<P> Since its primordial beginnings , life on Earth has changed its environment on a geologic time scale . To survive in most ecosystems , life must often adapt to a wide range of conditions . Some microorganisms , called extremophiles , thrive in physically or geochemically extreme environments that are detrimental to most other life on Earth . Aristotle was the first person to classify organisms . Later , Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature for the classification of species . Eventually new groups and categories of life were discovered , such as cells and microorganisms , forcing dramatic revisions of the structure of relationships between living organisms . The cell is considered the structural and functional unit of life . There are two kinds of cells , prokaryotic and eukaryotic , both of which consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane and contain many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids . Cells reproduce through a process of cell division , in which the parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . </P>
<P> Since its primordial beginnings , life on Earth has changed its environment on a geologic time scale . To survive in most ecosystems , life must often adapt to a wide range of conditions . Some microorganisms , called extremophiles , thrive in physically or geochemically extreme environments that are detrimental to most other life on Earth . Aristotle was the first person to classify organisms . Later , Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature for the classification of species . Eventually new groups and categories of life were discovered , such as cells and microorganisms , forcing dramatic revisions of the structure of relationships between living organisms . The cell is considered the structural and functional unit of life . There are two kinds of cells , prokaryotic and eukaryotic , both of which consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane and contain many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids . Cells reproduce through a process of cell division , in which the parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . </P>
what term refers to a distinct type of living thing
what term refers to a distinct type of living thing
species
species