BIOLOGY NOTE

CHARACTERISTIC OF LIVINGTHING AND CLASSIFICATION

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING ORGANISMS

• Movement: an action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of
position or place
• Respiration: the chemical reactions that break down nutrient molecules in living cells to
release energy for metabolism
• Sensitivity: the ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external environment
and to make appropriate responses
• Growth: a permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number or cell
size or both
• Reproduction: the processes that make more of the same kind of organism
• Excretion: the removal from organisms of toxic materials, the waste products of
metabolism (chemical reactions in cells including respiration) and substances in excess
of requirements
• Nutrition: the taking in of materials for energy, growth and development; plants require
light, carbon dioxide, water and ions; animals need organic compounds, ions and usually
need water
Use this mnemonic to help you remember these processes:
MRS. H. GREN
Movement Growth and development
Respiration Reproduction
Sensitivity Excretion
Homeostasis Nutrition

HOW ORGANISMS ARE CLASSIFIED

• There are millions of species of organisms on Earth
• A species is defined as a group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile
offspring
• These species can be classified into groups by the features that they share e.g. all
mammals have bodies covered in hair, feed young from mammary glands and have
external ears (pinnas)

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 specialised 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
• The sequence of classification
is: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
 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
• Each choice leads the user onto another two descriptions
• In order to successfully navigate a key, you need to pick a single organism to start with
and follow the statements from the beginning until you find the name
• You then pick another organism and start at the beginning of the key again, repeating
until all organisms are named
 THE FIVE KINGDOMS
• The first division of living things in the classification system is to put them into one of five
kingdoms. They are:
o Animals
o Plants
o Fungi
o Protoctists
o Prokaryotes
• Main features of all animals:
o they are multicellular
o their cells contain a nucleus but no cell walls or chloroplasts
o they feed on organic substances made by other living things
• Main features of all plants:
o they are multicellular
o their cells contain a nucleus, chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls
o they all feed by photosynthesis
 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
• Several main features are used to place organisms into groups within the animal
kingdom
➢ Vertebrates
• All vertebrates have a backbone
o There are 5 classes of vertebrates
Vertebrate Table
➢ Invertebrates
• Invertebrates do not possess a backbone
• One of the morphological characteristics used to classify invertebrates is whether they
have legs or not
• All invertebrates with jointed legs are part of the phylum Arthropods
• They are classified further into the following classes:
 The Five Kingdoms: Extended
• The first division of living things in the classification system is to put them into one of five
kingdoms
• They are:
o Animals
o Plants
o Fungi
o Protoctists
o Prokaryotes
• Main features of all fungi (e.g. moulds, mushrooms, yeast)
o usually multicellular
o cells have nuclei and cell walls not made from cellulose
o 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)

o most are unicellular but some are multicellular
o all have a nucleus, some may have cell walls and chloroplasts
o meaning some protoctists photosynthesise and some feed on organic
substances made by other living things
 • Main features of all Prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)
o often unicellular
o cells have cell walls (not made of cellulose) and cytoplasm but no nucleus or
mitochondria

The Plant Kingdom: Extended

• At least some parts of any plant are green, caused by the presence of the
pigment chlorophyll which absorbs energy from sunlight for the process
of photosynthesis
• The plant kingdom includes organisms such as ferns and flowering plants
➢ 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)
 Viruses: Extended
• 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) inside a protein coat