01Class 11 Biology
The Living World short notes
Short notes on what defines living things and how they're named and classified. A small chapter that sets up the language for the rest of Biology.
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Features of living things
- Growth, reproduction, metabolism and cellular organisation are common features.
- Metabolism and the ability to sense surroundings are defining features. Growth and reproduction alone aren't, since crystals grow and many organisms don't reproduce.
Naming
- Binomial nomenclature was given by Carolus Linnaeus.
- The genus comes first with a capital letter, then the specific epithet in lower case. Both are italicised when printed, or underlined separately when handwritten.
- For example, Mangifera indica is mango.
Taxonomic hierarchy
- The order is kingdom, phylum (division in plants), class, order, family, genus, species.
- Species is the lowest category, and kingdom the highest.
- Moving up the hierarchy, members share fewer characteristics.
- Taxonomy covers identification, naming and classification. Systematics also includes evolutionary relationships.
Where students slip up
- Calling growth a defining feature of life. Non-living things can grow too.
- Capitalising the species name. Only the genus takes a capital letter.
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