Classification

1.2 Classification
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How Organisms are Classified: Basics

 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

 
 Linnaeus’s system of classification

Exam Tip

The order of classification can be remembered by using a mnemonic like:

KING PHILIP CAME OVER FOR GRAN’S SPAGHETTI

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How Organisms are Classified

 Organisms share features because they originally descend from a common ancestor
 Example: all mammals have bodies covered in hair, feed young from mammary glands
and have external ears (pinnas)
 Originally, organisms were classified using morphology (the overall form and shape of
the organism, e.g. whether it had wings or legs) and anatomy (the detailed body structure
as determined by dissection)
 As technology advanced, microscopes, knowledge of biochemistry and eventually DNA
sequencing allowed us to classify organisms using a more scientific approach
 Studies of DNA sequences of different species show that the more similar the base
sequences in the DNA of two species, the more closely related those two species are
(and the more recent in time their common ancestor is)
 This means that the base sequences in a mammal’s DNA are more closely related to
all other mammals than to any other vertebrate groups
 DNA sequences can show how closely related different species are

 The sequences above show that Brachinus armiger and Brachinus hirsutus are more
closely related than any other species in the list as their DNA sequences are identical
except for the last but one base (B.armiger has a T in that position whereas B.hirsutus has
an A)
 As DNA base sequences are used to code for amino acid sequences in proteins, the
similarities in amino acid sequences can also be used to determine how closely related
organisms are

1.1 Characteristics
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Characteristics of Living Organisms: Basics

 Movement: an action by an organism causing a change of position or place

 Respiration: the chemical reactions that break down nutrient molecules in living cells to
release energy
 Sensitivity: the ability to detect and respond to changes in the environment
 Growth: a permanent increase in size
 Reproduction: the processes that make more of the same kind of organism
  Excretion: the removal from organisms of toxic materials and substances in excess of
requirements
 Nutrition: the taking in of materials for energy, growth and development

Exam Tip

Use this mnemonic to help you remember these processes:

MRS. H. GREN

Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity
Homeostasis
Growth and development
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition

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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

1.2 Classification
Download PDF

How Organisms are Classified: Basics

 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

 
 Linnaeus’s system of classification

Exam Tip

The order of classification can be remembered by using a mnemonic like:

KING PHILIP CAME OVER FOR GRAN’S SPAGHETTI

Extended Only

How Organisms are Classified

 Organisms share features because they originally descend from a common ancestor
 Example: all mammals have bodies covered in hair, feed young from mammary glands
and have external ears (pinnas)
 Originally, organisms were classified using morphology (the overall form and shape of
the organism, e.g. whether it had wings or legs) and anatomy (the detailed body structure
as determined by dissection)
 As technology advanced, microscopes, knowledge of biochemistry and eventually DNA
sequencing allowed us to classify organisms using a more scientific approach
 Studies of DNA sequences of different species show that the more similar the base
sequences in the DNA of two species, the more closely related those two species are
(and the more recent in time their common ancestor is)
 This means that the base sequences in a mammal’s DNA are more closely related to
all other mammals than to any other vertebrate groups
 DNA sequences can show how closely related different species are

 The sequences above show that Brachinus armiger and Brachinus hirsutus are more
closely related than any other species in the list as their DNA sequences are identical
except for the last but one base (B.armiger has a T in that position whereas B.hirsutus has
an A)
 As DNA base sequences are used to code for amino acid sequences in proteins, the
similarities in amino acid sequences can also be used to determine how closely related
organisms are

1.3 Features of Organisms

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Common Cell Structures

 The cells of all living organisms contain the following:

o Cytoplasm
o Cell membrane
o DNA as genetic material (either found in the nucleus or free in the cytoplasm)
 

General cell features

 
 A typical animal cell and plant cell

 
 A typical prokaryotic cell

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Cell Composition & Structure

 When viewed under an electron microscope (at a much higher magnification), all cells
also contain the following:
o Ribosomes for protein synthesis
o Enzymes for respiration (in many, but not all types of cells, found in
mitochondria

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

 
 A typical animal cell

 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
 

A typical plant cell

 
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Fungi, Protoctists & 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

 
 A typical fungal cell

 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

Two examples of protoctist cells

 
  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

 
A typical bacterial cell
1.4 Classifying Animals
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Vertebrates

 All vertebrates have a backbone. There are 5 classes of vertebrates:

 
 
 Vertebrate classification

Invertebrates

 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:

 
 

Arthropod classification
1.5 Classifying Plants
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Ferns & Flowering Plants

 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

Ferns:

 Have leaves called fronds

 Do not produce flowers but instead reproduce by spores produced on the underside of
fronds

Ferns

 
 Ferns reproduce by spores found in the underside of their 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

Wheat plants are monocotyledons

 
 Sunflowers are dicotyledons

How to 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)

 
 Comparing monocots and dicots

Exam Tip
Identification of monocotyledons and dicotyledons comes up fairly frequently in the multiple
choice paper and so it is worth learning the two differences between their flowers and leaves.

1.6 Viruses
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Features of 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) inside a protein coat

Structure of a typical virus

1.7 Dichotomous Keys
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Constructing & Using a Key

 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

 
 Example of a dichotomous key #1

 
 Example of a dichotomous key #2

Exam Tip

Simple dichotomous keys almost always come up in the multiple choice paper, so make sure you
can use one.

Very occasionally they show up in the theory paper, and when they do you almost always have
to use one instead of constructing one, so focus on this rather than spending hours learning to
construct them yourself!

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