CLASSIFICATION AND ORGANIZATION OF LIFE

What is Classification?

The method of arranging the organisms into groups is called classification. When we classify things, we
put them into groups based on their characteristics.

What is the importance of classification?

(i) It helps in studying wide variety of living organisms.

(ii) It provides a clear picture of all life forms before us.
(iii) It helps in understanding the inter-relationship among different groups of organisms.
(iv) It provides a base for the development of other biological sciences.

How are organisms classified?

Organisms were first classified by a Swedish naturalist called Linnaeus in a way that allows the
subdivision of living organisms into smaller and more specialised groups

● The sequence of classification is: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

The species in these groups have more and more features in common the more subdivided they get.
The Five Kingdoms
The first division of living things in the classification system is to put them into one of five kingdoms.
They are:

o Animals
o Plants
o Fungi
o Protoctists
o Prokaryotes

Kingdom Animals
Main features of all animals:

o they are multicellular

o their cells contain a nucleus but no cell walls or chloroplasts
o they feed on organic substances made by other living things
o they DO NOT have cell wall and Chloroplast and cannot carry out photosynthesis
o Animals usually have nerves or nervous systems for coordination, and they are able to
move from place to place.

A typical animal cell

Kingdom Plantae
Main features of all plants:

o they are multicellular

o their cells contain a nucleus, chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls
o they all make food by photosynthesis
o they have a large central vacuole

A typical plant cell

Kingdom Fungi
● Main features of all fungi (e.g. moulds, mushrooms, yeast)
o usually multicellular
o cells have nuclei and cell walls not made from cellulose
o Cell wall are made up of Chitin
o do not photosynthesize but feed by saprophytic (on dead or decaying material) or
parasitic (on live material) nutrition
o Some fungi are pathogens

o Some fungal long thread-like filaments or tubes known as hyphae to absorb

nutrients from the environment and transport them to other parts of fungal body.

A typical fungal cell

Kingdom Protoctists
Main features of all Protoctists (e.g. Amoeba, Paramecium, Plasmodium)
o most are unicellular but some are multicellular
o all have a nucleus, some may have cell walls and chloroplasts
o meaning some protoctista photosynthesise and some feed on organic
substances made by other living things
o Some protoctista are pathogens. For example, Plasmodium is the pathogen that causes
malaria.

Two examples of protoctist cells

Kingdom Prokaryotes
Main features of all Prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)

o often unicellular - microscopic single-celled organisms

o cells have cell walls made up of polysaccharides and proteins (not made of cellulose)
and cytoplasm but no nucleus or mitochondria
o They DO NOT have a nucleus, but instead they have a circular chromosome of DNA.
o They may also have small extra circles of DNA called plasmids.

A typical bacterial cell

Classifications Of Animals
Animals are classified into

- Vertebrates: Vertebrates are organisms which have an internal backbone

surrounded by bone, also called vertebrae. They have a hard skeleton made of bone that supports
the body's tissue and anchor muscle.

- Invertebrates: Invertebrates are animals without spines. Invertebrates are

sometimes (mistakenly) thought of as primitive because of their lack of developed organs.
Main Features of Each Class of Animals.
Invertebrates
● One of the morphological characteristics used to classify invertebrates is whether they have legs
or not
● All invertebrates with jointed legs are part of the phylum Arthropods
● They are classified further into the following classes:
Classifying Plants
● The plant kingdom is classified into two types.

Flowering Plants - Angiosperms

Non Flowering Plants - Gymnosperms

GYMNOSPERMS: Non Flowering Plants include Ferns:

● Have leaves called fronds

● Do not produce flowers but instead reproduce by spores produced on the underside of fronds
● Ferns reproduce by spores found in the underside of their fronds

Ferns reproduce by spores found in the underside of their fronds

ANGIOSPERMS:Flowering plants:
● Reproduce sexually by means of flowers and seeds
● Seeds are produced inside the ovary found at the base of the flower
● Can be divided into two groups – monocotyledons and dicotyledons

How to distinguish between monocotyledons and dicotyledons:

1) FLOWERS

● Flowers from monocotyledons contain petals in multiples of 3

● Flowers from dicotyledons contain petals in multiples of 4 or 5

2) LEAVES

● Leaves from monocotyledons have parallel leaf veins

● Leaves from dicotyledons have reticulated leaf veins (meaning that they are all interconnected
and form a web-like network throughout the leaf)

Wheat plants are monocotyledons Sunflowers are dicotyledons

Comparing monocots and dicots

  
Viruses
Features of Viruses

● Viruses are not part of any classification system as they are not considered living things
● They do not carry out the seven life processes for themselves, instead they take over a host
cell’s metabolic pathways in order to make multiple copies of themselves
● Virus structure is simply genetic material (RNA or DNA) inside a protein coat