Name: _____________________ Biology WAFA ELIAS

Date: 1. Characteristics and classification of living organisms Grade 9 IGCSE

1.1 Characteristics of living organisms

Describe the characteristics of living organisms by defining the terms:
MRS GREN
1. Movement is an action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of position or place.
 the movement of a part of an organism (such as the movement of an arm or of a shoot tip)
 the movement of the whole organism from one place to another – locomotion.
 It commonly involves the contraction of muscles (as in the arm) or cells growing at different rates (as in the
shoot tip).

2. Respiration: the chemical reactions in living cells that break down nutrient molecules such as glucose to release
energy for metabolism. (not to ‘make’, ‘manufacture’ or ‘produce’)
The form of respiration that releases the most energy uses oxygen; many organisms have a gaseous exchange
system that supplies its cells with oxygen from its environment.

How does it differ from Breathing?

Breathing and respiration are not the same thing. When we take air into and expel air from our lungs, we are
breathing. This process is to supply oxygen to the blood that takes it to the cells where respiration occurs.

Respiration
Aerobic Anaerobic
Inside the Mitochondria In the cytoplasm (Yeast - fermentation) or muscles
Needs Oxygen Without Oxygen
Produces 38 ATP Produces 2 ATP

3. Sensitivity is the ability to detect or sense and respond to changes in the environment (known as stimuli).
 The stimuli may be from the internal environment (the conditions inside an organism) – for example, the effect
of hormones on a cell or tissue, or from the external environment – for example, light.

4. Growth is a permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number or cell size or both.

 Dry mass is the mass of all the components within an object except any water present.
 Even bacteria and single-celled creatures show an increase in size.
 Multicellular organisms increase the numbers of cells in their bodies, become more complicated and change
their shape as well as increasing in size.

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5. Excretion is the removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism (chemical reactions in cells including
respiration), toxic materials and substances in excess of requirements.
 Respiration and other chemical changes in the cells produce waste products such as carbon dioxide. Living
organisms expel these substances from their bodies in various ways.
 Remember that excretion does NOT include the removal of undigested waste from the intestines (egestion)
since it has never taken part is a chemical reaction within the body’s cells.

6. Nutrition is the taking in of materials for energy, growth and development.

 Animals need organic compounds, ions and water and obtain their foods ‘ready-made’ by eating them, or they can
digest them first and then absorb them, like fungi do.
 Plants require light, carbon dioxide, water and ions and make their food using photosynthesis.

 Animals, using readymade organic molecules as their food source, are called heterotrophs and form the consumer
levels of food chains.
 Photosynthetic plants are called autotrophs and are usually the first organisms in food chains.
1. autotrophs (producer)
2. Heterotrophs (consumer)
o Herbivores – only eat plants
o Carnivores – only eat meat
o Omnivores – eat both plants and meat (human)
o Scavengers – feed on dead bodies
o Decomposer - digest dead bodies then absorb the digested materials (bacteria, fungi)
o Parasites – feed on body fluids of host
 Nutrition can involve ingestion, absorption and assimilation.

In order to maintain (or increase) their numbers, all organisms have the ability to make more of the same kind.

7. Reproduction: the process that make more of the same kind of an organism – new individuals, In order to maintain
(or increase) their numbers
Reproduction makes new organisms of the same species as the parents; this depends on the genetic information.

Reproduction
Asexual reproduction Sexual reproduction
Produce genetically identical offspring Produce genetically different offspring with inherited properties
from both parents
Involves one parent Involves 2 parents (male and female)
Example: budding\yeast Humans : Male gamete \sperm
spore formation\fungi Female gamete \ egg
binary fission \ bacteria Plants: Male gamete \pollen grain
tubers\potatoes Female gamete \ egg

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 1.2 Concept and use of a classification system
State that organisms can be classified into groups by the features that they share

The living universe comprises well over 10 million different types of organism, which are sorted into groups based on
common features. This is called classification (or taxonomy). Those organisms that share many similar features are
placed in the same group. Those that share few features are placed in separate groups. The number of shared features
between different groups gives an indication of how closely related the groups may be.

The largest groups are called kingdoms, of which there are five:
• Prokaryote (Bacteria) • Protoctist • Fungus • Plant • Animal.

Each kingdom is divided into sub-groups and each subgroup is divided into smaller groups.
It consists of 7 levels: 1. Kingdom 2. Phylum 3.Class 4.Order 5.Family 6.Genus 7.Species

A species is a group of organisms that look alike, share the same habitat and can reproduce to produce fertile
offspring. A species is therefore said to be ‘reproductively isolated’.
Organisms within a species are not identical and the differences between them are called variations.

