The Explore Biodiversity glossary offers information about many of the terms, activities, and themes referenced on EOL. Use the glossary to learn about key concepts, or use our resources section to access additional biodiversity sources. Use our list of tools and activities to further explore biodiversity.
Key Concepts / Glossary:
BioBlitz: A BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers, and community members join together to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible in a particular area, such as a stretch of coastline or a portion of a forest. (Source: National Geographic Society)
Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the variety of living organisms in a particular time or place. The term is a combination of the words “biological” and “diversity.”
Bioinformatics: The field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge to form a single discipline. (Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information)
Classification: Classification refers to the organization of organisms by traits, such as size, color, or form, or by their degree of genetic relatedness. Most scientists agree on a scheme that classifies all life into three Domains; each Domain is further divided into Kingdoms, Phyla, Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. Since there is no “master list” relating all living species, EOL uses a number of different published classification schemes for users to browse.
Common name: Any of several nonscientific names for a species used in everyday speech, such as “domestic dog” for Canis familiaris or “wolf” for Canis lupus.
Domain: A taxonomic classification category above Kingdom. The three domains are Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryota (See Classification).
Education LifeDesk: Use Education LifeDesks (Beta) content management tools for undergraduate or graduate biology courses to create and manage species pages that can be published to the Encyclopedia of Life. Professors serve as curators of student contributions as part of a class project. Go to EOL Undergraduate Initiative page to learn more.
Endemic species: A species that is found only in a specifically defined geographic location. For example, Ursus maritimus (polar bear) is endemic to the Arctic region of the world.
Exotic species: A species that would not naturally be present in a defined geographic location but has been introduced to the area.
Fauna: A term used to refer to all of the animal life of a particular region or period of time.
Flora: A term used to refer to all of the plant life occurring in a particular region or period of time.
Genetics: The study of inherited traits and variations in organisms. Genes contain coded instructions that determine how an organism will look and function.
Genus: A group of organisms which are similar in structure and descent but are not all able to breed among themselves. For example, the lion, leopard and tiger all belong to the genus Panthera. (Source: Animal Diversity Web)
LifeDesk: An online collaborative environment developed by EOL that provides a space for taxonomists and others to develop and share information about one or more species. Please also see Scratchpads.
Organism: A living thing (plant, animal, or microbe). (Source: Animal Diversity Web)
Phylogenetics: The study of how species are related in terms of evolution. A phylogenetic classification system is a way of grouping organisms that are all descended from a common ancestor.
Scientific name: The two-part Latin name assigned to a species under a system first established in the 1700s by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The combination of genus and species name is referred to as a “Latin binomial,” because it is made up of two parts. In some cases, a subspecies name is added to make it more descriptive. (Source: Animal Diversity Web)
Scratchpad: A social networking application that enables communities of researchers to manage, share and publish taxonomic data online. (Source: Scratchpad)
Species: A group of organisms that resemble one another and are able to breed among themselves.
Taxon: A particular group of organisms that is classified as a distinct and related unit, for example, a phylum, a genus or a species. The plural of taxon is “taxa.” (Source: Animal Diversity Web)
Taxonomist: A scientist who is trained in the classification of living things.
Taxonomy: The science of hierarchically classifying organisms by groups (e.g. genus and species) which share common features and are thought to have a common descent. When organisms are arranged into a taxonomy, biologists can more easily study patterns and relationships. (Source: Animal Diversity Web)
