Animals are living organisms composed of numerous species living in a variety of habitats .

Animals
are generally classified as vertebrates and invertebrates.

 Vertebrates - Animals with backbones .

 Classification of Vertebrates

 Invertebrates - animals that do not have any backbones or bony skeleton.

There are about 1, 305, 250 species of invertebrate animals that currently exists, which
makes up of about 97 percent of all animals. So they are considered as the largest
group of animals around the world.
 Eight groups of Invertebrates
1. Porifera are aquatic animals which has pores or holes all over their bodies .
Their holes are called ostia and it serves as a passageway of water that circulates
throughout their body to bring in food, nutrients and gases. Sponges or pore-
bearing animals belong in this group.
2. Coelenterates are soft-bodied or hollow-bodied animals with two layers of cells
which form a hollow tube that are organized into tissues.
Examples: jellyfish, hydra, coral and sea anemone.
3. Platyhelminthes have long, flattened bodies that look like ribbons . Flatworms
belong to this group. They have no digestive system so it absorbs nutrients from
digested material in the host’s intestine.
Tapeworms and flukes are examples of flatworms. They are parasitic worms
that depends on its host for food and shelter. Tapeworms lives in the human
intestine while Flukes stay in the liver.
4. Nematoda (Nematodes) have bodies that are long, thin, round and pointed at
one or both ends. Roundworms belong to this group. They are more complex
than flatworms because their digestive tract has two openings.
Some of the roundworms are decomposers and some of them are also parasites.
Examples: ascaris (lives in the intestine), hookworm (enters the human body
through piercing the skin and feet) and heartworm (pierces through the heart of
an animal).
5. Annelida (Annelids) are segmented worms and the most complex among the
worms. Their bodies are made up of repeating segments that makes the worm
flexible.

Earthworms and Leeches are the examples of annelids. Earthworms have more
than 100 body segments and are covered with a thin layer of mucus to keep
them moist.
6. Mollusca (Mollusks) are invertebrates that has soft bodies and usually has
shells to protect their bodies.
Examples: squids, octopuses and slugs. While snails, clams, mussels and
oysters have shells.
7. Echinoderms are sea animals that has a spiny skin with various lengthsthat
cover the outside part of their bodies. They have a simple nervous system but
don’t have brains or heads. Starfish, sea urchin, sea cucumber, sun star and sand
dollar are the most common examples of this group.
8. Arthropods are joint-legged animals. The term arthropod come from “arthros”
meaning jointed, and “poda” meaning foot. Their bodies and legs are made up of
sections. They have an outside shell called an exoskeleton. It protects and
supports the body and reduces water loss. Arthropods are divided into four
groups:
a. Crustaceans – have a hard outer body covering divided into sections.
E.g. shrimps, crabs and lobsters
b. Insects – are six-legged animals or have three pairs of walking legs,a pair
of antennae and one or two pairs of wings. They have three body regions:
head, thorax and abdomen. They change their form as they mature, it is
called metamorphosis. Butterflies, bees, ants and beetles undergo
metamorphosis. E.g. cockroaches, termites, grasshoppers, fireflies, wasps
and ladybugs.
c. Arachnids – are eight-legged animals or have four pairs of walking legs.
They weave webs to trap their prey like spiders. Scorpions paralyzes their
prey with venom from their stinger. Other e.g. mites & ticks.
d. Myriapods – are animals which has many legs. They are the Millipedes
(diplopods) that have two pairs of legs per body segment, generally from
47 to 197 legs and the Centipedes (chilopods) that have one pair of legs
per body segment, around 47 to 197 legs. Believe it or not, they can
regrow their legs if they lose them.
 Ecosystem includes all the relationships of the plants and animals in a community. It is made
up of two parts, the living environment, and the non-living environment.
 Components of an Ecosystem

1. Abiotic elements are the non-living physical and chemical parts of the
ecosystem that affect the living components in an environment. Abiotic elements
include physical conditions and non-living resources that affect living things in
terms of growth, reproduction and survival.
Examples of abiotic or non-living things are water, sunlight, temperature,
atmosphere, soil and rocks.

2. Biotic elements (Plants, Animals and Microorganisms) are the living

components of the environment that affect another living organism in an
ecosystem. Biotic elements include both animals that consume other organisms
within their ecosystems, and the organisms that is being consumed. Living things
are typically sorted into three main categories:
a. Producers – most plants are producers. They use sunlight, water, carbon
dioxide and soil nutrients to make their own food through the process
called photosynthesis.
b. Consumers – is an organism that feeds on plants and other animals for
food. There are three types of consumers; herbivores (plant eaters),
carnivores (meat eaters), and omnivores (plant and animal eaters).
c. Decomposers – is an organism, often a bacteria, fungi, or invertebrate
that feeds on and breaks down dead plants and animals, making organic
nutrients available to the ecosystem.

