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CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING
ORGANISMS

Misconceptions

Viruses cause diseases, so they must be alive

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING ORGANISMS
1. Living Things are Composed of Cells
Cell theory
2. Living Things Have Different Levels of Organization
Cell – tissue – organ- organ system
3. Living Things Use Energy
Living things take in energy and use it for maintenance
and growth.  
4. Living Things Respond To Their Environment
Living things will make changes in response to a stimulus
in their environment.
A behavior is a complex set of responses.

Source: http://infohost.nmt.edu/~klathrop/7characterisitcs_of_life.htm
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING ORGANISMS
5. Living Things Grow
Cell division - the orderly formation of new cells.
Cell enlargement - the increase in size of a cell. Cells grow
to a certain size and then divide.
An organism gets larger as the number of its cells
increases.
6. Living Things Reproduce
Reproduction is not essential for the survival of individual
organisms, but must occur for a species to survive.
7. Living Things Adapt To Their Environment
Adaptations are traits giving an organism an advantage in
a certain environment.
Variation of individuals is important for a healthy species.

Source: http://infohost.nmt.edu/~klathrop/7characterisitcs_of_life.htm
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification schemes
 Life is subdivided by this scheme:
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum (plural: phyla)
Class
Order
Family
Genus (plural: genera)
Species
 These may be remembered by the mnemonic
“Dear King Phillip Came Over For Great Spaghetti”
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Classification schemes
There are three domains
Domain Archaea
Domain Bacteria
Domain Eukarya
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification schemes
There are six kingdoms within the domains
Domain Archeae
 Kingdom Archaebacteria
Domain Bacteria
 Kingdom Eubacteria
Domain Eukarya
 Kingdom Animalia
 Kingdom Plantae
 Kingdom Fungi
 Kingdom Protista
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Classification schemes
 You may encounter additional subdivisions created by
using prefixes ‘Super’ or ‘Sub’ at any classification level
 Other subdivisions include ‘Division’, ‘Tribe’ and
‘Variety’
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Naming rules
 Names of kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families
and genera are capitalized
 Names of species are always in lower case
 Genus and species are written with an underline or in
italics
 Example: Homo sapiens sapiens or
 Homo sapiens sapiens (humans)
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Determining classification
 If you find an organism, you can use a key to determine
it’s classification
 If there are two choices at each branch, the key is
dichotomous (more than two choices at each branch
gives a polychotomous key). Here are two types of keys
 Spider key (graphic)
 Numbered key (text)
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Part of a spider key to identify trees by their leaves
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

A numbered key to identify oak trees

1a. Leaves usually without teeth or lobes: 2

1b. Leaves usually with teeth or lobes: 5
2a. Leaves evergreen: 3
2b. Leaves not evergreen: 4
3a. Mature plant a large tree — Southern live oak Quercus virginiana
3b. Mature plant a small shrub — Dwarf live oak Quercus minima
4a. Leaf narrow, about 4-6 times as long as broad — Willow oak Quercus phellos
4b. Leaf broad, about 2-3 times as long as broad — Shingle oak Quercus
imbricaria
5a. Lobes or teeth bristle-tipped: 6
5b. Lobes or teeth rounded or blunt-pointed, no bristles: 7
6a. Leaves mostly with 3 lobes — Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica
6b. Leaves mostly with 7-9 lobes — Northern red oak Quercus rubra
7a. Leaves with 5-9 deep lobes — White oak Quercus alba
7b. Leaves with 21-27 shallow lobes — Swamp chestnut oak Quercus
prinus
CLASSWORK 1
Copy the questions into your notebook (right-side) and answer them

1. Describe the two types of identification keys

2. List the three domains of life
3. Describe (one sentence each) the seven
characteristics of living organisms
4. What does “Dear King Phillip Came Over For
Great Spaghetti” remind us of?
5. List the three domains and the kingdoms each
includes
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Kingdom Archaebacteria
unicellular organisms lacking a nucleus and cell
organelles
have independent evolutionary history and
biochemistry than Eubacteria
include five phyla
sometimes found in extreme environments (high
temperature, high salt)
may produce methane
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING
ORGANISMS
Kingdom Archaebacteria
In 1983, scientists tool samples from a spot deep in
the Pacific Ocean where hot gases and molten rock
boiled into the ocean form the Earth’s interior.  To their
surprise they discovered unicellular (one cell)
organisms in the samples.

http://www.ric.edu/faculty/ptiskus/Six_Kingdoms/Index.htm
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of an extreme halophile
Kingdom Archaebacteria
Phylum Euryarchaeota
Class Halobacteria
Order Halobacteriales
Family Halobacteriaceae
Genus Halobacterium
Species salinarum
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Eubacteria
Bacteria
unicellular microorganisms
reproduce by binary fission
most have cell wall
may or may not have outer layer of
peptidoglycan
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Eubacteria

http://danmarkltd.tripod.com/taxonomy/id6.html
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Some Kingdom Eubacteria phyla

