and described range between 1.7-1.8 million. This refers to Biodiversity.

🏷️ Binomial Nomenclature

A system of providing a name with two components: the Generic name and the Specific epithet. Introduced by Carolus Linnaeus.

Example: Mangifera indica (Mango). Mangifera is the genus, indica is the species.

3. Taxonomic Categories

Classification is not a single-step process but involves a hierarchy of steps. The taxonomic hierarchy in ascending order:

Species → Genus → Family → Order → Class → Phylum/Division → Kingdom

4. Taxonomical Aids

Techniques and procedures used to store and preserve information as well as specimens.

Herbarium: Storehouse of collected plant specimens that are dried, pressed, and preserved on sheets.
Botanical Gardens: Collections of living plants for reference.
Museums: Collections of preserved plant and animal specimens.
Zoological Parks (Zoos): Places where wild animals are kept in protected environments.
Key: A taxonomical aid used for identification based on contrasting characters (couplet).