1. Animal, Plant & Soil Science
Lesson B1-1
Classifying Living Things

2. Interest Approach
Show pictures of various plants or animals, preferably of those that students cannot quickly identify and name. Ask the students how they would go about identifying those living things. Lead discussion into the importance of taxonomy, distinguishing plant or animal characteristics, and use of taxonomic keys.

3. Objectives Examine the history of taxonomic classification.
Define organism and identify characteristics shared by all living things.
List and describe the eight life processes of living organisms.

4. Objectives Identify the seven levels of taxonomic classification.
Compare and contrast the five kingdoms of organisms.
Identify the similarities and differences between plants and animals.
Demonstrate the use of a taxonomic key to identify organisms.

5. Terms division animal eukaryotic cell autotrophic organism family
food
genus
growth
heterotrophic organism
animal
autotrophic organism
binomial nomenclature
cell
circulation
class

6. Terms prokaryotic cell kingdom protoplasm life process repair
reproduction
respiration
secretion
sensation
kingdom
life process
locomotion
order
organism
phylum
plant

7. Terms
species
taxonomic key
taxonomy

8. What is the history of taxonomic classification?
Taxonomy is the science of identifying, classifying, and naming living things.
A. The Greeks made the first attempts at taxonomy nearly 2,000 years ago, but their efforts were limited, with no definite system of naming living things.

9. What is the history of taxonomic classification?
B. In the early 1700s, Carolus Linnaeus, a Swiss botanist, developed binomial nomenclature, a two-name system of classification.
1. The first name (the genus) is always capitalized, while the second name (the species) is never capitalized.
2. Both names should be underlined or italicized.
C. In 1969, scientist Robert Whittaker proposed five kingdoms into which all living organisms could be classified.
That system is still in use today.

10. What is an organism, and what characteristics are shared by all living things?
An organism is a living thing. Organisms are unique, varying in size and shape.
However, they share many similarities.
A. Organisms are structural units that carry out chemical and life processes.
A life process is a function essential for an organism to remain in the living condition and produce new members of the species.
Life processes vary among plants, animals, and other organisms.
They are the distinguishing characteristics between plants and animals.
When life processes stop, the organisms die.

11. What is an organism, and what characteristics are shared by all living things?
B. Organisms are made of cells.
A cell is a unit, or building block, with a definite structure and function.
The number of cells in an organism varies from one to millions, depending on the size of the organism.
Cells have membranes and substances that carry out chemical activities needed for life processes.
The cells of organisms contain protoplasm.
Protoplasm is a liquid-like material inside a cell that holds various suspended solid materials that carry out chemical processes needed for living.

12. C. Organisms need energy to carry out life processes.
What is an organism, and what characteristics are shared by all living things?
C. Organisms need energy to carry out life processes.
Energy for plants and animals comes from food.
D. Organisms have life spans.
E. Organisms grow and reproduce.
Growth is the process of an organism increasing in size by adding cells.
Reproduction is the process of organisms giving rise to new individuals of the same kind.

13. F. Organisms respond to their environment.
What is an organism, and what characteristics are shared by all living things?
F. Organisms respond to their environment.
The environment may promote growth and life processes, or it may prevent growth or cause death.
G. Every organism belongs to one of the five kingdoms.

14. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
All living organisms carry out life processes in different ways.
Life processes are the characteristics of organisms.
A. Living organisms carry out eight life processes:
1. Food acquisition and use—Food is the material that provides nourishment for a living organism.
Some organisms require food in a ready-to-use form.
Other organisms can manufacture food from nutrients.

15. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
2. Movement—Movement refers to internal processes as well as locomotion.
It involves a complex system of responding to stimuli.
Locomotion is the ability of an organism to move itself from one place to another.
3. Circulation—Circulation is the movement of necessary materials throughout an organism.
Animals have circulatory systems that move blood, whereas plants have vascular systems that move water, nutrients, and manufactured food.

16. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
4. Respiration—Respiration is the process by which the cells of an organism receive oxygen so that the energy in food or digested food can be released.
Respiratory structures vary among species.
5. Growth and repair—Growth processes occur from the beginning to the end of life.
Growth occurs when cells become larger or multiply or specialize into organs and tissues. In mature organisms, most growth is for tissue repair.
Repair occurs when parts of an organism wear out or are damaged and are replaced by growing new cells.

17. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
6. Secretion—Secretion is the production of substances needed by an organism for the living condition to occur.
Secretions are often important in how an organism carries out other life processes.
For example, saliva is required for good ingestion in some animals.

18. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
7. Sensation—Sensation is the awareness of an organism to its environment and the responses it makes to stimuli.
Organisms respond to stimuli received through their senses.
Animals have systems for sensation in five areas: vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
Plants are responsive to light and deficiencies or conditions in their environment.

19. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
8. Reproduction—Reproduction processes vary, but all sexual reproduction involves the union of a male sex cell and a female sex cell, regardless of the species involved.
Some organisms reproduce asexually, such as plants that send out runners or bulbs that divide.

20. What are the eight life processes of living organisms?
B. Seven of the processes are essential for an organism to remain in the living condition.
Reproduction is not essential for an organism to live but is required for new members of a species to be produced.
Disruption of any of the eight processes results in organisms failing to live and reproduce.

21. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
To understand organisms better, we arrange living things into groups that have similar physical characteristics or are related to each other.
The classification of organisms is hierarchical in nature.
This means that large groups containing many different species are divided into successively smaller, more specific groups.

22. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
The seven levels of taxonomic classification are:
A. Kingdom—Kingdom is the highest category in the Linnaean system of classification.
All living organisms are classified into one of five kingdoms: Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, Protista, and Monera.

23. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
B. Phylum or division—In animal classification, phylum is the level of classification immediately below kingdom.
At this level, animals are grouped according to their basic body plan or organization.
This level in plant classification is known as division.

24. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
C. Class—Class is the level of classification immediately below phylum or division.
Members of a class have more common characteristics than those of a phylum or division.
D. Order—Order is the level of classification immediately below class.
Members of an order have more common characteristics than those of a class.

25. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
E. Family—Family is the level of classification immediately below order.
Members of a family have more common characteristics than those of an order.
F. Genus—Genus is the level of classification immediately below family.
Members of a genus have more common characteristics than those of a family.

26. What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
G. Species—Species is the level of classification immediately below genus and is the most specific level of classification.
Members of a species can be bred and produce offspring similar to their parents.

27. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
In 1969, Robert Whittaker proposed five kingdoms.
Some researchers have proposed additional kingdoms, but most biologists employ Whittaker’s system.
The five kingdoms are:

28. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
A. Monera—The Monera kingdom consists of some of the first forms of life on Earth.
The Monera kingdom contains unicellular organisms that are prokaryotic.
A prokaryotic cell doesn’t have a membrane-bounded nucleus.
Microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and cyanobacteria, belong to the Monera kingdom.

29. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
B. Protista—The Protista kingdom consists of organisms that are eukaryotic.
A eukaryotic cell has a nucleus that is separated from the cytoplasm of the cell by a nuclear membrane.
Many species within the Protista kingdom resemble members of the Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia kingdoms except that most are unicellular.
Perhaps the best way to define members of the Protista kingdom is as eukaryotes that are not fungi, plants, or animals.
Algae and protozoa are two members of the Protista kingdom.

30. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
C. Fungi—The Fungi kingdom consists of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms that are immobile and heterotrophic.
A heterotrophic organism is an organism that must consume other organisms, or their products, to gain energy.
Heterotrophic organisms obtain their energy by decomposing dead organisms and absorbing their nutrients.
Some fungi cause disease, such as rusts and smuts, while others are useful for baking, for brewing, or as sources for drugs.
Yeasts, molds, mushrooms, and mildews are all members of the Fungi kingdom.

31. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
D. Plantae—The Plantae kingdom consists of immobile, multicellular, eukaryotic organisms that are autotrophic.
An autotrophic organism can produce its own food through photosynthesis.
Ferns, conifers, mosses, and flowering plants are all members of the Plantae kingdom.

32. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
E. Animalia—The Animalia kingdom consists of mobile, multicellular, eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophic.
Sponges, worms, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are all members of the Animalia kingdom.

33. What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
1. Agricultural species of animals are, of course, in the Animalia kingdom and are further classified into the phylum Chordata.
The phylum Chordata includes humans and all domestic animals.
2. Agricultural species of animals are then placed into one of three classes: Aves (birds), Mammalia (mammals), or Osteichthyes (bony fishes).

34. What are the similarities and differences between plants and animals?
Plants and animals have both similarities and differences.
A. A plant is an organism that uses nutrients to make the food needed for life processes.
The nutrients are taken in as a liquid.
Structural characteristics and
functions allow plants to use the nutrients in making food in the appropriate environment.
Plants are in the kingdom Plantae.
Some 350,000 species of plants have been identified.

35. What are the similarities and differences between plants and animals?
B. An animal is an organism that acquires food from other sources and has other qualities that distinguish it from plants and organisms in other kingdoms.
Animals are members of the kingdom Animalia.
Scientists have identified nearly a million species of animals.

36. What are the similarities and differences between plants and animals?
C. Plants and animals are similar or alike in several ways.
1. Both have life cycles.
2. Both carry out processes to remain in the living condition.
3. Both are made of cells.
4. Both must have food.

37. What are the similarities and differences between plants and animals?
D. Animals depend on plants to manufacture food, which enters the food chain.
Animals eat plants. Upon death, the animals decompose to provide nutrients for plants.
E. Plants use the nutrients from the decaying remains of animals and other plants.
Nutrients in manure are also used by plants for growth.

38. How can a taxonomic key be used to identify organisms?
A common method of classifying and identifying objects, such as organisms, is the use of a taxonomic key, also known as a dichotomous key.
A taxonomic key is a device used to identify an object that the user does not know but that an expert has described.

39. How can a taxonomic key be used to identify organisms?
A. A taxonomic key is based on the process of elimination, in which the user is presented with a sequence of choices, each with a pair of alternatives.
The user chooses between the alternatives, which are possible characteristics of the unknown object.
The statement chosen may ask the user to go on to another pair of statements, or it will give the user the name of the object.

40. How can a taxonomic key be used to identify organisms?
B. A taxonomic key can be used to identify just about any object.
For instance, taxonomic keys may be used in agriculture to identify plants, animals, or even soil types.

41. Review What is the history of taxonomic classification?
What is an organism, and what characteristics are shared by all living things?
What are the eight life processes of living organisms?

42. Review What are the seven levels of taxonomic classification?
What are the similarities and differences in the five kingdoms of organisms?
What are the similarities and differences between plants and animals?
How can a taxonomic key be used to identify organisms?