Characteristics of Life Vocabulary 1 Characteristics of Life Vocabulary 1. organism- things that have all the characteristics of life 2. cell- the smallest unit of life 3. unicellular- living things that are made of only one cell 4. multicellular- living things that are made of two or more cells 5. homeostasis- an organism’s ability to maintain steady internal conditions when outside conditions change 6. binomial nomenclature- gives each organism a two-word scientific name 7. species- group of organisms that have similar traits and are able to produce fertile offspring 8. genus- group of similar species 9. dichotomous key- series of descriptions arranged in pairs that leads the user to the identification of an unknown organism 10. cladogram- a branched diagram that shows the relationships among organisms, including common ancestors 11. light microscope- use light and lenses to enlarge an image of an object 12. compound microscope- light microscope that uses more than one lens to magnify an object 13. electron microscope- use a magnetic field to focus a beam of electrons through an object or onto an object’s surface