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Notes For Chapter 1 of Biology IGCSE

This document includes the notes for chapter one of biology igcse coursebook

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95 views4 pages

Notes For Chapter 1 of Biology IGCSE

This document includes the notes for chapter one of biology igcse coursebook

Uploaded by

taranomkamalifard
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Characteristics and Classification of Living

Organisms
Biology: science of life
Biologists: scientists who study the mechanisms of life
Organism: what we call a living thing

Characteristics of life:
● Cells are the basic units of life. All organisms are made up of cells.
Characteristics of life are:

Nutrition: Organisms need energy to stay alive. This energy is provided by nutrients. Some
organisms can make their own food through a process called photosynthesis, while others
have to feed on other organisms.
Respiration: The chemical activities that take place within a cell are called metabolic
activities. The energy required for these reactions is released via the breakdown of
nutrients which is the process of respiration.
Excretion: The metabolic activities can produce either excess or harmful matter that might
accumulate. In order to get rid of these metabolic wastes, the cells need to excrete. (Ex.
carbondioxide, water)
● Dehydration: As an example of what could happen if excretion were not to take
place is, if there is too high of an ion concentration in the bloodstream, water in the
cells will want to transfer into the blood which would lower the water content of the
cells. The cells in this state are said to be
dehydrated.
Growth and Development:
Growth is the increase in dry mass of the cell, meaning
its mass without the weight of water added. Nutrients
taken in increase the dry mass of the cell, making it
grow.
Development on the other hand, is the process by
which and organism becomes more complex. You can
think of your beginning as a fertilized embryo which 15
years later developed into yourself with a big brain!
Movement:
Movement takes place in all organisms. In animals it’s
easier to observe because the movement with which an
organism moves from one place to another, which is
called locomotion. Plants move by another mechanism called tropism(not included in the
syllabus!).
Reproduction:
The process of making more of the same kind of organism is called reproduction. It is
necessary to continue the organism’s generation in order for the species to survive.
Sensitivity:
The ability of an organism to detect changes in its environment and respond to those
changes (Ex: humans sensing pain and avoiding it)
Classifying Living Organisms
Classification is done on the basis of evolutionary data, which is
based on DNA evidence. So basically, organisms relation to
each other depends on how much DNA they share. This relation
is used to classify them.

Organisms are classified on a graded scale, also called a


hierarchy. As we go down the hierarchy the relationship
between organisms gets closer and closer until we reach
species which contains the same organism.

For example, for us humans, the classification goes as follows:

Kingdom Animalae

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Primate

Family Hominadae

Genus Homo

Species Sapiens
Human species name is Homo sapiens also written as Homo sapiens.

The system of naming organisms with two names is called the binomial system of naming
species. The species name has to be italicized or underlined, and while the first letter is
capitalized the first letter of the second word is lower-case.

Prokaryotes Proticists Fungi Plantae Animalae

*unicellular *unicellular/multic *unicellular/multi *multicellular *multicellular


*circular ellular cellular *photosynthetic, *have
DNA(bacteria) *aquatic *feed on other so contains membrane-bound
*no nucleus *have organisms for chlorophyll organelles and
*no membrane-bound nutrients *have nucleus
membrane-bo organelle and *have membrane-boun *no chlorophyll or
und organelle nucleus membrane-boun d organelle and cell wall
*cell wall(made * some have cell d organelle and nucleus *feed on other
of murein) wall nucleus *cell wall( made organisms for
* some contain *cell wall( made of cellulose) nutrients
chlorophyll of chitin)
Viruses
Viruses are not considered living things
because they do not feed, respire, excrete
and grow. They also cannot reproduce on
their own. Their structure consists of a
protein coat and genetic material. They infect
living organisms by injecting their genetic
material into the reproductive mechanism of
the host(the infected organism), and this way
they can multiply. So they rely on the
reproductive abilities of living organisms.

Classifying Plants

Classifying Animals

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