CLASSIFICATION

Living and Non Living Things

 Living and Non Living Things

• The earth in which we live is made up of

several things.
• These things can be categorized into two
different types Living and Non-living
things.
• Living and Non-living
• Anything that has life is considered as living thing.
• All living things breathe, eat, grow, move, reproduce
and have senses.
• Examples of living things are animals, birds, insects,
human beings.
• While Things which have no life in it are considered as
non-living. Non-living things do not eat, grow, breathe,
move and reproduce.
• They do not have senses. Examples of non-living things
include stone, pen, book, cycle, bottle, etc.
• While Things which have no life in it are
considered as non-living. Non-living things do
not eat, grow, breathe, move and reproduce.
• They do not have senses. Examples of non-
living things include stone, pen, book, cycle,
bottle, etc.
• Characteristics of Living things
• Living things exist and are alive and are made of
microscopic structures called cells.
• A cell is defined as the smallest, basic unit of life
that is responsible for all of life’s processes.
• Cells are the structural, functional, and biological
units of all living livings. Some organisms are
made of single cells e.g. bacteria.
• Such organisms are called unicellular
organisms. Other organisms are made of
many cells e.g. fungi, plants and animals.
• Such organisms are called multicellular
organisms
• Growth is a permanent increase in size, mass,
number of cells and complexity of an
organism
• Movement is the process by which a living
organism changes its location and posture
without external help.
• The movement of an entire organism from
one place to another is also called
locomotion.
• They experience metabolism, which includes
anabolic and catabolic reactions.
Metabolism/metabolic reactions are the sum
total of chemical reactions that take place
inside living cells.
• There are two types of metabolic reactions,
namely anabolic and catabolic reactions.
• Anabolic reactions are metabolic reactions
where large and complex molecules are
synthesized from small and simple molecules
e.g. photosynthesis, protein synthesis and
synthesis of fats.
• Catabolic reactions are metabolic reactions
where large complex molecules are broken
down to simpler molecules e.g. respiration,
digestion.
• All metabolic reactions are catalyzed by
enzymes. An enzyme is a biological catalyst (a
catalyst inside a living organism).
• Reproduction is the process by which living
organisms produce their young ones
(offspring).
• There are two types of reproduction, sexual
and asexual.
• .
• In sexual reproduction offspring are produced
by the fusion of male and female gametes
(from one or two parents) and are genetically
different from their parents.
• In asexual reproduction the offspring are
produced from one parent without involving
any gametes and are genetically identical to
their parent and each other
• Living things have life though some might not
show their evident signs.
• For instance, a tree would probably not react
the same way a human would.
• It would not react when we hit it, and it might
not be able to walk around.
• Though the signs of life displayed by them are
not very observable, it does not make them
non-living.
• Respiration is the release of energy from food
substances inside living cells. There are two
types of respiration.
• These are aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
Aerobic respiration is the release of energy
from food substances inside living cells in the
presence of oxygen.
• Anaerobic respiration is the release of energy
from food substances inside living cells in the
absence of oxygen.
• Aerobic respiration yields more energy than
anaerobic respiration.
• Excretion is the removal of toxic metabolic
wastes from the cells of the body such as
urea, excess salts, excess water, bile pigments
and carbon dioxide.
• Feeding/nutrition process by which living
organisms obtain food. There are two types of
nutrition which are autotrophic and
heterotrophic.
• Autotrophic nutrition is the type where an
organism makes its own food e.g. green
plants. Heterotrophic nutrition is the type
where an organism takes in food present in
bodies of others.
• Irritability/sensitivity is the ability to detect
and respond to stimuli (singular=stimulus). A
stimulus is any change in the environment
which causes a response from an organism.
• The characteristics of living things may be
summarized by the mnemonic MR. GREFIC
• Non Living things
• Non-living things are not alive. They do not
possess life.
• They do not have cells and do not grow or
show locomotion/movement.
• They do not undergo metabolism with
anabolic and catabolic reactions. They do not
reproduce
• Non-living things do not have a life span. They
do not respire as they do not require food for
energy and hence do not excrete.
• They do not fall into any cycle of birth, growth
or death. They are created and destroyed by
external forces.
• Characteristics of Non-living Things
• Non-living things are lifeless. They do not have
cells, and there is no protoplasm which forms
the basis for life to exist.
• Lack of protoplasm leads means no metabolic
activities.
• They do not have a definite and certain size of
their own. They take the shape of the
substance they are contained in, for example,
a liquid takes the shape of its container.
• Stones, rocks and boulders are moulded by
the changing environment and landscape. The
change in the state of a non-living thing is due
to an external influence.
• Non-living things “grow” by accumulation. It
occurs through adding materials externally.
• Non-living things never die as they do not
have cells with a definite lifespan. Immortality
is a distinguishing factor.
• Fundamental life processes such as
reproduction, nutrition, excretion, etc. are
absent in non-living things.
 Difference between Living and Non-
living things
Living Things Non-Living Things

They possess life. They do not possess life.

