Gr.

11 SUMMARY NOTES: CLASSIFICATION

 There are a great variety of organisms which co-inhabit the earth. These organisms occur in
many different forms and sizes. Some of them are invisible to the naked eye. These different
species can live in a variety of different habitats.
 Classification refers to the grouping and sorting of things according to similarities and
differences.
 Life forms are put into groups as a result of classification. This makes it easier for the
scientist to study these life forms.
 Taxonomy refers to the science of naming and classifying a wide range of living things.

Living things were classified into two groups: plants and animals.
This became known as the two-kingdom system.

The following characteristics are used to classify organisms as plant or animals:

Are able to make

own food
Kingdom
Plantae Have a cell wall

All living Sedentary/sessile

organisms Can't make own

food
Kingdom
No cell wall
Animalia
Motile

The more scientists came to know about life the more advanced the classification systems became:

Currently there are 3 systems that are used:

• Two-kingdom system

• Five-kingdom system

• Three domain system (which we do not use at school level)

The Five Kingdom system

Developed by Robert H. Whittaker in 1969.

All living organisms were placed into 5 kingdoms based on certain characteristics.

Terminology:

 Eukaryotes: A true nucleus is a nucleus that is surrounded by a nuclear membrane.

Organisms that possess true nuclei are called eukaryotes. The organelles in eukaryotes are
all bound by membranes.

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  Prokaryotes: All organisms with nuclear material not enclosed by membranes are called
prokaryotes. All the organelles found in prokaryotes do not have membranes.
 Autotrophic organisms: are those that can manufacture their own food by photosynthesis.
 Heterotrophic organisms: are those organisms that are unable to manufacture their own
food.
 Saprophytes: organisms that feed on dead and decaying matter.
 Unicellular: Organisms that are made up of one cell only.
 Multicellular: Organisms that are made up of many cells.

The Five Kingdom

classification system

Monera Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

There are certain characteristics or criteria that are used to develop the five-kingdom classification
system:

Kingdom Monera:
o Made up of bacteria and blue-green algae.
o Bacteria are unicellular and microscopic.
o Some bacteria are colonial, meaning that while they occur in groups each bacteria function
on its own.
o Bacteria are prokaryotes.
o Some bacteria are autotrophic.
o Most bacteria are heterotrophic.
o Some of the heterotrophic bacteria are parasitic or saprotrophic.

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Kingdom Protista
o This kingdom includes the slime moulds, protozoan and algae.
o Most are unicellular but some are multicellular.
o Therefore, they may be microscopic or macroscopic.
o Some of the unicellular protists can be colonial (live in colonies).
o They are all eukaryotes. Protists are not identical in appearance.
o They also differ in the way in which they obtain their food.
o Therefore, they are divided into 3 groups based on nutrition and appearance.
o These 3 groups are: algae, protozoan and slime moulds.
o The algae are plant-like and autotrophic.
o The protozoans are animal-like, and they obtain their food from other plants or animals or
dead organic matter.
o Slime moulds are almost like fungi.

Kingdom Fungi
o Mushrooms, yeast and mould found on bread and jam etc. are found in this kingdom.
o Some have plant-like features and some are different from plants.
o They are heterotrophic, but they obtain food by secreting enzymes into the food and then
absorbing the digested food. Many of the organisms found in this kingdom are decomposers.
o Some are parasitic while others are saprotrophic.
o Fungi may be unicellular or multicellular.
o They all produce spores.
o Some produce spores in sporangia.
o Some produce spores in club shaped structures. These structures are usually found within the
cap-like fruiting bodies: mushrooms. Others produce the spores in sac like structures like
Penicillium.

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Kingdom Plantae
o Organisms belonging to this kingdom all have cell walls, they are all multi-cellular and have
chloroplasts.
o They are autotrophic.
o Some plants are vascular: they have xylem and phloem which is used for transport of
nutrients, mineral salts and water.
o Such plants have true roots, stems and leaves because they have vascular tissue.
o Vascular plants may be divided into seed producing plants and non-seed producing plants.
o Some plants do not have vascular tissue.

Kingdom Animalia
o These organisms occupy a variety of habitats.
o They are multi-cellular.
o They do not have cell walls around their cells.
o They do not have chlorophyll.
o Therefore, they are heterotrophic.
o There are huge differences in appearances.
o They can be sub divided into vertebrates and invertebrates.

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 Taxonomy
 Taxonomy is the branch of biology that classifies all living things. It was developed by the Swedish
botanist Carolus Linnaeus, who lived during the 18th Century, and his system of classification is
still used today.
 Linnaeus and other scientists used Latin because it was a dead language- meaning nobody spoke
it anymore. Hence, it is a neutral language, and the scientific name can be used to avoid
confusion with common names.
 Linnaeus invented binomial nomenclature, the system of giving each type of organism a genus
and species name.
 He also developed a classification system called the taxonomic hierarchy, which has seven ranks
from general to specific: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
 Genus and species are always typed in italics and underlined when it is handwritten.
 The Genus name will be written with a capital letter while the species name is written with a
small letter.

Example of taxonomic classification of a red fox:

Another example of classification of humans and ostriches:

Remember this sentence: “King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti”.

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The two types of taxonomic keys:
1. Pictorial
o These keys have illustrations.
o These illustrations maybe in the form of pictures, photographs or a combination of these.
o Organisms are identified by comparing them to the illustrations.

2. Verbal
o Clues are in the form of statements or questions of characteristics.
o By answering the questions or following the statements and looking at the specimen the
correct taxon can be identified to which the specimen belongs.

For example:

Key to the five kingdoms of living organisms

1. Do the organisms have a definite nucleus?

YES. Go to question 2. If NO then its Kingdom Monera.

2. Is the organism multicellular or unicellular?

If it is unicellular then Kingdom Protista. If it is multicellular

then go to question 3.

3. Is the organism autotrophic?

YES then its Kingdom Plantae. If NO then go to question 4.

4. Does the organism digests food outside its body and then take it in?

YES then its Kingdom Fungi. If NO then its Kingdom Animalia.

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ACTIVITY CLASSIFICATION
Question 1: Biological keys
We use a biological key to name and identify unknown plants and animals.
Look at the following invertebrates

A B C D E

Read the first pair of statements in the key below

Which statement is true?
Follow the instructions at the end of each statement until you arrive at a name for the animal.
Invertebrate key
[Link] animal has six legs Go to 3
The animal have more than six legs Go to 2
2. The animal have eight legs Spider
The animal have more than eight legs Go to 4
3. The animal has wings Locust
The animal has no wings Ant
4. The animals has a rounded body Millipede
The animal has a flattened body Centipede

Question 2: Using a key to classify leaves

You will now classify the following South African plants, using their leaf characteristics.
The diagram below shows different leaves of plants like Agapanthus, Clivia, Ziziphus cordatum,
Syzigium, Erythrina, Dombeya

A B C D E F

What you do:

Use the following key to identify the leaves
Plant key
[Link] on the leaves are parallel Go to 2
Veins on leaves are not parallel Go to 3
2. Tip of head is pointed Agapanthus
Tip of head is rounded Clivia
3. Has one main vein Syzigium cordatum
Has more than one vein Go to 4
4. Edge of leave is serrated Ziziphus mucronata
Edge of leave is smooth Go to 5
5. Leaf divided into three leaflets Erythrina
Leafs is not devided Dombeya

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Answers:

1. A= Insect
B = Spider
C= Locust
D= millipede
E= centipede
2. A= Agapanthus
B= Dombeya
C= Erythrina
D= Ziziphus mucronata
E= Syzigium cordatum
F = Clivia