❖ The Nervous System

❖ The nervous system controls other parts of the body, receives information and
controls how you react, tells you what is going on in the world around you, and tells
your muscles how to contract to move the bones of your body.
❖ The basic unit of the nervous system is the nerve cell or the neuron. The nerve cells
are distributed all throughout the body. They are responsible for the transmission of
impulses in the different parts of the body.
❖ A stimulus is an agent or factor that triggers response in our body. An internal
stimulus comes from inside the body by which the brain sends signals to a specific
gland while an external stimulus comes from outside the body.
❖ The neurons are considered the basic unit of the nervous system. Neurons are
composed of three parts: the dendrite, cell body, and the axon.
❖ The dendrites are the short and highly branched part of the neuron that receive
information from a receptor organ or another neuron and transmit messages to the
cell body.
❖ The cell body or the soma contains the nucleus, mitochondria, and other cellular
organelles.
❖ The axon is the long and slender part of the neuron that conducts the information
away from the cell body.
❖ Neurons are usually grouped together in a bundle called a nerve.
❖ The axons of a neuron are usually covered by a fatty covering which is referred to as
the myelin sheath. It increased the rate at which impulses travel.
❖ In between the myelin sheath are the nodes of Ranvier. These nodes are where
impulses “hop on” as they travel along the myelinated axons.
❖ Sensory neurons carry messages from receptor organs such as skin, eyes, nose, ears,
and tongue to the nerve centers.
❖ Motor neurons have short dendrites and long axons. They receive information from
the nerve centers and transmit it to the effector organs.
❖ Interneurons connect a sensory neuron to a motor neuron.
❖ The gap between nerve cells is commonly known as the synapse.
❖ The central nervous system controls and coordinates the activities of the whole
nervous system. It is composed of the brain and spinal cord.
❖ The brain is the primary organ of the central nervous system contained within the
skull. It receives and interprets countless signals. It is divided into three parts, the
cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem.
❖ The cerebrum is divided into left and right hemispheres that are connected to each
other by the corpus callosum.
❖ The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for insight, 3D forms, art, music
awareness, imagination, and left-hand control.
❖ The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for number skills, written language,
reasoning, spoken language, scientific skills, and right-hand control.
❖ The cerebrum or the forebrain is the largest part of the brain. It is responsible for
higher thought processes such as memory, judgment. And reason. It processes
sensory data.
❖ The cerebellum is the second largest part of the brain. It controls muscle coordination,
maintains normal muscle tone and posture, and coordinates balance for locomotion.
❖ The brainstem is the part of the brain that connects with the spinal cord. It controls
involuntary activities like digestion, heartbeat, and breathing. It has three parts: the
midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata.
❖ The midbrain serves as a pathway for sensory information. It controls reflexes related
to sight and hearing.
❖ The medulla oblongata is located at the very base of the brain stem. It puts you in a
state of consciousness. It connects the other parts of the brain with the spinal cord. It
controls respiration, regulates, heartbeat, and causes blood vessels to contract or
expand.
❖ The peripheral nervous system contains all the nerves outside the brain and the
spinal cord. It carries impulses from the sensory nerves to the CNS and from the CNS
to the motor nerves.
❖ There are two types of nerves that carry impulses: the sensory nerves and the motor
nerves. The sensory nerves carry impulses from the stimulus to the CNS. Motor
neurons carry impulses from the central nervous system to activate the muscles in
the body.
❖ The sensory division transmits impulses from the receptor sense organs such as ears,
eyes, nose and tongue to the CNS.
❖ The motor division transmits impulses from the CNS to the muscles or glands
(effectors). They are further divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.
❖ The somatic nervous system includes all nerves controlling the muscular system and
external sensory receptors. It regulates the activities that are under conscious control.
❖ The autonomic nervous system consists of motor neurons that control internal
organs. It regulates activities that are automatic or involuntary. It is further subdivided
into the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.
❖ The sympathetic division is involved in the “fight or flight” response.
❖ The parasympathetic division is involved in the “rest or digest” response.
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❖ Classifying Vertebrates
❖ Biodiversity is referred to as the variety of living organisms in a certain environment.
❖ Vertebrates belong to one of the phyla of the animal kingdom called phylum
chordata. Animals under phylum chordata consist of a dorsal spinal cord running
along the entire length of their body.
❖ Warm-blooded animals or endothermic vertebrates have stable body temperature
even if they are in an extremely hot or cold environment.
❖ Ectothermic animals or cold-blooded animals cannot make their body temperature
stable and it changes with their environment.
❖ Mammals
- Their most unique characteristic is having a mammary gland.
- They are warm-blooded animals.
- The bodies of mammals are partly or completely covered with hair or fur.
- They are classified as eutherian or placental, marsupial, and monotremes.
- They breathe through their lungs.

