RUNNING NOTES OF CLASSIFICATION AND VARIATION

Classification:

➢ Putting the living organisms in the groups is called

classification.

Taxonomy:

➢ Practice of classifying the living organisms is called

taxonomy and it was developed by Carl Linnaeus.

He classified the organisms in the hierarchical groups called

Taxon’s.

Rank of classification of organisms

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Kingdom: Upper rank of classification of organisms.

Species: lower rank of classification of organisms.

The 5 kingdom classification was developed by R.H Whittaker.

 There are 5 kingdoms classification:

1. Monera kingdom
2. Animal kingdom
3. Fungi kingdom
4. Protista kingdom
5. Plantae kingdom

Criteria’s
Eukaryote: they have proper cell membrane and nucleus.

Example: Amoeba

Prokaryote: they do not have proper cell membrane and nucleus

and they have only one cell.

Example: Bacteria

Unicellular: Having one cell like amoeba.

Multicellular: Having two cells like humans.

Animal kingdom

Vertebrates and Invertebrates

Vertebrates:

The living organisms that have backbone are called vertebrates.

They are classified into 5 types:

1. Fish
2. Amphibians
3. Reptiles
4. Mammals
5. Birds

1. Fish
➢ They absorb the oxygen using gills.
➢ They have wet scales.
➢ They reproduce external fertilisation

2. Amphibians
➢ They have lungs
➢ They absorb oxygen through moisture skin.
➢ Their body temperature varies according to their
surroundings.
➢ They reproduce externally.
➢ They lay eggs in water.

3. Reptiles
➢ They have lungs.
➢ They have dry scale.
➢ Their body temperature varies according to their
surroundings.
➢ They lay eggs in both land and water.

4. Birds
➢ They have lungs and feathers.
➢ They maintain their body temperature.
 ➢ They do internal fertilisation.
➢ They are homeotherms.
➢ They are oviparous.

5. Mammals
➢ They have fur on the body.
➢ They have lungs.
➢ They have external ears.
➢ They have mammary gland.
➢ They give birth to young ones that means they are
viviparous.

Invertebrates:

The living organisms that do not have backbone are called

invertebrates.

There are divided into three groups:

➢ Annelids
➢ Nematodes
➢ Arthropods

1) Annelids:
➢ Ex: earthworm, liches etc.
➢ They have long, thin, and segmented body.
➢ They have special organs for excretion: nephridia
➢ Example of external parasites: liches
➢ Annelids mostly live in water.

2) Nematodes:
➢ Ex: roundworms etc.
➢ They have long, thin, and unsegmented body.
➢ Commonly found in intestines.
 ➢ Nematodes are difficult to distinguish.
➢ Ex: threadworm, roundworm etc.

3) Arthropods:
➢ They have segmented body and jointed limbs.
➢ Have hard external skeleton made up of Citain, which is
complex carbohydrate.
➢ It is the largest group in invertebrates.

There are subdivided into 4 groups:

➢ Crustaceans
➢ Insects
➢ Arachnids
➢ Myriapods

1) Crustaceans:
➢ They live mostly in water.
➢ Ex: crab, lobster etc.
➢ They have two body regions.
➢ They have two pairs of antennae.

2) Insects:
➢ It is the largest group.
➢ Ex: grasshoppers, ants etc.
➢ Body is divided into three parts: head, thorax, and
abdomen.

3) Arachnids:
➢ Ex: spiders, Mids. etc.
➢ Body is divided into four parts.
➢ They don’t have wings and antennae.
➢ They have four pairs of legs.
4) Myriapods:
➢ Ex: Millipedes: two pair of legs.
Centipedes: one pair of legs.
➢ They live on land.
➢ They have long segmented body.
➢ They have a pair of antennae.

Plant kingdom
Classification

1. Bryophtes
➢ Non vascular plants – Do not have well developed system
for the transportation for food and water.
➢ They receive nutrients from the environment
➢ These plants Have chlorophyll
➢ Ex: Mosses, liver wrds, onwards
➢ Small plants that grow on the trunks on the forest
trees, clusters, rog etc.
➢ They reproduce by the means of spores.

