Classification of Living

organisms

Taxonomy: The science of naming and classifying organisms.

Give every organism a name (the science of

NOMENCLATURE).
 Classification
Classification is used to group different species. A group of
organisms belong to the same species if they can reproduce to
produce fertile offspring.
Organisms are classified by evolutionary relationships.
These can be found by studying physical characteristics and DNA
base sequences.
Traditionally, organisms were categorized based on morphology and
anatomy. The structure of bones and organs were studied through
dissections and organisms were grouped based on similarities. With
the advancement of modern science and technology, DNA sequencing
studies, e.g. the human genome project, have become possible. This
allows DNA for each species to be mapped and compared. Therefore,
species with similar ancestors are more easily found as they have a
close DNA base sequence. This is more accurate than comparing
physical characteristics as different species living in the same habitat
often evolve similar traits and hence resemble each other. As DNA
codes for the amino acid sequence in proteins, proteins can also be
studied to find evolutionary relationships.
The Binomial System
• Organisms were first classified by a
Swedish naturalist called Linnaeus in a way
that allows the subdivision of living
organisms into smaller and more specialized
groups
• The species in these groups have more and
more features in common the more
subdivided they get
• He named organisms in Latin using the
binomial system where the scientific name
of an organism is made up of two parts
starting with the 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 ( underlined if hand written)
• The sequence of classification is: Kingdom,
Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
Prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic

Mitochondria
Chloroplast
Kingdom of Living Organisms

Plants

Eukaryotic
Multicellular Roots
Storage Starch Stem
Sugar transported Sucrose Leaves
Cell wall Cellulose Flower ‘
Photosynthesis Chloroplast fruit
 Animals
Homo sapiens

Eukaryotic
Multicellular Organic food
Storage: Glycogen from plant and
Cell wall chloroplast absent other organisms
Don't photosynthesize
 Mushroom moulds are Multicellular
Yeast Unicellular ( ethanol & bread)
Fungi Penicillin Antibiotic
Storage: glycogen
Cell wall: chitin
Photosynthesis: No
Fruiting body

Saprotrophic nutrition, dead

organic material
Extracellular digestive enzymes,
soluble substances

Parasitic
nutrition
Athlete's
foot
Ringworm
A mushroom or toadstool is the reproductive structure of the organism, called
a fruiting body (Figure). Under the soil, the mushroom has many fine
thread-like filaments called hyphae (pronounced high-fee). A mould is rather
like a mushroom without the fruiting body. It just consists of the network of
hyphae (Figure). The whole network is called a mycelium (pronounced
my-sea-lee-um). Moulds feed by absorbing nutrients from dead (or sometimes
living) material, so they are found wherever this is present, for example, in soil,
rotting leaves or decaying fruit.
If you leave a piece of bread or fruit exposed to the air for a few days, it will
soon become mouldy. Mould spores carried in the air have landed on the food
and grown into a mycelium of hyphae (Figure 2.7).
The thread-like hyphae of Mucor have cell walls surrounding their cytoplasm.
The cytoplasm contains many nuclei. In other words the hyphae are not
divided up into separate cells.
When a spore from Mucor lands on the food, a hypha grows out from it. The
hypha grows and branches again and again, until the mycelium covers the
surface of the food. The hyphae secrete digestive enzymes on to the food,
breaking it down into soluble substances such as sugars, which are then
absorbed by the mould. Eventually, the food is used up and the mould must
infect another source of food by producing more spores.
When an organism feeds on dead organic material in this way, and digestion
takes place outside of the organism, this is called saprotrophic nutrition.
Enzymes that are secreted out of cells for this purpose are called extracellular
Enzymes.
Protoctists
Eukaryotic
Multi/ unicellular
Cell wall chloroplast yes/no
Protozoa Amoeba
Algae, chloroplast, Chlorella Uni,
Seaweed Multi
Plasmodium Malaria
Bacteria,Prokaryotic How do bacteria reproduce? Most bacteria reproduce by binary fission. In
this process the bacterium, which is a single cell, divides into two identical
daughter cells. Binary fission begins when the DNA of the bacterium divides
into two (replicates).
• Unicellular and prokaryotic, no nucleus
• Cell wall, complex sugar and protein, Peptidoglycan
• Capsule yes/no
• Mostly have plasmids
• Photosynthesis, or on dead material, decomposers, saprotrophs, parasites
• Human benefit food, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, a rod-shaped bacterium used in the production of
yoghurt from milk
• Pneumococcus, a spherical bacterium that acts as the pathogen causing pneumonia
 Virus 0.01-0.1 µm
Bacteria 1 to 5 µm
Viruses, parasites Host cell
Animal cell 10 to 50 µm
Plant cell about 100 µm
Parasites
Nucleus no
Cytoplasm no
Excretion no
Feeding no
Respiration no
Respond
no……..
Viruses reproduction