Genus (plural: genera): Group of species that are Closely related but do not interbreed.

The binomial system (two-word name)

 Define and describe the binomial system of naming species as an internationally agreed system in which the scientific
name of an organism is made up of two parts showing the genus and the species.
 For example, a wolf belongs to the genus Canis and the species lupus. Its binomial is Canis lupus.
These names are printed in italics. When you write a Latin name, you cannot write in italics, so you should underline it
instead. The genus name can be abbreviated like this: C. lupus.
 The name of the genus (the generic name) is always given a capital letter and the name of the species (the specific
name) always starts with a small letter, scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined.
 The Binomial System of scientifically naming organisms was developed by Carolus Linnaeus of Sweden.

Explain why it is important to classify organisms.

1. to make it easier to study them

For example, we put humans, dogs, horses and mice into one group (the mammals) because they share certain features
(for example, having hair) that are not found in other groups. We think that all mammals share these features because
they have all descended from the same ancestor that lived long ago. The ancestor that they all share is called a common
ancestor. We would therefore expect all mammals to have bodies that have similar structures and that work in similar
ways. If we find a new animal that has hair and suckles its young on milk, then we know that it belongs in the mammal
group. We will already know a lot about it, even before we have studied it at all.

2. conservation: to identify those most at risk of extinction and put Strategies to conserve the threatened species ,
especially the sources of valuable products such as drugs that are derived from plants (e.g. quinine and aspirin).

3. To reflect and understand evolutionary relationships

All organisms placed in the same genus will share a set of features common only to that group. Knowing the genus, even
without actually seeing the organism, therefore tells the biologist a great deal about organisms and about their
evolutionary history and relationships (i.e. how recently they separated from one another as they have evolved).

organisms which have many of the same features are normally descended from common ancestors. The more features
shared by different organisms the more recently they separated from one another during evolution.

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Classification is a way of sorting organisms into a meaningful order, traditionally using morphology and anatomy, but
recently also using DNA.

Explain that classification is traditionally based on studies of morphology and anatomy

 Morphology: the study of outward appearance, of organisms. for example, the number and type of limbs, or the
shape of the flowers produced by a plant.
 Anatomy: the study of their internal structure, as revealed by dissection, such as the skeleton.

Taxonomist (people who study classification) place organisms into groups by asking questions about their
characteristics – classification key, the characteristics of living organisms used to make classification keys have
traditionally based on morphology and anatomy because this what was the scientist could easily observe.

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-Explain that the sequences of bases in DNA and of amino acids in proteins are used as a more accurate means of
classification
-Explain that organisms which share a more recent ancestor (are more closely related) have base sequences in DNA that
are more similar than those that share only a distant ancestor

 There are other classification systems e.g. cladistics (use base sequence in DNA)
 New species today may be classified based on characteristics such as protein structure, chromosomes number or
gene (DNA or RNA) sequence, which Linnaeus knew nothing about.

 The use of DNA has revolutionized the process of classification. Eukaryotic organisms contain chromosomes made up
of strings of genes. The chemical which forms these genes is called DNA. The DNA is made up of a sequence of bases
(A, C, G and T), coding for amino acids and, therefore, proteins.

 Each species has a distinct number of chromosomes and a unique sequence of bases in its DNA, making it identifiable
and distinguishable from other species. This helps particularly when different species are very similar morphologically
and anatomically.

 Organisms which share a more recent ancestor (more closely related) have DNA base sequences that are more
similar than those that share only a distant ancestor.

 it is more accurate than traditional classification systems; easier / cheaper / quicker / more efficient / to use (than
other identification methods); allows large-scale identification (of many species simultaneously); only trace samples
are required.

RNA and DNA sequencing

The sequence of chemical bases in the DNA and RNA molecules found in different organisms gives a very accurate
indication of how closely related those organisms are. Mutations are constantly changing this sequence and those
changes are handed on to the next generation. The sequence of bases in the DNA molecule determines the
sequence of amino acids in the proteins made by the organism. Thus, a mutation in an organism’s DNA leads to a
change in its protein structure. The longer ago the two different organisms separated from a common ancestor,
the larger the number of mutations will have occurred, and the greater the differences in the sequence of bases
there will be in these organisms’ DNA and RNA. This, in turn, leads to a greater difference in the amino acid
sequence in their proteins.

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1.3 Features of organisms

List the features in the cells of all living Organisms

 Cytoplasm
 cell membrane
 DNA, making up their genetic material
 ribosomes, which are used for making proteins inside the cell
 enzymes that are used to help the cell to carry out anaerobic respiration.