2. Pteridophytes
Ex: ferns

➢ Vascular plants
➢ They do not live in damp places
➢ Their leaves are waterproof
➢ They do not have seed, they reproduce with the spores.
 3. Gymnosperms
➢ Seed without cover
➢ Example: Confierous – evergreen plants, vascular plants,
needle like leaves.
➢ Non flowering plants
➢ Ex: pine

4. Algae
➢ There are simple plants.
➢ Found in old walls, etc.
➢ They don’t have roots and stems, but they have green
chlorophyll pigment.
➢ Ex: red algae, brown algae and green algae.

5. Angiosperms
➢ Flowering plants
➢ Largest group in plant kingdom
➢ Highly organized with roots
➢ Flowers reproduce means of Water transportation
➢ They have Board waterproof leaves
➢ They can be annual and biennial or perennial
➢ Found as shrubs, herbs, trees etc.

Flowering plants two groups

Cotyledons: seed leaf

Dicot:
➢ woody plants.
➢ Leves have network of vienes.
➢ Top and bottom surface of leaf are different – reticulate
viennation.
➢ Ex: Hibiscious, pumpkin, neem etc.
 ➢ Have tap root system.

Monocot:
➢ usually non woody plants
➢ ex: rice, maize and wheat, grass.
➢ Parallel vienation: viens (upper and lower surface of leaf
are same)
➢ Flowers are green or brown.
➢ Have fibrous root system.

Fungi kingdom
➢ They are multicellular
➢ They have nucleus.
➢ Cell wall is made up of Citean.
➢ They are Hetrotrophic.
➢ Examples: Breadmools, mushroom.

Keys
➢ A key is a set of questiond about the organism you want to
identify.
➢ The purpose of the keys is used to identify the different
species.
➢ Dichotomous keys use questions to which they are only two
answers.
➢ They can be represented as a table of questions, or as a
branching tree of questions.

There are 2 types of keys:

1. Spider key
2. Numbered key
To use the key:
➢ Some keys are arranged differently.
➢ The idea is the same, but in this kind of key you are given
two statement, a and b.
➢ You choose which statement describes the organism.
➢ Once you have made the choice, this leads you to another
pair of choices.

Species: A group of organisms that share the same features so

that they can breed together to produce fertile offspring.

Variation:
What is variation?

➢ Variation is the difference between the individual within the

species.

What are traites?

➢ The organisms that inherit the characteristics from their

parents is known as traites.

What is Inherited variation:

➢ Variation in a characteristic that is a result of genetic

information from the parents is called inherited variation.

Examples of inherited characteristics:

1. Blood group 7. Height

2. Eye colour
3. Shape of the nose
4. Lips
5. Hair colour
6. Tongue rolling
What is acquired variation:

➢ There are the traits which are developed in an individual

due to special conditions.

Exmaples:

➢ Low weight of starving beetles.

What are chromosomes:

➢ Chromosomes are the thread like structures that is present

inside the nucleus.

Example:
Reproductive cell in sperm is 23 in numbers.

Reproductive cell in female is 23 in numbers.

When they fuse together ans form a zygote then the

chromosonal numbers are 23 in numbers.

The number of body cells is 46 in numbers. Body cells also known

as (somatic cell) they are (diploid): it means set of body cells.

There are two types of variation:

Continuous and discontinuous variation.

What is Continuous variation?

A feature than can be measured and given a value from a range

of values shows continuous variation.

What is Discontinuous variation?

A feature that cannot be measured but is one of the few

distinct options shows discontinuous variation.
 Selective breeding
➢ Selective breeding is also known as Artificial selection, in
which the organisms with desired characteristics are chosen
as a parent for the next generation.
➢ By passing generations of generations, the size of the
organism increases.

Examples of selective breeding:

➢ Cows that produce lots of milk.

➢ Chickens that produce large eggs.
➢ Wheat plants that produce lots of grain.

The steps taken to select a particular feature in an organism:

➢ choose individuals with the desired feature.
➢ Let only these individuals reproduce.
➢ Choose the offspring that have the desired feature.
➢ Let only these individuals reproduce.
➢ Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have produced a variety in
which all the individuals show the desired feature.