UNIT 5.

THE BIOSPHERE
 LIVING BEINGS

What living beings do you

know?
 LIVING BEINGS
• Plants Example
• Animals Example
• Fungi Example
• Microorganisms
– Bacteria (example in foods, diseases, floor)
– Yeast (type of fungi)
– Protozoa
Some can been seen with the naked eye while
others require a microscope!
 LIVING BEINGS
PLANTS

Vinagrera (Rumex lunaria)

(Timanfaya National Park,
“coastal plant”)
White orchid Above and Below: Cactus

Barley (Hordeum vulgare)

Plant: Grape vine

 LIVING BEINGS
ANIMALS

BENGAL TIGER (Asia, India) WHITE RHINOCEROS (African Rhino)

(Panthera tigris) (Ceratotherium simum)

- Skin is sold & commercialized. - 5 species (3 in Asia, 2 in Africa)

-Traditional Chinese medicine utilizes - In danger due to poaching for its horns.
different tiger parts. - Herbivore.
-Today, they lack adecuate food and space
to live.
 LIVING BEINGS
FUNGI

MATAMOSCAS (Amanita muscaria) BOLETO (Boletus edulis)

•Most commonly found in beech, pine, •Edible mushroom.

black, and birch forests.
•Found most frequently in pine
•Poisonous forests.
 LIVING BEINGS
MICROORGANISMS

Lactobacillus delbrueckii Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Yogurt with bacteria.

subsp. bulgaricus bulgaricus
Bacteria that is used to
Colonies of bacteria in
produce yogurt.
a petri dish.
LIVING BEINGS
MICROORGANISMS

• Yeast helps bread dough

to rise because it produces
Yeast (Saccharomyces CO2.
cerevisiae)
• Is used to produce wine
Type of microscopic fungi. and beer.
LIVING BEINGS

What is a living being?

 LIVING BEINGS
1.Common characteristics
that define living beings.
 LIVING BEINGS
• Nutrition

- Processes in order to:

* Obtain energy

* To produce their own matter

LIVING BEINGS
- Classification of Living Beings (by nutrition)
Autotrophs synthesize organic substances from simple inorganic
substances (H20, CO2 , mineral salts), which they take from the
ground and atmosphere. Also use energy from the sun for
Photosynthesis.
PLANTS, ALGAES, and SOME BACTERIA.

Heterotrophs Ingest organic material already formed from

other living beings or from the remains of living beings.
ANIMALS, FUNGI, and MOST MICROORGANISMS.
 LIVING
• Interactions
BEINGS
• Living beings with one another & with the environment.

• Help with the development of the other functions (nutrition,

reproduction)

• Example Herbivore mammals have many intestinal bacteria

that decompose the cellulose of plants.

• Example
STIMULI: Color of petals of a flower
REACTION: The insect sees the color and
approaches the flower.
INTERACTION: The insect eats (nutrition of
the insect) and pollinates (reproduction of the plant).
 LIVING BEINGS
• Reproduction: The process that living beings use to generate
new organisms.

Asexual 1 individual produces its own offspring.

– Example: Star fish (A starfish that breaks in half will eventually
regenerate into a new starfish)
– Example: Strawberries reproduces asexually from their creeping stalk.
Sexual 2 individuals interact
– Individuals are of different genders.
– Each one supplies a different gamete, which are joined and result in a
zygote.
– Zygote develops into a new individual.
 LIVING BEINGS

2. Chemical Composition of
Living Beings
 LIVING BEINGS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
• Carbohydrates: Living beings use them to obtain energy and
to form structures.
– Examples: glucose & celulose.

Blood
Celulose
(with
glucose)
Grapes (with
glucose)

• Lipids: Stored as reserve energy and form structures.

– Examples: fatty acids (in the adipose tissue), cholesterol (in the
animal cell).
Adipose tissue (contains
lipids)
LIVING BEINGS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
• Proteins: Regulate vital functions, transport
substances, defend against infections, form
structures.
– Example: Hemoglobin, which transports oxygen.

• Nucleic Acids: Contain the hereditary information.

– Uses the information in order to produce proteins.
– Example: DNA (spiral ladder).
 LIVING BEINGS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
• VITAMINS
– Some are lipids and others are proteins.
– Should be integrated in the diet
• Example: Vitamin A from fish.
• Partial deficiency (illness)
• Total deficiency (can lead to death).