Phylum Cyanobacteria - blue-green algae.
Phylum Spirochaete: helically coiled cells. They
also have flagella that allow them to move in a
twisting motion.
Phylum Proteobacteria: mostly anaerobic
organisms. Most have flagella to move around,
but some can move by gliding, which means
they can move by themselves.

http://www.angelfire.com/ks3/lditton/eubacteria.html
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of bacterium that produces Botox
Kingdom Eubacteria
Phylum Firmicutes
Class Clostridia
Order Clostridiales
Family Clostridiaceae
Genus Clostridium
Species botulinum
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Animalia
The animals; have cells with nucleus but no
cell wall or chloroplasts
Some animals (vertebrates) have backbones
All other animals (invertebrates) lack
backbones
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Some phyla of kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera – sponges
Phylum Cnidaria – corals and jellyfish
Phylum Annelida – segmented worms
(earthworms and leeches)
Phylum Nematoda – roundworms
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
More phyla of kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda – insects, crabs,
lobsters, shrimp, spiders, scorpions,
centipedes, ticks
Phylum Mollusca – oysters, clams, octopi,
squids
Phylum Echinodermata – starfish, sea
urchins, sea cucumbers
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
More phyla of kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata – fish, sharks, rays,
amphibians, reptiles, bird and mammals
(all are vertebrates)
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of humans
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Primata
Family Hominideae
Genus Homo
Species sapiens
Subspecies sapiens

This may be remembered by the mnemonic

“All Cool Men Prefer Having Heavy SideburnS”
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Plantae
Plants, including
Trees
Herbs
Bushes
Grasses
Ferns
Mosses
Green algae
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Some Kingdom Plantae phyla

Phylum Chlorophyta – green algae
Phylum Bryophyta – mosses
Phylum Pteridophyta – ferns and horsetails
Phylum Pinophyta – conifers
Phylum Magnoliophyta – flowering plants
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of Southern live oak
Kingdom Plantae
Phylum Magnoliophyta
Class Magnoliopsida
Order Fagales
Family Fagaceae
Genus Quercus
Species virginiana
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Fungi
yeasts, molds, mushrooms
eukaryotic organisms
chitinous cell wall
some produce hyphae, some are single-celled
reproduction commonly by spores
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Some Kingdom Fungi phyla

Phylum Ascomycota – truffles, cup fungi, yeasts
Phylum Basidiomycota - mushrooms, puffballs,
bracket fungi, chanterelles, smuts, rusts
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of button mushroom
Kingdom Fungi
Phylum Basidiomycota
Class Agaricomycetes
Subclass Homobasidiomycetideae
Order Agaricales
Family Agaricaceae
Genus Agaricus
Species bisporus
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Kingdom Protista
 Includes amoebas, forams, most algae, and slime
molds
 Some unicellular, others are colonial, and yet others
are multicellular
 all eukaryotes (they have a true nucleus).
 all need some kind of a water-based environment--
which can be fresh or marine water, snow, damp soil,
polar bear hairs--in which to live
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Some Kingdom Protista phyla
Phylum Rhizopoda - amoebas
Phylum Rhodophyta – red algae, multicellular and
marine-dwelling, but are more typically found in
tropical zones and deeper in the ocean (Nori)
Phylum Apicomplexa – parasites that form tiny,
infectious spores (Plasmodium)
Phylum Zoomastigophora – free-living, symbionts and
parasites (such as trypanosomes)
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
More Kingdom Protista phyla
Phylum Phaeophyta – brown algae, multicellular and
live in marine, temperate zone, coastal areas (kelp)
Phylum Chlorophyta – green algae (Volvox, Spirogyra)
Phylum Ciliophora – solitary, fresh water organisms and
use cilia to move (Paramecium)
Phylum Myxomycota – slime molds, “body” is a giant,
multinucleate mass of cytoplasm
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Classification of a protist that causes malaria
Kingdom Protista
Phylum Apicomplexa
Class Aconoidasida
Order Haemosporida
Family Plasmodiidae
Genus Plasmodium
Species falciparum
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS
Viruses and prions
Viruses cause diseases such as the common cold,
influenza, herpes, chickenpox and AIDS
Prions cause diseases as deer wasting disease,
scrapie (sheep) and bovine spongiform
encephalitis (mad cow disease)
Viruses and prions can cause infectious disease
but are not considered to be living organisms
However, they still have classification
CLASSWORK 2
Copy the questions into your notebook (right-side) and answer them

1. Are viruses living organisms?

2. Do animal cells have cell walls?
3. Phylum of flowering plants
4. Phylum of vertebrates
5. Genus and species of the organism that
causes malaria
6. How do bacteria reproduce?
CLASSWORK 2
Copy the questions into your notebook (right-side) and answer them

7. List the kingdom, phylum and class to which

dogs and cats belong (same as humans)
8. Humans are Homo sapiens sapiens. List the
order and family to which they belong.
9. List the six kingdoms and state what they
include
10. Fish are in the phylum Chordata – do they
have backbones?