List The main features used to place all organisms into one of the five kingdoms: Animal, Plant, Fungus, Prokaryote, and
Protoctist.
1. Animal: Multi-cellular ingestive heterotrophs (eat living organisms)
2. Plant: Multi-cellular photosynthetic autotrophic (make their own food) organism with a cellulose cell wall.
3. Fungi: multi cellular (except yeast) heterotrophic organism with cell wall not made of cellulose, spread by
spreading of spores in moist/dark/warm environment, feed by saprophytic (feed on dead organisms) or parasitic
nutrition.
4. Prokaryotes: Single celled organism with no true nucleus
5. Protocist: Single celled organism with a nucleus
Living organisms
Prokaryotes – no nucleus Eukaryotes – have nucleus
Animal Plant
bacteria fungi Protista
kingdom kingdom
Algae Protozoa
Yeast , molds
(plant- like) (animal – like)

The Animal kingdom

 multicellular (their bodies contain many cells)

 cells have a nucleus, but no cell walls or chloroplasts
 Animals take in (ingest) and use organic materials from other living organisms as their source of energy for growth
and development. (heterotrophs).
 Animals are able to move from one place to another (locomotion). (Sponges are exceptions to this as they are
animals that remain fixed to the surface on which they live.)
 Sexual reproduction
 Most animals have diploid nuclei.
 There is no rigid cell wall surrounding the cell membrane.

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List the main features used to place organisms into groups within the animal kingdom, limited to:
– the main groups of vertebrates: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish
– the main groups of arthropods: myriapods, insects, arachnids, crustaceans
Arthropods: largest phyla in animal kingdom: many species
1. Jointed legs, but no backbone.
2. They are a very successful group, because they have a waterproof exoskeleton that has allowed them to live on
dry land. The exoskeleton is composed of the chemical chitin
3. Segmented body
4. Bilateral body symmetry

Class Insects e.g. dragonfly Arachnids e.g. spider, Crustaceans: e.g. crab Myriapods e.g.
centipedes and
millipedes
Body body divided into head, body divided into body divided into many body segments
segm thorax cephalothorax and cephalothorax (head
ents and abdomen abdomen +thorax) and abdomen
Legs three pairs of jointed legs four pairs of legs Five or more pairs of legs Many pairs of legs.
Each segment has
jointed legs
ante one pair of antennae no antennae 2 pairs of antennae one pair of antennae
nnae
Eyes 1 pair of compound eyes several pairs of simple 1 pair of compound eyes simple eyes
eyes
-usually have two pairs of -no wings -The exoskeleton is often Elongated body
wings (one or both may be strengthened with calcium
vestigial- have no apparent -Breath through gills salts. (carapace) (This
function and appear to be called book lungs. protects the animal from
residual parts from a past predators, but can make
ancestor) -chelicerae for biting the animal very heavy. The
and poisoning prey additional mass is
-Live in most habitat, but supported by the water in
few in the sea. which most crustaceans
- Breathe through live.)
tracheae. -Mostly live in water, some
live-in land but breed in
- Insects are a very water. live in damp places
successful group of -Exception – woodlice and
animals, due to their some crabs do not return
exoskeleton and tracheae, to water.
which are very good at -Breathe through gills.
stopping water from -not millipedes or
evaporating from the centipedes
insects’ bodies, so they can
live in very dry places. They
are mainly terrestrial (land-
living).

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Complete the sentences below about arthropods:

Arthropods are a group of invertebrates, which means they have no _______________. Arthropods all have
_______________ legs and a hard exo-_______________. There are four main groups of them.

i) _______________ have bodies in segments, and each segmented has jointed legs attached to it.
ii) _______________ have four pairs or jointed legs, and they breathe through gills called _______________
_______________.
iii) _______________ have bodies divided into three sections: _______________, _______________ and abdomen. They
have _______________ pairs of wings.
iv) _______________ breathe through gills and have more than four pairs of jointed legs.

