Chapter 1.4- Biology: Taxonomy –: By Mr Joshwa O.O.

For ages people have been naming organisms

Examples of common names are: Sea Cucumber Mountain Lion Starfish corn (Britain) koala (Australia)
Sea Anemone puma Cuttlefish maize (USA) bear (USA)
Disadvantages of Common names were: could change with time; different in different societies; confusing

Classification: putting things into groups based on their shared similarities;

Classification of organisms facilitates easy study;
Taxonomy
 Science of grouping organisms based on structural and chemical similarities;
 Then describing and naming them;

Binomial Nomenclature: ‘Bi’ = TWO and ‘nomen; = naming

Devised by Carolus Linnaeus (1750’s) and still in use today!!
1. Is a two name, naming system;
2. Each organism is given a Two-word name;
3. 1st Word is Genus epithet (generic name); whose first letter is capitalized;
4. 2nd Word is species epithet (specific name): all letters are lower case;
5. If typed use italic font (Genus species), ex. Name of Human being = Homo sapiens
6. If handwritten both Genus and species are underlined separately;
Examples: Cougar = Felis concolor house cat = Felis domesticus wolf= Canis lupus House dog = Canis familiaris
NB: After writing or typing full name in a text, the genus name may be abbreviated, but not the species (Example: H. sapiens)
All the names are in Latin or the words should Latinised (to follow Latin grammar) if there is no latin word for it
Latin is used for classification because: Importance (role Of Taxonomy):
a) Latin is a dead (unchanging) language; 1. Show organisms’ evolutionary relationships
b) Early taxonomists started using Latin; 2. Accurately & consistently names organisms
c) Latin is a descriptive language; 3. Same language for all names (Latin – 1st by John Ray)
d) Many languages are derived from Latin; 4. Prevents duplicated names;-
e) Provides a precise standard; 5. Prevents misnomers like starfish & jellyfish that aren't really fish
6. Make it easier to understand Communicate about organisms

Hierachical classification: -
The Modern Classification Hierarchy group organisms into groups called Taxa. each group is a taxon (plural= taxa:
Taxa Example: Man (English / Latin)
Broad 1. Domain – Bacteria (not true nucleus) or Eukarya (have true nucleus) Domain Eukarya
categories 2.Kingdom – second broadest category, groups of closely related phyla Kingdom Animal / Animalia
3. Phylum (if animal; others = Division) – groups of closely related classes Phylum Chordate / Chordata
4. Class – groups of closely related orders Class Mammal / Mammalia
5. Order – groups of closely related families Order Primate / Primatae
6. Family – groups of closely related genera Family Hominid / Hominidae
7. Genus – groups of closely related species Genus Homo / Homo
Specific 8. Species – smallest and most similar group; organisms that share species sapiens / sapiens
categories specific characteristics and can interbreed.

F
or sexually reproducing organisms, Members of the same species can freely mate and produce fertile(viable) offspring.
Few exceptions exist like: if a donkey and a horse mate they give birth to an infertile mule.
wolf and dog, can mate and produce fertile offspring though they belong to two different species.
The two kingdom System:- Kingdom:
Plantae & Kingdom Animalia
By Linnaeus & Aristotle The five kingdom classification
Aristotle grouped animals into: Swimming, Early Organism
flying and walking (but some animals can fall Kingdom Monera (bacteria) Protista Plantae Fungi Animalia
into more than one category) then the rest of organisms were classified as plants
The Five Kingdom System:-
Plantae, Protista, Animalia, Fungi and Monera by Wittaker, in 1969

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Kingdom bacteria (Kingdom Monera):

o Unicellular therefore microscopic

o Lacks true nucleus (Prokaryotic)
o Have circular DNA,
o Cell wall has peptidoglycan;
o So responds to natural antibiotic
o Thermophiles: live in temperatures 500C to more than 1000C
o Few are Autotrophs – synthesis their own organic food
o Heterotrophs: – Saprotroph – Feeds on dead organismic matter
Parasite – Feeds on their living host organism so are pathogens

o Reproduces asexually by Binary Fission (mitosis)

o mature cell divides into two equal parts
o The Offspring are genetically identical to the parent

Bacteria are found almost everywhere like soil, gut and in dead organic matter.
Some are pathogenic (cause diseases), but most are harmless.
Examples – Mycobacterium tuberculosis that cause TB disease
Negative Aspects of Bacteria: Positive Aspects of Bacteria:

a) Destruction: through decomposition of things like food a) Genetic Engineering

b) some are Pathogens – cause diseases like bacteria: b) Decomposers that help in recycling nutrients from dead
syphilis, gonorrhea, TB, typhoid, tetanus, cholera, organic matter back to environment
diphtheria, Leprosy, c) “Environmental cleaners “ as they digest oil spills, sewage,
NB: Antibiotics – Chemicals capable of inhibiting (stopping) and dead organisms.
bacterial growth. d) Nitrogen fixing in soil
e) Help animals like cows & termites in digestion
f) Helps in the fermentation process to make cheese, wine,
some pickles, sauerkraut, buttermilk, etc.

