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1-characteristics and classification of living organisms - Coggle Diagram
1-characteristics and classification of living organisms
characteristics of organisms
an organism is a complete living thing
all organisms on Earth share the same seven characteristics
growth
it can be defined as the permanent increase in size and dry mass. Organisms grow by creating new cells
growth may be measured by finding the "dry mass" of an organism
nutrition
it means taking in materials that contain chemicals needed to build their cells
sensitivity
it is the ability to detect changes in the surrounding environment and responding to them. These changes may be internal or external
reproduction
it means making more organisms of the same kind
respiration
it is the way in which organisms obtain energy through chemical reactions (the "metabolism"
excretion
it is the removal of waste products from the organism, created after chemical reactons
movement
it is the ability to change position or place
for example, viruses cannot be considered living beings since they cannot carry out many living organism's functions on their own
the biological classification system
classifying means putting things into groups
biologists classify organisms by how much closely they think they are related
they take into consideration features some species share with other species
the smallest in group in which living organisms are organized are species
members of the same species can reproduce and their offspring will be fertile
biologists give names to organisms based on the binomial naming system
the first name is of the genus an organism belongs to, the second that of the species it belongs to
a genus is a group of species closely related to one another
organisms of the same genus but not species may reproduce, but their offspring will not be fertile
kingdoms
a kingdom is the largest classification group an organism can be a part of
there are five of them
the fungus kingdom
they are usually multicellular, but they may also be unicellular
their cells have a nucleus and cell walls made of chitin
their cells do not contain chlorophyll
they feed by digesting waste organic material and absorbing it into their cell
the protoctist kingdom
they are multicellular or unicellular
their cells have a nucleus and may or may not have a cell wall and chloroplasts
some feed by photosynthesis and others by feeding on organic substances produced by other organisms
the plant kingdom
their cells have a nucleus, often contain chloroplasts and cell walls made of cellulose
they feed by photosynthesis
they may or may not have roots, stems and leaves
the prokaryote kingdom
their cells have cell walls and they are made of protoglycean
their cells contain no mitochondria
their cells have no nucleus
their cells contain a free circular loop of DNA in the cytoplasm
they are usually unicellular
their cells often contain plasmids
the animal kingdom
their cells have a nucleus but no cell walls or chloroplasts
they feed on organic substances produced by other organisms
groups within the animal and plant kingdoms
animal kigdom
vertebrates
reptiles
they are vertebrates with scaly skin
they lay eggs with soft shells
birds
they have a beak
their two front limbs are wings, but not all of them can fly
they have feathers and sometimes scales
they lay eggs with hard shells
amphibians
their eggs have no shell and they are laid in water
the tadpoles live in water, but the adults often live on land
they are vertebrates with skin with no scales
the tadpoles have gills, but the adults have lungs
mammals
they have hair on their skin
their babies develop in the uterus, connected to their mother by the placenta
the females have mammary glands, which produce milk to feed the babies
they have diversified teeth
they have a pinna (ear flap) that directs sound into the ear
they have sweat glands in the skin
they have a diaphragm
fishes
they always have gills
they have fins
they are vertebrates with scaly skin
their eggs have no shell and they are laid in water
arthropods
crustaceans
they are arthropods with more than four pairs of jointed legs
they have two pairs of antennae
arachnids
they have no antennae
their body is divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen
they have four pairs of jointed legs
insects
they have three pairs of jointed legs
their body is divided into a head, thorax and abdomen
they breath through tubes (tracheae)
they have one pair of antennae
they have two pairs of wings, which may or not be no longer useful (vestigial)
myriapods
each of their body segments has jointed legs
they hae one pair of antennae
their body consists of many similar segments
plant kingdom
ferns
they do not produce flowers
they reproduce by spores, which are produced on the underside of their fronds
they have roots, stems and leaves (or fronds)
flowering plants
dicotyledons
they usually have a main root with side roots coming out of it
their leaves have a network of veins
they have seeds with two cotyledons
they have flower parts in multiples of four or five
they have vascular bundles in the stem arranged in a ring
monocotyledons
their leaves have parallel veins
they have flower parts in multiples of three
their roots grow out directly from the stem
they have vascular bundles in the stem arranged randomly
they have seeds with one cotyledon