Vertbrates
1. Animals that have a vertebral column.
2. Internal skelton made of bone/ cartlage

class Fish Amphibian Reptiles Birds Mammals

Example herring, perch, also Frogs, toads and lizards, snakes, robin, pigeon Mouse, human
s sharks salamanders turtles

Body scales moist skin, soft skin dry skin, with feathers, with Fur or hair
covering without scales scales scales on legs
Sense Reproductio Movement

fins (also used for four limbs, back feet four legs (apart two wings and four limbs
balance) are often webbed to from snakes) two legs
make swimming more with rubbery
efficient shells forelimbs have
produce jelly- produce jelly-covered Reptiles do not become
The birdswings
like Produce live
covered eggs in eggs in water, need to go reptiles, produce young.
n

water external fertilization back to the eggs with a hard- Have a placenta
usually use Eggs hatch into larvae water to breed waterproof shell;
external
eyes; no ears; called
eyes; tadpoles that because
eyes; their laid
eyes;on land -females have
External ears/
organs

lateral line along ears ears ears pinna (external

body for detecting flap)
vibrations in water
details
Other

cold blooded; cold blooded; cold blooded;= endothermic - endothermic

gills for breathing lungs and skin for ectothermic warm blooded; (warm blooded);
all live-in water, breathing (larva has lungs for lungs for -lungs for
except for one or gills, adults has lungs) breathing breathing; breathing;
two like the
(metamorphosis = a change in form and feeding habits from larva to adult). have a diaphragm

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 Plant kingdom
1. Multicellular organisms
2. cells have a nucleus, cell walls made of cellulose
3. Cells contain chloroplasts and feed by photosynthesis
4. May have roots, stem and leaves
As they do not need to move around to get their food, plants are adapted to remain in one place. They often have a
spreading shape, enabling them to capture as much sunlight energy as possible.
Plants include small organisms such as mosses, ferns and flowering plants

List the main features used to place organisms into groups within the plant kingdom, limited to ferns and flowering
plants (dicotyledons and monocotyledons)

1. Ferns
 Do not produce flowers,
 Instead, they produce spores that are light and easily carried away by
the wind. - they Reproduce by spores
 Spores are released from spore cases (sporangia) that are found on
the lower surfaces of fronds.
 They are plants with roots, stems and leaves
 Have leaves called fronds
 They have stems called rhizomes.
 They have conducting tissue (xylem and phloem) forming veins.

2. Flowering plants
 They are plants with roots, stems and leaves
 Reproduce sexually by means of flowers and seeds (Flowering plants reproduce by seeds which are formed in
flowers. The seeds are enclosed in an ovary).
 the largest division of the plant kingdom is the flowering plants that are divided into two subclasses:
monocotyledons and dicotyledons (eudicotyledons).

Feature Monocotyledon Dicotyledon

leaf shape Long, thin, narrow, strap-like broad
leaf veins Parallel veins Network of branching veins
usually radiating
cotyledons inside one Two
each seeds

grouping of Multiples of threes multiples of four or five

flower parts
(petals, sepals
and carpels)
Root system Fibrous root Tap root

e.g. grasses, cereals, lilies, cabbage, hibiscus, geranium

orchids, daffodils, and and sweet potato
bluebells
The fungi kingdom
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 Most fungi are made up of thread‐like hyphae, rather than cells, and there are many nuclei distributed throughout the
cytoplasm in their hyphae (multinucleate).
 There are also mould fungi which grow on stale bread, cheese, fruit or other food. Many of the mould fungi live in
the soil or in dead wood. The yeasts are single‐celled fungi.
 We eat them as mushrooms. We use yeast to make ethanol and cheese.
 We obtain antibiotics such as penicillin from various different fungi.
 Some are harmful causing diseases including ringworm and athlete’s foot, some cause food decay.

Fungi:
 multi cellular (except yeast)
 have nuclei (multinucleate)
 have cell wall not made of cellulose - made of chitin.
 they reproduce by producing spores from sporangia and carried by wind to grow more hyphae – new mycelium
form.
 do not have chlorophyll
 heterotrophic organism - feed by saprophytic (feeds on a decomposing matter from dead organisms) or parasitic
nutrition (lives in another living organism (called host)
 Fed by releasing enzymes on to organic material, breaking it down, digesting it and absorbing the soluble
products (extracellular digestion)
– Important in decomposition and fermentation

The branching hyphae of a fungus increase it surface area ensures that the maximum amount of food substance is
digested as quickly as possible before it dries up, or is digested by bacteria. Fungi are important in the decay of dead,
organic matter.

Remember fungi reproduce by spores except for yeast!

Yeast: Very special fungus:
1- Unicellular
2- Reproduce by budding.

The Protoctist kingdom

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 cells have a nucleus,
 Most protoctists are unicellular but some, such as seaweeds, are multicellular.
 but some have plant-like cells with chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls, e.g. Euglena and Chlamydomonas
 while others have animal-like (protozoa) cells without these features. e.g. Amoeba and Paramecium take in and
digest organic substances made by other organisms.

 Amoeba is a protozoan which moves by a flowing movement of its cytoplasm. It feeds by picking up bacteria and
other microscopic organisms as it goes.