Kingdom Fungi (mushrooms, molds, yeasts, truffles, morels):

a) Cell wall made up of chitin (chitin is also found in kingdom Animalia)

b) Store glucose as glycogen (like animals) and not as starch (like plants)
c) Except the unicellular yeast, Majority are multicellular with thread-like structures
d) Called hyphae that form a feeding network called mycelium.
e) Heterotrophs (saprotrophs and parasites) (lacks chlorophyll)
Obtain nutrients through a process called absorptive nutrition,
Fungi Reproduction
f) Asexual:- Cells or hyphae break off from a fungus and begin to grow on their own.
Spores released from gills scatter & grow into new organisms
Sexual: - Hyphae of two mating types form a diploid zygote.

Negative Aspects of Kingdom Fungi:

a) Some are disease causing parasites:
- blight and wheat rust in plants
- athletes feet and ringworm
b) Some are poisonous to humans
c) Some destroy items by decomposition like bread mold

Positive Aspects of Kingdom Fungi:

a) Break down dead organisms into soil nutrients
b) Food source for animals like some mushrooms
c) Fermentation abilities allow for making bread rise and the making of alcohol’s
d) Genetic Engineering (Yeast was the first organism whose genome was sequenced)
e) Release chemicals that fight bacterial pathogens = antibiotics like penicillin,

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Kingdom Protista:
Characteristics of Protists: move using “false foot’’ move using “cilia’’ Move Use Flagella
 Eukaryotic, Form temporary extension called Example: Paramecium Examples: Euglena
 Some locomot some ‘false foot’ (pseudopodia)
don’t For movement
 Mostly unicellular; but and for feeding (phagocytosis)
may be multicellular Example: Amoeba
 autotrophic or
heterotrophic
 It Contains organisms
that don’t “fit” into the
other five kingdoms.
NB: No Cell wall but have
NB: WBCs also use phagocytosis chloroplasts
Fungi-like Protists; Plant-like protists (Algae)-
Have cell walls. Use spores to Don’t locomot, photosynthetic, have cell wall made of
reproduce. Decomposers cellulose) Examples: green, brown and red algae,
Examples: slime mold and water mold
NB: lichens: Is not a plant but a symbiosis association between algae & fungi
Negative Aspects of Protists Positive Aspects of Protists
 Some protozoa’s cause disease: plasmodium – cause malaria,  Algae is used as filler in products such as ice cream,
Trypanosoma – cause sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) toothpaste, and breads (algae)
 Some algae, under ideal conditions will develop into algal blooms  Algae are source of much of worldwide oxygen supply
(red tides)– which deplete nutrients & O2fo)r other species  Algae produces agarose, which is used in Gel growing
 Some fungi will at times release toxins that will harm other bacterial culture in petri dishes
species.  Some help in digestive processes of animals.
 Found at the bottom of many food chains/webs.

Kingdom Animalia:
a) Eukaryotic multicellular and lacks cell walls d) Store glucose as glycogen
b) Multicellular and Most complex of all kingdoms. e) Locomot at least at some stage during their lifetime.
c) Have nervous system made of never cells f) Mostly reproduce Sexually but few asexually
g) Most animals are invertebrates meaning lack a backbone and belong to various phyla like:
Phylum: Porifera like sponges,
Phylum: Coelentrata (Cnidaria) like corals, sea anemones, hydra and jelly fish
Phylum: Mollusca; Soft body. Some have shell like snail. some no shell Like slug
Phylum: Arthropoda Classes: Myriapoda Crustaceans Arachnids and Insects
The worms: have elongated pointed bodies. Divided into the following Phyla:
o Flat worms like liver fluke and tape worm (Phylum: Platyhelminthes)
o Round worms: Non- segments like hook worms (Phylum: Nematoda)
o Segmented body with Mucus like earthworm (Phylum: Annelida)
h) Few animals have vertebral column and are in Phylum Chordata (vertebrata): made of the following classes:
fish, birds, insects, reptiles, Amphibians and Mammalia

Phylum Mollusca mollusks: = “soft bodied organisms”:-

The Three Defining Characteristics of Phylum Mollusca:
1. Soft bodied
2. Have internal organ system
2. Muscular foot for:
- for locomotion, food capture, Other characteristics
attachment 1. some have internal like squids & cuttlefish or
- may secrete mucus to glide on external scales like snails
- is modified into tentacles in squids and octopus 2. Some like slug and octopus lack shell
3. land molluscs use lungs while aquatic ones use gills

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Phylum Arthropoda: (Arthopod = jointed legs)

