Introduction to Living Things 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Organism Any living thing Bacteria Animals Fungi Plants Etc
Characteristics of L.T. In order to be considered alive, organisms must have these 5 characteristics: Living things are organized Living things respond to stimuli Living things use energy Living Things grow and develop Living things reproduce
Living things are organized Every living thing is made up of one or more cells. Cells=the basic unit of life Cells contain the hereditary material, called DNA
Living things respond to stimuli Stimulus=something that causes a change in an organism Response= the reaction to the stimulus Homeostasis= an organisms ability to keep proper conditions inside, no matter what is going on outside
Living things use energy Plants, and some bacteria get energy from the sun Animals get energy from food
Living things grow and develop Growth=organism gets bigger Development=Changes that take place during the lifetime Lifespan= How long an organism is expected to live
Living things reproduce Reproduction=making babies
Living things have 2 needs 1. A place to live (habitat) 1.Must be a place that suits the needs of the organism
What else? 2. Raw materials ALL organisms need water to survive Humans also need Food Oxygen Plants also need Sunlight Carbon dioxide (plants do not need oxygen!)
Where does life come from? Living things only come from other living things This is called biogenesis
How are living things classified?
Carolus Linneaus Born Carl Linne in 1707 Looked for a way to classify organisms Based his classification on how organisms looked Example: All trees together, all bear-looking creatures together, all fish together, etc. Developed Binomial Nomenclature 2 word naming system still used today.
Binomial Nomenclature 2 word naming system developed by Linnaeus 1 st word=genus A group of closely related organisms Ex. Pinus = pine trees 2 nd word=species Tells us something about the organism Ex. Pinus virginana
Rules for Scientific Names 1. First word capitalized 2. Second word lowercase 3. Both words in italics or, if handwritten, underlined Example: Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens
What is wrong with these Scientific Names? canus familiaris Felis Domesticus Equus caballus
Why use scientific names? 4 main reasons 1. To avoid mistakes/confusion 2. To show how organisms are related 3. Because they give us information about the organism 4. Allows organisms to be easily organized
1. To avoid confusion/mistakes So we can avoid confusion/mistakes We use some words to refer to many organisms that are actually not closely related Black Bear & Koala Bear- Koalas are NOT bears
2. To show how organisms are related The first word gives us the genus, which is a related group of organisms Canus lupis=wolf Canus familaris=dog Canus latrans=coyote
3. The names give us some information about the organism It may be who discovered the species, where it is found, or a feature Nothura darwinii Cornus florida
Allow organisms to be easily organized Organisms part of the same genus are grouped together Phylogeny=grouping organisms based on relationships
Modern Classification Life is broken down into categories 3 Domains Bacteria Archaea Eukarya
Kingdom Life is broken down into categories 6 Kingdoms Domain Bacteria Kingdom-Eubacteria Domain Archaea Kingdom-Archaea Eukarya Animalia Plantae Fungi Protista
Eubacteria “True” Bacteria Single cell
Archaea Similar to bacteria Single cell
Animalia Animal kingdom Many cells
Plantae Plant kingdom Many cells
Fungi Mushrooms, mold, yeast Many cells
Protists Mostly one cell Most are microscopic
More classification levels Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
A group of organisms that can reproduce and have fertile offspring
Mnemonic for remembering levels of organization Did King Phillip Come Over For Great Spaghetti Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
Tools for Identifying Organisms Field Guide & Dichotomous Key Field Guide-Pictures and descriptions of organisms
Tools for Identifying Organisms Dichotomous Key Detained list of characteristics that helps identify organism