taxonomic category above species level; designated by the first word of a species’ binomial Latin name.

considered to be an ancient form of life that evolved separately from the bacteria and blue-green algae and sometimes classified as a kingdom.Ex: methanogens, halophiles, and thermoacidophiles

taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct animals 

taxonomic category above the kingdom level. The three domains are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.

any of the saprotrophic fungi and bacteria that absorb nutrients from nonlivinh organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms, and convert them into organic forms.

general term for the production of offspring with new combinations of traits inherited from the two parents.

DNA-transfer process used by phages to carry bacterial genes from one host cell to another.

a surface appendage in certain bacteria that functions in adherence and the transfer of DNA during conjugation.

microorganisms that restock nitrogenous minerals in the soil by converting nitrogen to ammonia.

pod, such as that of a pea or bean, that splits into two valves with the seeds attached to one edge of the valves.

Any of various chiefly aquatic, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms, ranging in size from single-celled forms to the giant kelp.

A unicellular protoctist in taxonomic systems in which the protoctists are considered to form a kingdom.

the multinucleated diploid formed in organisms undergoing alternation of generations that result from a union of gametes and that meiotically produces haploid spores that grow into the gametophyte generation.

in the life cycle of a plant or alga undergoing alternation of generations, a meiotically produced haploid cell that divides mitotically, generating a multicellular individual, the gametophyte, without fusing with another cell.

having all three germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Most eumetazoa are triploblastic.

any organism that lacks a cavity between the body wall and the digestive tract, including the flatworms, nemertines, and sea anemones.

a body cavity completely lined with mesoderm.

ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein. 

Any of various green, usually small, nonvascular plants of the class Musci of the division Bryophyta.

members of the phylum Hepatophyta, they are small herbaceous (nonwoody) plants.

the portion of the vascular system in plants consisting of living cells arranged into elongated tubes that transport sugar and other organic nutrients throughout the plant.

- a specialized short, wide cell in angiosperms; arranged end to end, they form continuous tubes for water transport.

a type of plant cell that is connected to a sieve tube cell by many plasmodesmata and whose nucleus and ribosomes may serve one or more adjacent sieve tube cells.

a subdivision of flowering plants whose members possess one embryonic seed leaf, or cotyledon.

a subdivision of flowering plants whose members possess two embryonic seed leaves, or cotyledons.

the multinucleated diploid formed in organisms undergoing alternation of generations that result from a union of gametes and that meiotically produces haploid spores that grow into the gametophyte generation.

initiated by the apical mersitems of a plant root or shoot

the increase in girth of the stems and roots of many plants, especially woody, perennial dicots.

embryonic plant tissue in the tips of toots and in the buds of shoots that supplies cells for the plant to grow in length.

in plants, the nonliving continuum formed by the extracellular pathway provided by the continuous matrix of cell walls.

a water-impermeable ring of wax around endodermal cells in plants that blocks the passive flow of water and solutes into the stele by way of cell walls.

a whorl of modified leaves in angiosperms that encloses and protects the flower bud before it opens.

spore from a heterosporous plant that develops into a female gametophyte bearing archegonia.

mechanism of fertilization in angiosperms where two sperm cells unite with two cells in the embryo sac to form the zygote and endosperm.

produced in pollen and carries all genetic information of the male.

nutrient-rich tissue formed by the union of a sperm cell with 2 polar nuclei during double fertilization, which provides nourishment to the developing embryo in angiosperm seeds.

swollen, fleshy, usually underground stem of a plant, such as the potato, bearing buds from which new plant shoots arise

- slender creeping stem that puts forth roots from nodes spaced at intervals along its length

To unite (a shoot or bud) with a growing plant by insertion or by placing in close contact

class of plant hormones, including indoleacetic acid(IAA), having a variety of effects, such as phototropic response through the stimulation of cell elongation, stimulation of secondary growth, and the development of leaf traces and fruit.

class of related plant hormones that retard aging and act in concert with auxins to stimulate cell division, influence the pathway of differentiation, and control apical dominance.

only gaseous plant hormone, responsible for fruit ripening, growth inhibition, leaf abscission, and aging.