Have 1. jointed legs & 2. Exoskeleton made of chitin; Segmented body; bilateral symmetry
The phylum arthropods is all the following classes combined: Insecta, Arachnida, myriapoda, coelenterates,

Characteristics of Arthropod Classes:

Class Insects Class Arachnida Class Myrapoda-long body Class
Chilopoda (centipede) Diplopoda Crustacean
(millipede)
Habitat Many terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Aquatic and
few aquatic few terrestrial
Body Three = Head, Two-= Cephalothorax Two= Head and Two-Head and Two-
regions thorax & abdomen Spider, Multisegmented trunk multisegmented Cephalothorax
and abdomen scorpion trunk and abdomen
Antenna One pair No antenna One pair One pair 2 pairs:
(sense organs) (sense organs) 2-Antennule
2- Antenna
Visual simple eyes and One pair-simple One pair-simple One pair-simple Stalked compound
organs compound eyes eyes Eyes Eyes eyes -1 pair
(one pair)
Locamotory 3 pairs of legs Four pairs 1 pair of legs per 2 pairs of legs per Minimum five
Organs segment segment pairs of
2 pairs of wings (1st pair of legs (No poison claws) biramous legs
modified as poison
claws)
Mouth mandible 1 pair Use chelicerae mandible 1 pair mandible 1 pair mandible 1 pair
parts No mandible
Respiration Tracheal Scorpion-booklung Tracheal Tracheal Gill breathing
Sytem Spider-Tracheal
Body fluid Haemolymph Haemolymph Haemolymph Haemolymph Haemolymph
Circulatory Heart with ostia Heart with ostia Heart with ostia Heart with ostia Heart with
system ostia
Development Metamorphosis Metamorphosis Metamorphosis Metamorphosis Anamorphosis
Absent in Scorpion;
present in mites
Nutrition predators and Dead plants Carnivorous Herbivorous Herbivorus &
parasites and predators Carnivorous
dead plants

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Phylum Chordata (at your level phylum vertebrata):
Characteristics of Vertebrate classes:
Vertebrate Class Body cover Movement Reproduction Sense organs Other details
Fish (Pisces) Scales Fins Eggs with jelly Eyes & no ears ‘cold blooded’
Examples. Also used for cover in water instead use Gills for gas exchange
Shark balance lateral line to External fertilisation
Lung fish detect vibrations
Cat fish
Reptiles like Scales 4 legs except Eggs with Eyes and ears ‘cold blooded’
Lizards, snake snakes rubbery cover without ear pinna Lungs for gas exchange
Crocodile Laid on land Internal fertilisation
Birds Feathers 2 legs Eggs with hard Eyes and ears ‘warm blooded’
Examples. Scales on 2 wings shell cover without ear pinna Lungs for gas exchange
Ostrich, Hen legs Laid on land Has beak
Owl Internal fertilisation
Amphibians Moist skin 4 legs Eggs with jelly Eyes and ears ‘cold blooded’
Ex. No scales Back feet are cover in water without ear pinna Tadpole use gills,
toad, often webbed adults use mouth, skin and lungs
frog for efficient for gas exchange
salamander swimming External fertilisation
Mammals 4 limbs Give birth to Eyes and ears ‘warm blooded’
Examples. Skin live young with ear pinna Internal fertilisation
Whale Some have Lungs for gas exchange
Dolphin hair or fur Few lay eggs Mammary glands in females
Bat produce milk to feed young
Man No scales Like: 4 types of teeth
Give more care to their young
……………. Have diaphragm

Positive Aspects of Animals

1. Food
2. Labor (Horses, Mules, Oxen)
3. Biotechnology (Roundworms, Fruit Flies, Zebrafish)
4. Medicines – cancer treatments derived from shark cartilage, blood thinners (found in leeches),
anesthetics isolated from spider, leech, and frog toxins.

Negative Aspects of Animals:

Humans destroy ecosystem through activities that lead to:

1. Habitat destruction like: ……………………………………………….…………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Extinctions of other organisms like: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Kingdom Plantae:
o Eukaryotic
o All multicellular and don’t locomot (non-motile)
o Have cell wall made of cellulose.
o Have chlorophyll and are Autotrophic;
o (few are both autotrophic and Parasitic)
o Store their sugar or glucose as starch
o Some reproduce sexually or asexually or both

A. Non-vascular plants (Division-Bryophyta)

o And no vascular tissues

o No true stems or leaves but have rhizoids = root-like structures
o So found in moist dark places
o Small sized so are near H2O to directly absorbs it by osmosis
o “Amphibians of the plant kingdom’ can leave on land but
o dependent on water for sexual reproduction
o Also reproduces asexually.