The Prokaryote kingdom

These are the bacteria and the blue‐green algae.
 Bacteria often unicellular and very small.
 Contains a single chromosome, consisting of a circular DNA.
 have no nucleus.
 have cell walls (protection), not of cellulose, but of a complex mixture of proteins, sugars and lipids.
 have cell membrane;
 have cytoplasm;
 Have no organelles / Have no mitochondria / no chloroplast. (Some bacteria can carry out photosynthesis)
 Plasmid; (additional small circles of DNA).
They are used as a tool in genetic engineering - biotechnology, to transfer genes into bacteria. Genetically modified
(GM) bacteria are used to make useful products, such as human insulin for treating diabetes.
 capsule ;(extra protection)
 small ribosomes;
 Some have flagellum, enables a cell to move.

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 Prokaryotic cells reproduce by binary fission = As they grow, their DNA replicates and separates into two different
areas of the cytoplasm, which then divides into two.

 Some are Pathogenic = cause diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and cholera.
 They are killed by antibiotics.
 Many more, however, are helpful.
 Most bacteria, along with fungi, are important decomposers. They feed on dead organisms and waste
products in the soil and recycle them (useful roles in the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle - nitrogen
fixation and denitrification). Saprotrophic = feeding on dead organic matter causing it to decay
 They are important in sewage treatment.
 Some bacteria are used by humans to make foods such as cheese and yoghurt.
 useful in making insulin for the treatment of people with diabetes

 The oldest fossils belong to this kingdom, so we think that they were the first kinds of organism to evolve.

 Individual bacteria may be spherical, rod‐shaped or spiral

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 List the features of viruses, limited to protein coat and genetic material

Viruses - considered as non-living explain.

 Viruses are not normally considered to be alive, because they cannot do anything other than just exist,
 until they get inside a living cell. They then take over the cell’s machinery to make multiple copies of themselves.
 These new viruses burst out of the cell and invade others, where the process is repeated. The host cell is killed when this
happens.
 On their own, viruses cannot move, feed, excrete, show sensitivity, grow or reproduce.
 All viruses have a central core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat.
 Viruses have no nucleus, cytoplasm, cell organelles or cell membrane. Viruses, therefore, are not cells.
 All viruses are parasites, and can only reproduce inside living cells using materials provided by the host cell (animal or
plant, even bacteria cells).

State the features of all viruses

 They contain nucleic acid (DNA or RNA).
 The nucleic acid is surrounded by a protein coat (known as the capsid).
 parasitic / pathogenic / virus are non-living ;
 They can reproduce only inside living (host) cells.
 very small ; They can be seen only with an electron microscope
 they are not cellular / absence of named organelle;
 Cannot be killed with antibiotics.
 Viruses can cause diseases such as influenza (‘flu’), colds, measles, mumps, polio and rubella (‘German
measles’). Of course, the reproduction process does not continue forever. Usually, the body’s immune system
destroys the virus and the person recovers. Sometimes, however, a virus cannot be destroyed by the immune
system quickly enough, and it may cause permanent damage or death. With other infections, the virus may
attack cells of the immune system itself. This is the case with HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus), which
causes the condition called AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

A parasite is an organism that lives in or on another organism, called its host, and causes it harm.

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 Their extremely small size allows them to be easily transmitted from host to host in very considerable
numbers, both by air currents as well as by contact.
The protein coat gives the nucleic acid considerable protection.
Once inside a living host cell, they take over the host cell’s metabolism and use it for their own reproduction.
Some viruses (e.g. influenza virus) have a high mutation rate; thus a person may recover from flu, but still fall victim to
the next epidemic caused by a mutated strain of the virus to which they have no immunity.

Similarity between the structure of bacteria and the structure of viruses

1. presence of genetic material / DNA / RNA ;
2. presence of protein ;

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1.4 Dichotomous keys
Construct and use simple dichotomous keys based on easily identifiable features
Keys are used to identify unfamiliar organisms.
Dichotomous means two branches, so the user is given a choice of two possibilities at each stage.

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Making biological drawings
Tips for good biological drawings
Use a sharp HB pencil. Keep lines clear and continuous, not feathery or sketched.
The drawing should be as large as space provided and think about proportions.
Do not use shading or color.
Draw label lines in pencil with a ruler. No arrow heads when labelling, Lines point exactly at the labelled part
Example:

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Calculating magnification

size of real object = size of drawing × magnification.

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Bats are Mammals. A long time ago, people used to think bats were birds without feathers. But now we know
that there is nosuch thing as a featherless bird. We know that bats are MAMMALS, just like people.

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