● Monotremes - egg-laying mammals

● Marsupials - Pouched mammals. They are born at a very tiny, immature stage
● Placental/eutherian mammals - The largest and most successful mammals. Their
developing young are retained within the uterus of the female until embryonic
development is completed.

❖ Reptiles
- They are ectothermic vertebrates.
- Terrestrial animals
- Have dry scaly skin; others have shell
- Some are viviparous while others are oviparous

❖ Amphibians
- Cold-blooded animals that spend a part of their lives in water and on land
- Have smooth and moist skin without scales
- Young amphibians breathe through gills. As, they grow, their gills disappear and lungs
take their place
- There are two groups of amphibians, the tailed and tailless amphibians

● Tailed amphibians have long bodies and tails.

● Tailless amphibians have short, squat bodies and lack tails.
 ❖ Birds
- Endothermic organisms
- Have feathers and two pairs of limbs
- Have strong and lightweight bones that are adapted to flying

❖ Fishes
- Have vertebral column, jaws, paired fins, scales, gills, and a single-loop blood
circulation
- Have tails and paired fins on its back and on its belly that enables it to swim
- Almost all kinds of fishes are covered with scales.
- There are two types of fishes, the bony fishes, which are the largest group of
fish and have bony skeletons, paired fins, and protective overlapping scales
and the cartilaginous fishes that have flexible skeletons made up of cartilage
tissue.
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❖ Classifying Invertebrates
❖ Invertebrates are animals without backbone or vertebral column.
❖ Arthropods (joint-legged animals) - largest group in the animal kingdom. Three-
fourths of all known animals are arthropods. They have segmented bodies allowing for
complex movements. They have three main body regions: a head, thorax, and
abdomen. They also have an exoskeleton that provides a framework for support and
protects the body. They also have jointed appendages for feeding, sensing, and other
movements.
❖ Classification of Arthropods
❖ Insects
❖ They have six legs and a pair of antennae.
❖ They have 3 main body sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen
❖ They can undergo metamorphosis.
❖ Arachnids
❖ They have four pairs of walking legs or eight legs
❖ Have two body segments and no antennae.
❖ Some possess spinnerets which they spin threads into webs
❖ Some are equipped with poison glands
❖ Crustaceans
❖ Have five pairs of legs or ten legs
❖ Their bodies are made of up to 50 segments, but most only have 19
❖ Have two pairs of antennae
❖ Most live in marine waters
❖ Centipedes
❖ Also known as chilopods. Centipede means “hundred feet”
❖ Have 15 to 173 pairs of legs
❖ Have flattened bodies divided into head and trunk.
❖ They have a pair of poison claws called maxillepedes
❖ Millipedes
❖ Means a thousand feet
❖ Have cylindrical bodies consisting of 20 to 100 segments
❖ Have a single pair of antennae with 7 or 8 segments
❖ Have mouth parts that are adapted for chewing plants
❖ Walk in a graceful motion. They don’t have poisonous claws
❖ Feed on damp and decaying plants
❖ Protect themselves by curling up
❖ Other Invertebrates
❖ Mollusks (soft-bodied animals)
❖ They have soft bodies
❖ Classified into univalves, usually distributed as snails and slugs, bivalves, which are
enclosed into hinged shells, and cephalopods, the most motile out of the three.
Cephalopods tend to fend off predators with swift movements and black ink
❖ They are coelomate animals with bilateral symmetry
❖ Use rasping structure called radula to scrape food into the mouth
❖ Have open circulatory system
❖ Echinoderms (spiny-skinned animals)
❖ Radially symmetrical with spiny endoskeleton
❖ Have water vascular system and tube feet
❖ The strainer-like structure of echinoderm is called madreporite
❖ Almost all echinoderms have an internal skeleton that serves as supports and
protection
❖ Their movement varies based on body shape
❖ Movable bony plates in the endoskeleton enable them to move quickly
❖ Sponges (Pore-bearing animals)
❖ Members of the phylum porifera. They’re called poriferans due to the presence of
pores in their bodies.
 ❖ One of the simplest invertebrates due to the fact that they don’t have pores in their
bodies
❖ They have no tissues and organs and most have no symmetry
❖ All of them are aquatic
❖ They vary in shape and color
❖ Their skeleton is made up of tiny, needle-like structures called spicules. Spicule protect
them from animals that try to eat them
❖ Cnidarians (Stinging-cell animals)
❖ Capable of stinging through a cellular structure called nematocysts
