Characteristics of Living Organisms CH 1-IG

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
Exam Tip
Use this mnemonic to help you remember these processes:
MRS. H. GREN
 Movement
 Respiration
 Sensitivity
 Homeostasis
 Growth and development
 Reproduction
 Excretion
 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
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
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
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

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
Vertebrate classification
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:
Invertebrate Table
Arthropod classification

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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

How Organisms are Classified

The Binomial System

KING PHILIP CAME OVER FOR GRAN’S SPAGHETTI

 Main features of all animals:

A typical animal cell

A typical plant cell

 All vertebrates have a backbone

 Invertebrates do not possess a backbone

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