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A life form (also spelled life-form or lifeform) is an entity that is living, [1] [2] such as plants , animals , and fungi . It is estimated that more than 99% of all species that ever existed on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, [3] are extinct. [4] [5] Earth is the only celestial body known to harbor life forms. No form of ...
Different kinds of living creatures studied in life sciences top: an animal (Goliath beetle) and microorganisms (E. coli bacteria) bottom: a plant (tree fern) and humans Part of a series on Science General History Literature Method Philosophy Branches Formal Natural Physical Life Social Applied In society Communication Community Education Funding Policy Pseudoscience Scientist Science portal ...
The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. A genus contains one or more species. Minor intermediate ranks are not shown. A species (pl.: species) is a population of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. [1]
Organisms were first classified by Aristotle (Greece, 384–322 BC) during his stay on the island of Lesbos. [35] [36] [37] He classified beings by their parts, or in modern terms attributes, such as having live birth, having four legs, laying eggs, having blood, or being warm-bodied. [38] He divided all living things into two groups: plants ...
The list is organized taxonomically into parvorders, superfamilies when applicable, families, subfamilies when applicable, genus, and then species. In tabular form, seven descriptors are given for each species: the common name; the scientific name; the IUCN Red List status; a global population estimate; a global map with its range; its weight ...
Different elements can combine to form compounds such as water, which is fundamental to life. [32] Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms . Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including molecular ...
A strength of Linnaean taxonomy is that it can be used to organize the different kinds of living organisms, simply and practically. Every species can be given a unique (and, one hopes, stable) name, as compared with common names that are often neither unique nor consistent from place to place and language to language.
The tree of life or universal tree of life is a metaphor, conceptual model, and research tool used to explore the evolution of life and describe the relationships between organisms, both living and extinct, as described in a famous passage in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859). [1]