❖ Exposure to stings can trigger anaphylactic shock or death
❖ Have one body opening and most have two layer cells. The outer layer protects the
inner layer and the inner layers functions mainly in digestion
❖ Have tissue and radial symmetry
❖ There are two general body forms of cnidarians: polyp and medusa. The polyp’s body
form is cylindrical with mouth and tentacles at the upper open end. The medusa is
shaped like an upside-down bowl. With the mouth and tentacles facing downwards.
❖ Platyhelminthes
❖ Also known as flatworms. They’re either free living or parasites.
❖ Have thin, flat bodies that resemble a ribbon
❖ Are hermaphrodites because they produce eggs and sperm cells.
❖ A tightly packed mass of cells called parenchyma fills the body between the
epidermis and intestine
❖ Groups of flatworm include planarians, tapeworms, and flukes
❖ Nematodes (roundworms)
❖ Unsegmented worms have long, thin, rounded bodies tapered at both ends and
covered by a tough cuticle
❖ They are parasitic
❖ Examples include hookworms, pinworms, and vinegar eels
❖ Annelids (Segmented Worms)
❖ Come from the Latin word annulus, which means little rings.
❖ Soft-bodied, bilaterally symmetrical and have a complete digestive system
❖ Have segmented bodies which are separated by the septum
❖ They perform cutaneous respiration, which means they exchange gas through their
skin
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 ❖ Components of an Ecosystem
❖ Ecosystem - composed of a community of different population of organisms that live
and interact with the abiotic factors of the environment.
❖ Kinds of Ecosystem
❖ Terrestrial Ecosystem - land based.
❖ Grassland
❖ Forests
❖ Desert
❖ Tundra
❖ Marine Ecosystem - water based
❖ Marine ecosystem
❖ Freshwater ecosystem
❖ Factors of an Ecosystem
❖ Biotic Factors - living things in an ecosystem.
1. Producers (Autotrophs) – living things that are able to make their own food from
compounds obtained in the environment.
2. Consumers (Heterotrophs) – organisms that cannot manufacture their own food and
depend on producers for their food and energy.
● Kinds of Consumers
- Herbivores – plant eaters. Comes from the Latin word herba, which means grass and
verare which means to eat.
- Carnivores – purely animal (meat) eaters. Comes from the Latin word arvies, which
means of the flesh, and verare which means to eat.
- Omnivores - Organisms that eat both plants and animals. Comes from the Latin
word omnis, which means all and verare which means to eat.
- Decomposers – organisms that use dead matter as food. They break down dead
organisms into simpler substances.
❖ Abiotic Factors - nonliving things in an ecosystem
❖ Sunlight
❖ Water
❖ Temperature
❖ Air
❖ Salinity
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❖ Classification of Plants
❖ Bryophytes - Nonvascular plants. They are small and have no true roots, stem, and
leaves. Include moss, liverwort, and hornwort. They usually grow in moist areas
❖ Tracheophytes - vascular plants. They have true roots, stems, and leaves. They are
equipped with vascular tissues such as xylem (water carrying) and phloem (food
carrying)
❖ Vascular plants are further classified into vascular seed plants and vascular seedless
plants.
❖ Vascular seedless plants - include ferns and clubmosses. They use other means to
develop new plants as they do not have seeds
❖ Vascular seed plants - are most widely distributed throughout the earth. They
produce seeds. Each seed contains a sporophyte surrounded by protective tissue.
They are further classified into gymnosperm and angiosperms.
❖ Gymnosperms - plants whose seeds are not part of the fruit. They are also known as
cone-bearing plants.
❖ Angiosperms - They are further classified into monocot and dicot. A cotyledon is the
first leaf developed by the embryo of a seed plant
❖ Monocots - have only one cotyledon
❖ Dicots - have two cotyledons
❖ They differ in the number of cotyledons, leaf venation, vascular bundle, petals, and
root system.
❖ Plant Reproduction
❖ Flowering Plants (Angiosperms) - they develop flowers over time
❖ Parts of a Flower
- Sepals - leaf-like structures that protect the flower bud. They comprise the
calyx
- Petals - colorful structures of a flower. They attract pollinators. Petals and
sepals are attached to the flower stalk called peduncle
- Stamen - the male reproductive organ of a flower. It is composed of the anther
and filament. The anther holds pollen grains.
- Pistil - the female reproductive organ of the flower. It is composed of the
stigma, style, and ovary. The stigma is where pollination occurs, the style
connects the stigma to the ovary, and the ovary is the part that turns into fruit.

