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Classification

The document discusses the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of taxonomic ranks including kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Key groups discussed include animals, plants, fungi, protists and prokaryotes. Specific phyla and classes within the animal and plant kingdoms are also outlined.

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26 views5 pages

Classification

The document discusses the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of taxonomic ranks including kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Key groups discussed include animals, plants, fungi, protists and prokaryotes. Specific phyla and classes within the animal and plant kingdoms are also outlined.

Uploaded by

hajrax19
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Classification 1

Organisms can be classified into groups according to the features they share

Species = is a group organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile offsprings

Binomial system: it is a system of naming species as an internationally agreed in


which the scientific name of an organism is made up of two parts, genus and species
(first is genus than species)

genus (always given a capital letter) and followed by the species (starting with a lower
case letter),When typed binomial names are always in italics (which indicates they are
Latin) e.g. Homo sapiens

Dichotomous Keys
● Keys are used to identify organisms based on a series of questions about their
features
● Dichotomous means ‘branching into two’ and it leads the user through to the
name of the organism by giving two descriptions at a time and asking them to
choose

Sequence of classification: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

● Main features of all fungi (e.g. moulds, mushrooms, yeast)


○ usually multicellular
○ cells have nuclei and cell walls not made from cellulose
○ do not photosynthesize but feed by saprophytic (on dead or decaying
material) or parasitic (on live material) nutrition

● Main features of all protoctists (e.g. Amoeba, Paramecium, Plasmodium)


○ most are unicellular but some are multicellular
○ all have a nucleus, some may have cell walls and chloroplasts
○ meaning some protoctists photosynthesise and some feed on organic
substances made by other living things

Main features of all prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)

○ often unicellular
○ cells have cell walls (not made of cellulose) and cytoplasm but no nucleus
or mitochondria
Classification 2

Animal Kingdom:
a) vertebrates = mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish
b) arthropods = myriapods, insects arachnid, crustaceans

Mammals:
● Gives birth to live young
● Have placenta
● Produces milk to feed young
● External ears visible
● Endothermic
● Fur/hair on skin
Example: human, dog, mouse, horse

Birds:
● Feathers cover skin
● Have two legs and two wings, instead of forelimbs
● Lay eggs with hard shell on land
● Have a beak
● Endothermic
● Examples: parrot, pigeon, hen, duck, eagle

Reptiles:
● Dry, fixed scales on skin
● Lay eggs with rubbery shell on land
● Example: snake, lizard, turtle

Fish:

● Loose, wet scales on skin


● Lays eggs without shells in water
● Gills to breathe
● Example: Flounder, tuna, clown fish

Amphibian:

● Smooth, moist skin


● Lays eggs without shells in water
● Adults live on land (no gills), larvae live in water (have gills)
● Example: frog, tadpole (toad), newt
Classification 3

In vertebrates, only mammals and birds are warm blooded

Arthropods:

All invertebrates with jointed legs are part of the phylum Arthropods

All arthropods have jointed legs,exoskeleton, segmented bodies.

Myriapods:

● Body consists of many segments


● Each segment contains at least one pair of jointed legs
● One pair of antennae
● E.g centipede (have one set of legs), millipede ( two sets of legs per segment)

Insects:

● Three part body: head, thorax, abdomen


● Three pairs of jointed legs
● Two pairs of wings (these may be non-functional and/or underdeveloped)
● One pair of antennae
● E.g butterfly, ant , wasp

Arachnid

● Two body parts: Cephalothorax and abdomen


● Four pairs of jointed legs
● No antennae
● E.g spider, scorpian, tick

Crustaceans:

● More than four pairs of jointed legs


● Chalky exoskeleton formed from calcium
● Breathe through gills
● Two pairs of antennae
● E.g Crab, lobster

Plant kingdom

Ferns
● Have leaves called fronds
Classification 4

● Do not produce flowers but instead reproduce by spores produced on the


underside of fronds

Flowering plants
● Reproduce sexually by means of flowers and seeds
● Seeds are produced inside the ovary found at the base of the flower
● Can be divided into two groups – monocotyledons and dicotyledons

How do you distinguish between monocotyledons and dicotyledons?


1) Flowers

● Flowers from monocotyledons contain petals in multiples of 3


● Flowers from dicotyledons contain petals in multiples of 4 or 5

2) Leaves

● Leaves from monocotyledons have parallel leaf veins


● Leaves from dicotyledons have reticulated leaf veins (meaning that they are all
interconnected and form a web-like network throughout the leaf)
Classification 5

Viruses:

Viruses are not part of any classification system as they are not considered living things

● They do not carry out the seven life processes for themselves, instead they take
over a host cell’s metabolic pathways in order to make multiple copies of
themselves
● Virus structure is simply
○ Genetic material (RNA or DNA)
○ A protein coat
○ Some viruses contain an outer envelope as shown in the image below
● As a result, they can only replicate inside living cells

● The structures of viruses can be varied, but all contain the same basic elements
of a protein coat and genetic material

Virus Diagram

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