Oranges (vitamin C) Fish (vitamin A)

 LIVING BEINGS

3. Cellular Composition of
Living beings
 LIVING BEINGS
• The Cellular Theory of M. J. Schleiden and T.
Schwann:
– Living beings are formed of one or more cells.
– The cell is the smallest living unit with the ability to
feed itself, interact, and reproduce.
– All cells come from the division of other cells.
– Cells are the structural and functional units of all living
beings.
 LIVING BEINGS
4. Prokaryotic Cell
• Genetic material is dispersed in the cytoplasm.
• These cells do not have a nucleus.
• Generally more simple and smaller than other cells.
• Example: Bacteria
LIVING BEINGS

5. Animal and Plant Cells

(Eukaryotic Cells)
LIVING BEINGS
Animal Cell Eukaryotic Cells Plant Cell

Cell membrane

Nucleus

Cytoplasm

Vacuoles

Mitochondria
Chloroplasts

Cell Wall
Cell membrane
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6. LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION
 LIVING BEINGS
Unicellular: 1 cell that performs all functions.
• They can form colonies in which each cell continues carrying out all
cell functions.
• Example: Bacteria & green algae (Volvoz sp.)

Pluricellular: Many cells form these beings.

• Each cell performs a certain function.
• Together, all cells work so that the organism can carry out
its functions in order to live.

Jellyfish Sparrow
 LIVING BEINGS
• Levels of Organization
- Pluricellular organisms are organized into
distinct levels of organization.

- A level of organization represents one

organic structure. Thus, a higher level of
organization is more complex

tissues < organs < systems < aparatos

 LIVING BEINGS
Tissues: A set/mass of various cells that carry
out the same function.
• Example: Muscle tissue consists of muscle cells. the
function of the tissue is to contract and relax.

Organs: A group/mass of various tissues that act

together.
• Example: A muscle is an organ that contains muscle tissue,
nervous tissue, connective tissue, and blood tissue.

Systems: Formed by various organs (with the same

tissues).
• Example: the muscular system spans all of the muscles of the
body (various organs) and the tissue is always muscular. Other
systems?
LIVING BEINGS

7. Classification of Living
Beings
LIVING BEINGS
• CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING BEINGS
Diversity of Living Beings
- Size, shape, manner of eating, reproduction

The study of diversity means indentifying, grouping, & organizing

living beings: classifying them!

The science of classifiation is called TAXONOMY:

• It establishes a classification hierarchy that places living
beings in groups
• Each group includes smaller subgroups.
• Each group or subgroup is called a TAXON or a TAXONOMIC
CATEGORY
 LIVING BEINGS
• Most expansive taxon or group = KINGDOM
• Subgroups of a Kingdom = PHYLUM
• Each phylum includes CLASSES
• Each class consists of various ORDERS
• Each order can house various FAMILIES
• Each family contains various GENUSES
• Each genus can contain various SPECIES

KINGDOM >PHYLUM > CLASS > ORDER > FAMILY >

GENUS > SPECIES
 LIVING BEINGS
Example of the classification system
according to C. von Linneo:
-Animal Kingdom
-Chordate Phylum
-Mammals Class
-Feline Family
-Panthera Genus
-Pantheras pardus L. species
 LIVING BEINGS
8. The FIVE KINGDOMS
Living beings can be classified into 5 kingdoms.

Monera
Protoctista
Fungi
Animals
Plants
Hand activity
Kingdom Moneras Protoctistas Fungi Plants Animals

Number of
cells

Type of
Cell
Tissues

Nutrition

Organ-isms
Kingdom Moneras Protoctistas Fungi Plants Animals

Number of Unicellular Unicellular/ Unicellular/ Pluricellular Pluricellular

cells pluricellular pluricellular

Type of Prokaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic Eukaryotic

Cell
Tissues Without Without Without With With

Nutrition Auto/hete- Auto/hete- Heterotroph Autotroph Heterotroph

rotroph rotroph
Organ-isms Bacteria Algae/ Yeast/ Mold/ Moss/ Invertebrates
Protozoa Fungi that Ferns/ and
form Plants with Vertebrates
mushrooms flowers