❖ Cone-bearing plants (Gymnosperms)- They produce seeds in cones. Their seeds are
naked seeds as they are not covered with fruits. An example of a gymnosperm is a
conifer. The reproductive structure of conifers develop in cones.
❖ Seedless Vascular Plants
 - Ferns are seedless plants. They do not make seeds in flowers or cones; instead,
they reproduce through a spore.
- Fern has leaves, roots, and stem but has split leaves called fronds. A frond is a
mature fern leaf.
- On the underside of the fern are rows of brown spots called spore cases. They
form in a structure called sporangium, and a cluster of sporangia form a sorus.
- Young fern leaves are called fiddleheads
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❖ Tropical Rainforests
❖ Tropical rainforests are very dense, warm, and wet forests located in the band of
equator, mostly in the Tropic of Cancer. They are found in South America, Australia,
West Africa, West Africa, Southern India, and Southeast Asia. It is the biome which
possibly has the highest biodiversity in our planet.
❖ Components of a Tropical Rainforest
- Climate
- Rain
- Soil
- Plants
- Animals
❖ Layers of a Rainforest
1. Emergents - composed of tall giant trees that are much higher than the
average canopy height. The trees here take up a lot of sunlight
2. Canopy - has tall slender trees from a dense platform of vegetation with 60 to
130 feet from the ground
3. Understory - has a dark and cool environment with very high humidity and
constant shade. Plants have broad and large leaves so that they can capture
what little lights get through the canopy.
4. Forest floor - in deep shade and plant life is thin.
❖ Interactions in a Rainforest
1. Mutualism - two organisms living together both benefit from the association
2. Commensalism - interaction where one organism benefits and the other one is
neither benefited or harmed
3. Predation - the consumption of one organism
4. Cooperation - organisms cooperate with each other for their survival
❖ Importance of Forests
 - They provide habitat for plants and animals. They also serve as watersheds.
Forests help prevent soil erosion and floods in low-lying areas. They also play a
major role in maintaining global climate.

● Explanations
● How do insects differ from arachnids?
Insects have six jointed legs and 3 body segments while arachnids have eight jointed
legs and 2 segments.
● How are birds similar to and different from fishes, amphibians and some other
reptiles?
They are all vertebrates but birds are warm-blooded, but fish, amphibians, and reptiles
are cold-blooded.
● What are the characteristics of arthropods?
They have segmentations in their bodies, exoskeleton, and jointed appendages.
● How do roundworms, flatworms, and annelids differ?
They differ in body structure and shape, number of openings, and mode of living.
● Why are reflexes important for the survival of an organism?
They make you respond to stimuli rapidly. It is important especially in avoiding
accidents.
● Do we benefit from invertebrates? How?
Yes. They contribute to fertility of soil and balancing the ecosystem. Some invertebrates
are also sources of food.
● Why are many tropical rainforests able to support so many species?
The abundance of energy from plant vegetation supports organisms. It offers sources of
food, shelter, and hiding places, providing interaction between different species.
● What prevent plant growth beneath the trees in a thick forest?
The lack of sunlight being blocked by the canopy and understory prevent plant growth
beneath them.
● You found an animal on the forest soil that has two body sections, no antennae,
and large pincers as a second pair of appendages. What type of animal is it?
Why?
It is an arthropod because it has pincers and body sections.
● What is the importance of vascular tissue to plants that live on land?
They help absorb and deliver water and nutrients to the different parts of the plants.
 ● In what way does soil help the survival of plants?
They support the plant’s structure, and they provide nutrients and water.