 Types of Ecosystem
1. Tropical Rainforest Ecosystem – is a very warm, dense and wet forest mostly
in the places with Tropical climates. Most tropical rainforests in the world are
found in Southeast Asia, Southern India, West Africa, Australia, and South
America. The Philippines has tropical rainforests since it is a country located near
the equator. The tropical rainforest consists of trees and other plants. The big
leaves of trees cover each other forming shades for the organisms living in the
forest. The forest floor remains shaded keeping the forest soils moist.
Some examples of animals that live in tropical rainforests are chimpanzees,
orangutans, elephants, bats, birds, insects and snakes.
Some examples of plants that grow in tropical rainforests are trees, shrubs,
mosses, ferns, creeping plants, and orchids.
Layers of the Rainforest
a. Canopy. The canopy has tall slender trees from a dense platform of
vegetation. It is the home of a large biodiversity of plants and animals. It is
where most animals live because most of the food is available here.
Animals that live in this layer
a. spiders c. monkeys e. toucans g. parrots
b. lemurs d. sloth f. orangutans
b. Understory. It has a dark and cool environment with very high humidity
with constant shade. The plants that live here have broad and large leaves
so that they can capture what little light gets through the canopy.
c. Forest Floor. It is in deep shade and plant life is thin. It receives little light,
because it is blocked by the upper layer of the forest. It consists of fungi,
insects, worms, and litter from tall trees. Jaguars, tigers, and cassowaries
also live here.
2. Coral Reef Ecosystem – is an interactive area of coral reef development
surrounding many individual reefs and other habitat. A coral reef ecosystem
covers from the shorelines of tropical islands and coasts to the deep blue waters
of the open sea. It includes the marine life in the sea and the non-living part of
the ecosystem.
Coral reefs are formed by aquaticanimals and plants, and the interaction of
abiotic factors. Non-living factors include the movement of water, penetration of
light, deepness of the sea, and other factors that affect the coral species growth
forms and development.

Some examples of marine life that grows in the coral reef ecosystem are sea
turtles, fishes, manatees, stone crabs, lobsters, sponges, mollusks, crustaceans
and echinoderms.

Categories of Coral reefs

1. Fringing Reefs. It is formed near islands where water is shallow.
2. Barrier reefs. Stand between the open sea and a lagoon.
3. Coral Atolls. It is a circular reef with open water at the center.

3. Mangrove Swamp Ecosystem – is a saltwater wetland that is dominated by

woody plants such as shrubs or trees. It is an ecosystem that has plants (mostly
mangroves) and animals like crustaceans and migratory birds. Mangroves are an
important part of the coastal and marine ecosystem.
Brackish water (saltwater and fresh water mixed together) is an important
abiotic component for a healthy mangrove swamp ecosystem. Mangrove plants
have tangled roots that are often exposed above water. The roots of the
mangrove plants are adapted to strain saltwater. Their leaves can expel salt,
allowing them to survive where other land plants cannot. A variety of marine and
terrestrial life are found among the mangroves.
Examples are fishes, crustaceans, oysters, mussels, shrimps and crabs. Others
include a mangrove monitor lizard, saltwater crocodile, egret and other migratory
birds such as pelicans, spoonbills and bald eagles.

Types of Mangrove Roots

a. Radiating Cable Roots. Type of roots that anchors mangrove trees. It
grows stilts that hold the trunk and leaves above the water.
b. Nutritive Roots. These roots absorb nutrients from the rich soil or mud
to nourish the tree.
c. Prop Roots. Type of root that has breathing holes that collect air for the
plant.

The root system of mangroves is adapted to absorb oxygen, water and the
needed nutrients in order to survive. Mangroves provide habitat and sources of
food for diverse animals.

We have the Oysters, mollusks, barnacles and wood borers. These animals are
dependent on the mangrove for their source of food and habitat.

Fishes stay in mangroves during the nursery stage and swim towards coral reefs
in later stages.

We also have the crustaceans, and arthropods. They find shelter in the
mangrove forest, especially Crabs and mollusks have a significant role in the food
 chain of the mangrove ecosystem. They help break down plant litter through
grazing.

 Interactions in the Ecosystem

 Food web is composed of a series of overlapping food chains. It shows how different
types of organisms living in the same habitat depend on one another for food.
 Food chain is a one-way route of feeding relationship among organisms. It shows
what organisms eat. It is a way of showing how energy from food passes from one
organism to another.

 Types of Interactions in the Ecosystem

 Symbiosis – Interaction of organisms in a number of ways not only among their own
kind but also between and among different organisms.
1. Mutualism – it is an interaction between two organisms living together wherein
both benefit from the relationship . An example of mutualism is the bee and the
flower. Bees fly from flower to flower to get nectar for food benefitting the bees.
When bees land on flower, they get some pollen on their hairy bodies, and when
they land in the next flower, some of the pollen from the first one falls off,
pollinating the plant. In this relationship, the bees get to eat, and the flowering
plants gets to reproduce.
2. Commensalism – it is an interaction in which one type of organism benefits
while the other organism is not affected. The organism that benefits uses the
other for a purpose other than food. This type of interaction occurs between two
organisms in which one organism benefits while the other organism is neither
benefitted nor harmed. A Bird that lives in a hollow tree is an example of
commensalism. The presence of the bird does not harm the tree, but the tree
provides the bird shelter and protection.
3. Predation – it is an interaction in which one organism (the predator) consumes
or kill another organism (the prey) for food . It is the consumption of one living
organism by another organism. It is also known as the predator-prey
relationship. Examples of predator and prey are lion and zebra, bear and fish and
fox and rabbit. In the relationship, the prey gets eaten and killed while the
predator survives.
4. Parasitism – it is an interaction in which one organism (the parasite) benefits,
while the other organism (the host) is harmed . It is a kind of hunter-prey
relationship. In this interaction, the parasite depends on another organism for
food, protection and reproduction. Many types of animals are parasites, at least
during some stages of their life. Most organisms are also host to one or more
parasite. Some parasites live on the surface of their host. Others live inside their
host. An example of parasitism is when fleas or ticks (parasite) live on dogs or
cats (host) for food.
5. Competition – is an interaction in which organisms fight for a common resource
that is usually limited in supply. It occurs in different plants and animals in the
ecosystem. Population of plants and animals can grow when their needs are met.
But when populations in an ecosystem have the same needs and use the same
resources, the supplies become limited, and competition exists. An example
among animals could be the case of cheetahs and lions.