• Aerobic : Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen
• Anaerobic: Living or occurring in the absence of oxygen
• ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate; the universal molecule of energy, stored in the mitochondria.
• Binomial nomenclature: The scientific naming of species whereby each species receives a Latin or Latinized name of two parts, the first indicating the genus and the second being the specific epithet. For example, Juglans regia is the English walnut; Juglans nigra, the black walnut.
• Calvin cycle: The process of turning carbon dioxide into energy.
• Class: A taxonomic category ranking below a phylum or division and above an order.
• Dichotomous: Identification or classification key.
• Division: The highest taxonomic category, consisting of one or more related classes, and corresponding approximately to a phylum in zoological classification.
• Family: A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order and above a genus.
• Genus: A taxonomic category ranking below a family and above a species and generally consisting of a group of species exhibiting similar characteristics. In taxonomic nomenclature the genus name is used, either alone or followed by a Latin adjective or epithet, to form the name of a species.
• Glucose: A simple sugar; C6H12O6.
• Kingdom: The highest taxonomic classification into which organisms are grouped, based on fundamental similarities and common ancestry. One widely accepted taxonomic system designates five such classifications: animals, plants, fungi, prokaryotes, and protoctists.
• Lactic acid: A syrupy, water-soluble liquid, C3H6O3, produced in muscles as a result of anaerobic glucose metabolism
  Metabolism: The chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized.
• Mitochondria: A spherical or elongated organelle in the cytoplasm of nearly all eukaryotic cells, containing genetic material and many enzymes important for cell metabolism, including those responsible for the conversion of food to usable energy.
• Order: A taxonomic category of organisms ranking above a family and below a class.
• Photosynthesis: The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.
• Phylum: A primary division of a kingdom, as of the animal kingdom, ranking next above a class in size.
• Respiration: The oxidative process occurring within living cells by which the chemical energy of organic molecules is released in a series of metabolic steps involving the consumption of oxygen and the liberation of carbon dioxide and water.
• Species: A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding.
• Taxonomy: The taxonomic organization of species is hierarchical. Each species belongs to a genus, each genus belongs to a family, and so on through order, class, phylum, and kingdom. Associations within the hierarchy reflect evolutionary relationships, which are deduced typically from morphological and physiological similarities between species. So, for example, species in the same genus are more closely related and more alike than species that are in different genera within the same family.
  Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th-century Swedish botanist, devised the system of binomial nomenclature used for naming species. In this system, each species is given a two-part Latin name, formed by appending a specific epithet to the genus name. By convention, the genus name is capitalized, and both the genus name and specific epithet are italicized, for Canis familiaris or simply C. familiaris.