Examples: Mosses, Hornworts & liverworts. Have flat branching body called thallus

B. Vascular plants: - have vascular bundles

 Seedless vascular plants:
Examples: club mosses, horsetails & Ferns
Ferns have roots, stems and leave (fronds).
Reproductive spores produced on the underside of pores

 Seed bearing vascular plants (Division- tracheophyta):

seeds protect embryo and can remain dormant for a while
a) Class Gymnosperms= ’’Gymno=naked; sperma= seed’ Ovule exposed & not covered by ovary.
Are Vascular plants producing Seeds without flowers?
Examples: Cycadas, Ginkos and
Conifers (seeds in cones not fruit) like spruce, Ceder and pine,
Needle-like segmented leaves
b) Class-Angiosperms = Seed bearing vascular plants with flowers
Subclasses of Angiosperm:
i. Monocot (endospermous) plants have petals in multiples of 3s
ii.Dicot plants have petals in multiples of 4s 0r 5s

Structural Adaptations of Vascular Plants for land habitat.

1. waxy cuticle; protects plant against pathogens & minimises excess water loss
2. Have vascular tissues = tubular tissues for bulk transport of materials
3. Leaves - main photosynthetic and gaseous exchange organ
4. Stems have lignin-rich cellulose cell walls for support plant support
5. Roots mainly for anchorage plus absorption of water and mineral ions

NB: roots Cuticle, seeds, lignified xylem vessel tissue reduced plant dependency of water habitat
Positive Aspects of Plants:
1. Food source – nectar, wheat, rice, corn, soy
2. Medicine – aspirin (pain relief), cortisone (anti-inflammatory), quinine (treat malaria), taxol (breast cancer treatments)
3. Fuel – ethanol (derived from corn)
4. Many everyday consumable products, such as: wood (lumber), rubber, turpentine (solvent), paper, and more.

NB: Taxonomy: is a work in progress largely because, science is a work in progress PLUS evolution is also on-going process!!

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Viruses:
 Are particles made of inner core (RNA or DNA + enzymes);
 Surrounded by a protein capsid;
 They only replicate when inside a compatible living host cell as follows:
 First the virus attach itself to living host cell membrane
 Then its RNA or DNA + enzymes enter inside host cell
 Virus DNA inserts itself to host DNA
 The virus DNA directs host cell to make other similar viruses
 When the new viruses get out of the host cell and host cell dies
 so viruses are parasites
NB: They are very tiny; about 1/1000 size of bacteria

Bacteriophage- virus that infects bacteria

Pathogenic Viruses – are disease causing viruses like HIV, mumps, polio,
influenza/flu, cold, polio, small pox, rabies, Chicken pox, rubella, yellow
fever, infectious hepatitis viruses. Some viruses cause some cancers.
HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
Can enter in human White Blood Cells (T- helper cells = CD4 cells)
Where they reproduce and kill the WBCs when they are getting out them
So HIV reduces human immunity a condition called ADIs
ADIs = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
So ones the immunity get compromised other disease causing pathogens
like TB bacteria and Pneumonia causing fungus takes the opportunity and
easily establishes as diseases
HIV has no cure but AIDS can be treated

Antivirus Vaccines- Are killed or weakened virus or viral proteins which make the host’s immune system to produce antibodies
against that virus to Prevents viral disease. Doesn’t treat disease after host infection

How Viruses Differ From Eukaryotic Cells:

Membrane Cytoplasm Organelles Nucleus DNA & RNA/ Reproductio Homeostasis A live?
DNA or RNA n
Virus
Eukaryotic
Cell

Summary of animal classification:

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Dichotomous Key:
Is an identification key made of a written set of choices that lead
to the name of a particular organism or object.
It is used to identify organisms not known to an investigator.
Example is to the wright →

Rainbow Group Practical:

Collect small-sized leaves of 4 different plant species
paste them in the text box to the bottom right.
Label them X, Y, P and W
Prepare an identification key (…………………………………………… ……………………)
that identifies each one of them.

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Work sheet:

_____Cells that contain a nucleus _____Cells that do not contain a nucleus

_____Organisms that can make their own food _____Science of classification

_____System of assigning two names to an organism ______Is credited with developing binomial nomenclature
A. Autotroph
_____Which of the following classification levels is the least inclusive?
A. Family C. genus B. Binomial nomenclature
B. Order D. class
C. Eukaryotic
_____The largest and most inclusive of Linnaeus’s taxonomic categories is the D. Linnaeus
A. Phylum C. Order E. Taxonomy
B. kingdom D. Species
F. Prokaryotic

_____ The scientific name for the southern leopard frog would be correctly written as:
A. rana utricularia C. rana Utricularia
B. Rana utricularia D. Rana

_____The bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana, is most closely related to the

A. spotted chorus frog, Pseudacris clarki C. Asian flying frog, Polypedates leucomystax
B. Northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens D. African bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adspersus
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End (go to dichotomous keys)