Living things are capable of giving birth to their young one. Non-living things do not reproduce.

For survival, living things depend on water, air and food. Non-living things have no such requirements
Non-living things are not sensitive and do not respond to
Living things are sensitive and responsive to stimuli.
stimuli.
Metabolic reactions constantly occur in all living things. There are no metabolic reactions in Non-living things.

Living organisms undergo growth and development. Non-living things do not grow or develop.

They have a lifespan and are not immortal. They have no lifespan and are immortal.
Living things move from one place to another. Non-living things cannot move by themselves.
They respire and exchange of gases takes place in their
Non-living things do not respire.
cells.
Example: Humans, animals, plants, insects. Example: Rock, pen, buildings, gadgets.
 CLASSES OF LIVING ORGANISMS
• The arrangement of the organisms in groups on
the basis of their similarities and differences is
known as classification.
• Living organisms are classified mainly to avoid
confusion, to make study of organisms easy and
learn how various organisms are related to each
other.
• Science that deals with the classification and
nomenclature of all living organisms are termed
as Taxonomy.
• Taxonomy is the branch of science that deals
with the classification of organisms.
• Taxonomy is a science that deals with naming,
describing and classification of all living
organisms including plants.
• Classification is based on behavioural, genetic
and biochemical variations. Characterization,
identification, and classification are the
processes of taxonomy
• Classification can be carried out based on
many factors such as:
• Presence of nucleus
• Body design – make up of cells(Single-celled or
Multicellular organisms)
• Production of food
• Level of the organization in bodies of
organisms carrying out photosynthesis
• These features can differ in both plants and
animals as they differ in their body design.
• Carolus Linnaeus is considered as the Father of
Taxonomy.
• He is the one who developed a procedure to
name and organize species. Even today this
procedure is being followed. His contributions to
taxonomy were
• Hierarchical classification system
• Binomial nomenclature system
• Classification System
• The classification system is of two types:
• Two-Kingdom Classification- This system was
proposed by Carolus Linnaeus who classified
organisms into two types- plants and animals
• The two-kingdom classification lasted for a
very long time but did not last forever because
it did not take into account many major
parameters while classifying.
• There was no differentiation of the eukaryotes
and prokaryotes; neither unicellular and
multicellular; nor photosynthetic and the non-
photosynthetic.
• Putting all the organisms in either plant or
animal kingdom was insufficient because
there were a lot of organisms which could not
be classified as either plants or animals.
• All these confusions led to a new mode of
classification which had to take into account
cell structure, the presence of cell wall, mode
of reproduction and mode of nutrition.
• As a result, R H Whittaker came up with the
concept of the five-kingdom classification.
• Five-Kingdom Classification- This kingdom
was proposed by [Link] who divided the
organisms into five different classes:
• Monera
• Protista
• Fungi
• Plantae
• Animalia
• Five (5) Kingdom classification is the most
accepted system of classification given by
[Link].
• This classification solved most of the issues in
taxonomy related to the placement of bacteria
and fungi.
 Characteristics of Five Kingdoms

