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Chapter 1 - Characteristics and Classification of Living Organisms

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115 views6 pages

Chapter 1 - Characteristics and Classification of Living Organisms

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habibaelnaggar445
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© © All Rights Reserved
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1.

Characteristics and Classification of Living


Organisms
What are the characteristics of Life?
 Movement: an action by an organism or part of an organism causing
a change in position or place.
 Respiration: the chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient
molecules and release energy for metabolism.
 Sensitivity: the ability to detect and respond to changes (stimuli) in
the internal or external environment.
 Growth: the permanent increase in size and dry mass.
 Reproduction: the process that makes more of the same kind of
organism.
 Excretion: the removal of the waste products of metabolism and
substances in excess of requirements.
 Nutrition: the taking in of materials for energy, growth, and
development.

Classification - Organisms are classified into groups by the features that


they share.

Species - A group of organisms which can reproduce to produce fertile


offspring.

Sequence of Classification...
 King: Kingdom
 Phillip: Phylum
 Came: Class
 Over: Order
 For: Family
 Grape: Genus
 Soda: Species

The Binomial System of Naming Species – an internationally agreed


system in which the scientific name of an organism is made up of two parts
showing the genus and species. The format is Genus species. The genus is
capitalized, and the species are not.
Classification systems aim to reflect evolutionary relationships between
species.
Two species with the same genus likely share a recent common ancestor:
1. Traditional biological classification systems grouped organisms based
on the features that they shared. E.g. Morphology (the overall form
and shape of the organism), Anatomy (the body structure). Has many
difficulties and limitations using the physical features; it leads to wrong
classification or species.

2. Base sequences of DNA (and amino acid sequences in proteins)


show that the more similar the base sequences in the DNA of two
species are, the more closely related those two species are (and the
more recent in time their common ancestor is).

The Five Kingdoms:


 Animals
 Plants
 Fungi
 Protoctists
 Prokaryotes

Animals... (holozoic nutrition, sexual reproduction)


 Multicellular
 No cell walls or chloroplast
 Contains nucleus (eukaryotes)
 Feed on organic substances made by living things (heterotrophic)

Plants...
 Multicellular
 Contains cellulose cell walls and chloroplast
 Contains nucleus (eukaryotes)
 Feed by photosynthesis (autotrophic; sometimes heterotrophic)

Fungi... (reproduce by spores)


 Usually multicellular
 Contains cell walls made from chitin
 Contains a nucleus (eukaryotes)
 Feed by saprophytic or parasitic nutrition and heterotrophic nutrition
 Made up of long thread-like constructions called hyphae to release
spores.

Protoctists...
 Most are unicellular but some are multicellular
 Some contain cell wall and chloroplasts
 Contains a nucleus (eukaryotes)
 Some photosynthesize; some feed on organic substances made by
living things (heterotrophic and autotrophic nutrition)

Prokaryotes...
 Unicellular
 Contains cell walls made from peptidoglycan
 Contains no nucleus or mitochondria
 Can be heterotrophic or autotrophic

Arthropods and Vertebrates are two major groups of animals.

Vertebrates...
- Vertebrates are animals with a vertebral column / backbone.

1. Mammals: (Humans, Bears)


 Warm-blooded
 Have fur or hair
 Have 4 limbs
 Young feed on milk from Mammary glands
 Have a placenta to give birth
 External ears visible (pinna)

2. Birds: (Eagles)
 Warm-blooded
 Have feathers (ear drums covered by them)
 Have 2 legs and 2 wings
 Lay eggs with hard shells on land
 Has a beak

3. Reptiles: (Snakes, Crocodiles)


 Cold-blooded
 Dry skin with scales
 Most are four-legged
 Lay soft eggs with leathery shells

4. Amphibians: (Frogs)
 Cold-blooded
 Smooth and moist skin
 Some have lungs and some have gills
 Lay eggs without shells in water
 Eardrums visible on skin surface

5. Fish: (Carp)
 Cold-blooded and aquatic
 Loose, wet scales on skin
 Have fins and gills and a streamline body
 Lay eggs without shells in water

Arthropods (Invertebrates)...
- Arthropods are animals without a vertebral column/backbone.
- They have segmented bodies. Jointed limbs, bodies covered with
exoskeleton (made of chitin)

1. Myriapods: (Millipede)
 Body consists of many segments
 Each segment contains 1 or 2 pairs of jointed legs
 1 pair of antennae
 1 pair of simple eyes

2. Crustaceans: (Crab)
 More than 4 pairs of jointed legs
 Chalky exoskeleton formed from calcium
 Aquatic often have gills
 2 pairs of antennae
 1 pair of compound eyes

3. Arachnids: (Spider)
 2-part body – cephalothorax and abdomen
 4 pairs of jointed legs
 2 pairs of wings
 No antennae
 Several pairs of simple eyes

4. Insects: (Butterfly)
 3-part body – head, thorax, and abdomen
 3 pairs of jointed legs
 2 pairs of wings
 1 pair of antennae
 Compound eyes

Ferns and Flowering Plants are two major groups of plants.

1. Ferns:
 Have roots, stems, and leaves
 Have leaves called fronds
 Do not reproduce by flowers but instead by spores

2. Flowering plants:
 Reproduce sexually by the means of flowers and seeds
 Can be divided into two groups – Monocotyledon and Dicotyledon

- Monocotyledons:
 Have only one cotyledon in seeds
 Have long and narrow leaves
 Have parallel leaf veins
 Have fibrous roots
 Have 3 petals (in multiples of 3)

- Dicotyledons:
 Have two cotyledons in seeds
 Have network (net) leaf veins
 Have broad leaves
 Have tap roots
 Have 4 or 5 petals (in multiples of 4 or 5)

Viruses...
- A virus consists of genetic material (DNA/RNA) enclosed by a protein
coat
- They are not considered living things
- They take over a host cells metabolic pathway and make multiple
copies of themselves
- Some have a cell membrane from previous host cells called an
envelope.

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