Classification and variation

Living things are put into groups so that they can be studied more easily.
Grouping in this way is called classification. The largest groups in the
classification system for living things are called kingdoms. For example
plants and animals are divided into plant kingdom and animal kingdom.

Plant kingdom Animal kingdom

Make their own food from air
,water, sunlight and chemical in the
soil
Body contains cellulose for support
Have the green pigment chlorophyll
Stay in one place
Cannot make their own food-eat
plants and animals
Body does not contain cellulose
Do not have chlorophyll
Move about

Dividing up the animal kingdom

The subgroups of the animal kingdom can be put into two groups called the
invertebrates and the vertebrates. The invertebrates do not have an inside
skeleton of cartilage or bone. Vertebrates do have an inside skeleton of
cartilage or bone. These two groups can be divided further.

Groups of invertebrates
The main subgroups of invertebrates are the jellyfish, flatworms, annelids
worms, nematode worms, arthropods , molluscs and echinoderms.

Annelids

Annelids have long , thin, soft bodies divided into segments or rings
Nematodes

Nematodes have thin, cylindrical bodies that are not divided into segments.

Arthropods

The name arthropod means jointed leg. All arthropods have a skeleton on the
outside of their body and jointed legs

There are four major subgroups of arthropods, called classes:

- Myriapods- have one pair of antennae and long cyrindrical or flat bodies
with many legs. The centipedes and millipedes are in this group.
- Crustaceans – like the lobster and woodlouse have two pairs of antennae
- Arachnids – do not have antennae or wings but have four pair of legs.
Spiders ,mites , ticks and scorpions belong to this group.
- Insects have one pair of antennae, three pairs of legs and up to two pairs of
wings.
Molluscs

The molluscs group gets its name from the latin word mollis which means soft.
This refers to the soft bodies of the animals. Most molluscs have a shell to protect
their body. A snail has a coiled shell from which it pushes out its head and fleshy
foot when it wishes to move and feed. The slug also has a smell shell, but it is
under the saddle like structure called the mantle on its back and does not provide
protection.

Vertebrates

In vertebrates group are five major classes. They are the fish , amphibians, reptiles,
birds and mammals

Bony fish
Amphibians

Reptiles

Birds
Mammals

Each class is divided up into smaller groups called the orders. The members of
each order have so many features in common that they look alike and are easy to
group. There are 19 orders of mammals eg insectivores , bats, rodents and whales.

An order is made up of smaller groups called families. The members of the

different families look similar but there are differences. This can be seen by
looking quite closely as shown in the four families of whales i.e beaked whales,
sperm whale, dolphin and white whale. The members of a family have differences
between them and are split up into smaller groups called genera. The differences
between members of each genus are found by looking very closely.

The plant kingdom

The plant kingdom is divide into five groups – the algae, liverworts and mosses,
ferns, conifers and flowering plants.

Algae

Algae are very simple plants. They do not have roots, stems or leaves but they do
contain the green pigment or colouring called chlorophyll, which is characteristic
of all plants. Some of the largest species- the seaweeds- also have red pigments and
brown pigments.

Liverworts and mosses

Liverworts are small plants that do not have true roots, stems or leaves. They grow
in damp places near streams and ponds. Mosses have stems and leaves but they do
not have proper roots. Moss plants are usually found growing together in many
different habitats from dry walls to damp soil. Both liverworts and mosses
reproduce by producing spores. They make the spores in a capsule that is raised
into the air. When the capsule opens the spores are carried away by air currents.
Ferns

Ferns have true roots and stems and reproduce by making spores. These are made
in structures called sporangia on the underside of large feather-like leaves called
fronds. When sporangia open, the spores are released into the air.

Conifers

A conifer has roots, a woody stem and needle like leaves. Most conifers lose and
replace their leaves all year round so they are called evergreen. Almost all conifers
reproduce by making seeds that develop in cones. When the seeds are ready to be
dispersed the cones open and the seeds fall out. Each seed has a wing that prevents
the seed falling quickly and allows it to be blown away by the wind.
Flowering plants

A flowering plant has a root, stem and leaves. In some plants , the stem is woody.
All of these plants reproduce by flowering and making seeds.

VARIATION

Many living things have certain features in common. For example, a cat, a monkey
and a rabbit all have ears and a tail. However these features vary from one kind of
animal to the next. The external parts of the ears of the rabbit are no longer than
the ears of the cat. The external parts of the monkey ears are on the side of its head
while the other two animals have them on top. The cat and the monkey have long
tails but the monkeys tail is prehensile, which means the monkey can wrap it
around a branch for support while it hangs from a tree to collect fruit.

Variation within a species

The individuals in a species are not identical. Each one differs from all the others
in many small ways. For example one person may have dark hair,blue eyes and
ears with lobes while another person may have fair hair, brown eyes and ears
without the lobes. Another person may have different combinations of these
features. There are two kinds of variations that occur in a species. They are
continuous variation and discontinuous variation.

Continuous variation

A feature that shows continuous variation may vary in only a small amount from
one individual to the next but when the variations of a number of individuals are
compared they form a wide range. Examples include the range of values seen in
heights or body masses.

Discontinuous variation

A feature that shows discontinuous variation shows a small number of distinct

conditions such as being male or female and having ear lobes or no lobes. There is
not a range of values between the two, as there is between a short person and a tall
person, for example. However there are very few examples of discontinuous
variation in humans.
Variation and the environment

The environment can affect the features of a living organisms. For example, if
some seedlings of a plant are grown in the dark and some in the light, they will
have different features. Those grown in the dark will be tall, spindly and have
yellow leaves, while those grown in the light will have shorter, firmer stems with
larger leaves that are green

Lack of minerals in the soil can affect the colour and structure of the leaves. For
example, the presence of lime in the soil affects the colour of hydrangea flowers. If
the soil contains lime, the flowers are pink. If the soil is lime free , the flowers are
blue.

The food an animal eats often affects variation within the species. If the
environment does not provide enough food, adult animals become thin and have
smaller body mass. Young animals grow slowly so they look smaller than other
members of the species who have enough food and are the same age.