LIVING THINGS
all living things:
- eat
- breathe (respire)
- move
- react (change
their behaviour when things around them change)
- excrete (produce body
waste
- grow
- reproduce (make more of their kind)
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS
Living things can be classified:
- classified means placed in groups with similar characteristics
the two main groups of living things
are :
Animals can be classified as:
- invertebrates – with no backbone
- vertebrates – with a backbone
There are five vertebrate groups
|
Group |
Body Covering |
warm/cold blood |
reproduction |
|
fish |
scales |
cold blooded |
lay eggs |
|
amphibians |
smooth skin |
cold blooded |
lay eggs |
|
reptiles |
scales |
cold blooded |
lay eggs |
|
birds |
feathers and
scales |
warm blooded |
lay eggs |
|
mammals |
fur/hair |
warm blooded |
live young |
There are many invertebrate groups,
some of which are:
- molluscs slug, snail, oyster, periwinkle, limpet, clam
- insects housefly, wasp, bee, butterfly, moth, midge
- spiders money spider, wolf spider, tarantula, black widow
- crustaceans shrimp, prawn, lobster, crab, woodlouse
- worms earthworm,
leech, ragworm
A Simple Classification:
Plants
and animals can be identified using keys e.g. a branching key
Can
you create a
simple branching key to identify a
group of (not to scale) animals?
 |
 |
 |
| Stegosaurus |
Apatosaurus |
Tyrannosaurus |
 |
 |
 |
| Triceratops |
Pterodactyl |
Diplodocus |
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
A paired statement key is a better way
to identify living things because it can easily be made up into book form.
     
|
1 |
Wings |
Go
to 2 |
|
|
No Wings |
Go
to 4 |
|
2 |
Thick body |
Bumble Bee |
|
|
Thin Body |
Go
to 3 |
|
3 |
Back legs as long as body |
Common
Mosquito |
|
|
Back legs longer than body |
Malaria
Mosquito |
|
4 |
Eight Legs |
House Spider |
|
|
Six Legs |
Go
to 5 |
|
5 |
Narrow waist |
Black Ant |
|
|
Broad waist |
Cat
Flea |
CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS
Plants are divided into flowering and
non-flowering plants
- A flowering plant has a flower at
some time in its life cycle
- The so called “century plant” (Agave deserti) flowers once at the end of 20 years and then dies.
A non flowering plant never has flowers – these are:
- Seaweed
- Mosses
- Ferns
- Lichens
- Conifers
|
 |
Flowering plants are divided into monocotyledons and dicotyledons
- Monocotyledons have leaves with
parallel veins
- They possess a single seed leaf (cotyledon)
within the seed
 ;;
- Dicotyledons have leaves with a
network of veins
- They possess two seed leaves (cotyledons)within
the seed
CLASSIFICATION OF MICROORGANISMS
| Microorganisms
are living things too small to be seen with a hand lens
There are three groups:
Fungi
- Fungi have cell walls like plants but are never green.
- These are tiny thread like microorganisms
- They often form visible reproductive
organs
|
 |
Within the fungi are the yeasts
- Yeasts are oval, egg shaped or
spherical
- Some
fungi produce antibiotics
- Antibiotics are chemicals that kill
or prevent the growth of bacteria
- The best known is penicillin
- Some bacteria are resistant to penicillin
(penicillin has less effect on them)
- If you fail to finish a course of
antibiotics from your doctor the most resistant bacteria survive
- Resistant varieties of the disease
will develop which antibiotics cannot cure (MRSA in hospitals is an
example).
|
 |
Bacteria
- Bacteria are very small – smaller than most animal cells
- They can be rod shaped, spherical or
spiral
- They are coated in slime
|
 |
Viruses
Viruses are the tiniest of the microorganisms
- They cannot reproduce without taking
over a host cell
- There is still discussion as to
whether they are really living things
- They often have a crystalline shape
so they can form crystals.
- Some microorganisms are helpful to us,
others cause disease.
|
 |
;
;
;
|
Microorganism |
Helpful |
Harmful |
|
Bacteria |
- Flavour cheese
- Make yoghurt
- Treat sewage
- Rot down dead things
|
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Blood poisoning
- Spots
- Pneumonia
- Food poisoning
|
|
Fungi |
- Food (mushrooms)
- Flavour blue cheeses
- Produce antibiotics
|
- Some are poisonous
- Athletes Foot
- Ringworm
|
|
Yeasts |
- Alcohol production
- Bread making
- Yeast extract (Marmite)
|
- Thrush (an itchy disease)
|
|
Viruses |
|
- ‘Flu
- AIDS
- Common cold
- Measles
|
Bacteria can cause food poisoning
- The best known are Salmonella,
Listeria and E. Coli
- These bacteria are all around us in
the environment
- This is why cleanliness is essential
in food preparation
- Wash hands and surfaces
- Clean knives and other utensils after
handling meat
- Use separate chopping boards for
meat and vegetables
For more information see www.eatwell.gov.uk/keepingfoodsafe/
Variation
Variation is
the differences between creatures
- Humans vary in height, weight, hair
colour, eye colour and lots of other ways
- Variation
can be inherited or environmental
Some variation you inherit from your
parents
- Eye colour
- Joined or free earlobes
- Ability to roll your tongue
Some variation you gain from your
environment
- Pierced ears
- Scars
- Adult weight
Some variation is a combination of
both environment and inheritance
- Skin colour and hair colour is partly
inherited from your parents and partly how long you spend in the sun
- Height is partly inherited from your
parents and partly caused by the quality of your diet during childhood.
Variation
can be continuous and discontinuous
- Discontinuous variation is where a
characteristic is one thing or another:
- Joined or free earlobes
- Tongue rolling or non tongue rolling
- Blood group (A, B, AB or O)
- .A
bar chart of the results will not be bell shaped
|
 |
- Continuous variation is where there
is a complete range of variation with no obvious steps:
- Hair colour
- Hand span
- Height
- The bar chart of the results will
almost always be bell shaped
|
 |
|