Influenza
Cold
Measles
Mumps
Polio
Rubella
HIV AIDS
HCV……………
………………..
 Vertebrates are animals with backbones. They
are divided into 5 groups called classes:
Phylum Vertebrates
Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and
Mammals.
 1. Fish (aquatic, ectothermic)

Fins used for balance, - Eyes but no ears &

lateral Line along body for detecting vibrations in water,
external fertilization,
Jelly covered eggs

2. Amphibia (ectothermic)

Moist scaleless skin - Eye & Ears - 4 limbs, back feet often
webbed to help in swimming.
external fertilization,
Jelly covered eggs
3. Reptiles (ectothermic)

(Waterproof)

Dry scaly skin - Eyes & Ears - 4 legs (apart from snakes)
Lungs for gas exchange
Internal fertilization

[Link], (few Aquatic, endothermic)

Feathers - Scales on legs –

Eyes and Internal ears
Lungs for gas exchange
Internal fertilization
5. Mammals(very few Aquatic, endothermic)

- 4 limbs, four type of teeth

- Eyes, lungs for gas exchange
- Give birth to young ones, very few lay eggs like
Duck billed platypus
Phylum
Arthropods
Waterproof exoskeleton, cuticle

There are more arthropods than any other group of animals, so they are divided into 4 classes:

Insects, Crustaceans, Arachnids and Myriapods.

Most arthropods, the segments are

grouped together to form distinct
regions, the head, thorax (the
middle section of the body) and
abdomen (the part of the body
behind the thorax).
1. Insects

Insects are a very successful group, due to their exoskeleton and tracheae,
which are very good at stopping water from evaporating from insects’s body,
so they can live in very dry places.
2. Crustacea

These are the crabs, lobsters and woodlice.

They breath through gills, so most of them live in wet places
and many are aquatic.
Compound eyes are made up of tens
or hundreds of separate lenses with light-sensitive
cells underneath.

cephalothorax (combined
head and thorax) and
abdomen
3. Arachnids
Combined head and thorax region, called the cephalothorax,

These are spiders, ticks and scorpions. pair of pedipalps adapted

for biting and poisoning
They are land-dwelling organisms. No antennae prey
Breathes through Book Lungs
4. Myriapods

These are the centipedes and millipedes. They have

a head and a segmented body that is not clearly divided into thorax and abdomen.

As the myriapod grows, extra segments are formed. The myriapods have one pair of antennae
and simple eyes. Centipedes are carnivores, feeding on other animals, but millipedes are herbivores,
feeding on plant material.

• Mouthparts lie underside of the head

Plant
Kingdom
Ferns: stems, leaves and roots are very similar to those of the flowering plants
Have feathery leaves called fronds
Do not produce flowers but instead reproduce by single celled spores (sporangia (spore capsules))
produced on the underside of fronds vascular, i.e., having certain tissue that conducts water
and nutrients, and having branched stems.
They are divided into 2 groups, depending on
number of seed leaves (Cotyledon):
•Monocotyledonous (Monocots)
•Dicotyledonous (Dicots)
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
 • A dichotomous key
Using simple keys is a set of paired contrasting
descriptions which lead you
through to the identification
of an unknown organism.

The identification of biological organisms can be greatly simplified using tools

such as dichotomous keys. It is a written set of choices, each involving two statements,
that leads to the name of an organism. Scientists use these to identify unknown organisms.
Try this

Figure above shows single leaves from six different trees. Use the key below to identify which tree each leaf comes from.
Make a table similar to the one below and put a tick in the correct box to show how you identify each leaf.
Give the name of the tree. Leaf A has been identified for you as an example.