• Kingdom Monera
• These are unicellular prokaryotes.
• They lack a true nucleus.
• They may or may not contain a cell wall.
• All the prokaryotic organisms are placed in this
Kingdom.
• Bacteria and their ancient cousin, archaebacteria are
the organisms that makeup Kingdom Monera.
• These are prokaryotic, , autotrophic/heterotrophic
organisms.
• Bacteria have a cell wall made up of polysaccharides
• Archea
• The category in the kingdom Monera which
consists of the organisms surviving in
extremely hot conditions.
• They are considered to be the most ancient
living organism present on the planet.
• For eg., Bacteria, Cyanobacteria
• Kingdom Protista
• These contain unicellular, eukaryotic
organisms.
• They exhibit an autotrophic or heterotrophic
mode of nutrition.
• They possess pseudopodia, cilia, flagella for
locomotion.
• For eg., amoeba, paramaecium
• Protozoan
• Protozoans are the unicellular eukaryotic
organisms that come under the Kingdom
Protista.
• Examples include paramecium, amoeba,
Plasmodium, euglena, leishmania etc.
• Kingdom Fungi
• These are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms.
• They exhibit a saprophytic mode of nutrition.
• The cell wall is made up of chitin.
• They live in a symbiotic relationship with blue-
green algae.
• For eg., Yeast
• Kingdom Plantae
• These are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms.
• The cell wall is made up of cellulose.
• They prepare their own food by means of
photosynthesis.
• Kingdom Plantae is sub-divided into-
Gymnosperms, Angiosperms.
• For eg., Pines, ferns, Mango tree
• Gymnosperms
• Gymnosperm stands for naked seed.
• They produce seeds, which is not enclosed in a
fruit.
• Angiosperms
• Angiosperm is the division of plant kingdom
scientist assume, the most evolved organisms on
the planet.
• They bear flowers and fruits, inside which the
seeds are found.
• Cotyledons
• Cotyledons are structures present in seeds for
nutrition during germination when leaves are
not yet developed.
• Angiosperms either have two cotyledons
making them dicots or only one, making them
monocot.
• Dicots and Monocots
• Angiosperms, the highly evolved plants on the
planet Earth, are further classified based on
the number of cotyledons their seeds have.
• When seeds have two cotyledons, they are
called dicots.
• Dicots have tap root system and reticulate
venation. Examples: Mango, Pea, Beans, etc.
• If seeds have only one cotyledon, they
become monocots.
• Monocots show fibrous root system and
parallel venation.
• Examples: all grains like wheat, maize, rice etc.
• Kingdom Animalia
• These are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms without a
cell wall.
• They are heterotrophs.
• The organisms in kingdom Animalia can be simple or
complex.
• They are genetically diverse.
• They exhibit an organ-system level of organization.
• Mode of nutrition is holozoic and they are either
herbivores or carnivores.
• Most animals are motile, they can move
independently in search of food, shelter or
mate.
• Animals are made up of many organ systems,
that aids in performing specific functions that
are necessary for the survival of the organism.
• It is sub-divided into different phyla such as
Porifera, Chordata, etc.
• Porifera
• This phylum consists of the sponges.
• They are mostly marine, very few are
freshwater.
• All the animals are sessile (fixed in one place).
• Sponges have pores all over the body. Body
pores are called Ostia.
• Arthropoda
• This is the largest phylum with 80% of all known living
animals.
• Animals with jointed appendages (in Greek Arthron:
jointed, poda: legs).
• The body has three segments/regions as head, thorax
and abdomen.
• Body is covered by an exoskeleton made of chitin.
• Compound eyes are present
• Examples: insects, scorpions, spiders, millipedes,
centipedes, crabs, lobsters, etc
 Hierarchy of Classification

• Carolus Linnaeus arranged the organisms into

different taxonomic groups at different levels. The
groups from top to bottom are:
• 1. Kingdom
• 2. Phylum
• 3. Class
• 4. Order
• 5. Family
• 6. Genus
• 7. Species
• Kingdom
• A kingdom is the highest level of classification
which consists of a number of phyla or
divisions (in case of plants) with similar
characteristics.
• Phylum/Division
• Phylum/Division is a level of classification
which consists of a number of classes with
similar characteristics.
• Class
• A class is the level of classification which
consists of a number of orders with similar
characteristics.
• Order
• An order is the level of classification which
consists of a number of families with similar
characteristics
• Family
• A family is the level of classification which
consists of a number of Genus with similar
characteristics.
• Genus
• Genus is the level of classification which
consists of a number of species with similar
characteristics.
• Species
• Species is the level of classification which
consists of a number of organisms with similar
characteristics and can interbreed to give rise
to a fertile offspring.
• Carolus Linnaeus is a Swedish botanist and
physician who is also called ‘Father of
taxonomy‘.
• He introduced the Binomial nomenclature and laid the
ground rules which paved way for modern taxonomy.
• Binomial Nomenclature
• Binomial Nomenclature was introduced by Linnaeus as
a method of naming organisms in taxonomy.
• It consists of two parts.
• The first part is the Genus name which is written in
capital.
• The second part is the species name, which is not
capitalised.
• Binomial nomenclature is the biological
system of naming the organisms in which the
name is composed of two terms, where, the
first term indicates the genus and the second
term indicates the species of the organism.
• All living species including plants, animals,
birds and also some microbes have their own
scientific names. For eg.,
• The scientific name of the tiger is presented as
Panthera tigris. ‘Panthera’ represents the
genus and ‘Tigris’ represents a particular
species or specific epithet.
• The scientific name of humans is presented as
Homo sapiens. ‘Homo’ represents the genus
and ‘sapiens’ represents a particular species.
• Binomial nomenclature rules for writing the
scientific names of organisms include the
following:
• All the scientific names of organisms are
usually Latin. Hence, they are written in italics.
• There exist two parts of a name. The first word
identifies the genus and the second word
identifies the species.
• When the names are handwritten, they are
underlined or italicized if typed. This is done
to specify its Latin origin.
• The name of the genus starts with a capital
letter and the name of the species starts with
a small letter.