1. Movement - an action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of position
or place.
2. Respiration - the chemical reactions in cells that breakdown nutrient molecules and
release energy for metabolism.
3. Sensitivity - the ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external environment
and to make appropriate responses.
A stimulus is any change either internal or external which leads to a response.
4. Growth - a permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number or cell
size or both.
Development - increase in complexity.
5. Reproduction - the process that makes more of the same kind of organism.
6. Excretion - removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism, toxic materials
and substances in excess of requirements.
7. Nutrition - taking in materials for energy, growth and development.
Explain that the sequences of bases in DNA and of amino
acids in proteins are used as a more accurate means of
classification.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the cell's hereditary material
and contains instructions for development, growth and
reproduction. DNA is passed from generation to generation
in humans and many other organisms.
•As technology advanced, microscopes, knowledge of biochemistry and eventually DNA
sequencing allowed us to classify organisms using a more scientific approach
•Studies of DNA sequences of different species show that the more similar the base
sequences in the DNA of two species, the more closely related those two species are (and
the more recent in time their common ancestor is)
1 Animals
• They are multicellular
• Get their nutrition from feeding on other organisms (heterotrophic)
• They are capable of movement
• Store sugar as glycogen
2 Plants
• They are multicellular
• Cells contain chloroplasts
• Carry out photosynthesis and therefore make their own food (autotrophic)
• Have cellulose cell walls
• Store sugar as starch
3 Fungi
• Can be multicellular or unicellular
• Cell wall made of chitin
• Made of a network of fibers called mycelium of hyphae
• Feed by saprophytic nutrition using extracellular enzymes
4 Protoctista
• A strange collection of simple organisms that do not fit into the other groups therefore
often known as the ‘dustbin’ kingdom
• Mostly single celled
• E.g. protozoa like amoeba or Algae
5 Prokaryotes
• Small single celled organisms
• Three basic shapes: spheres, rods and spirals.
• Cell wall made of polysaccharides and proteins (peptidoglycan)
• Some have a capsule or slime layer
• Has no nucleus
• Some species have flagella
• Some contain plasmids (loops of DNA) which we can use in genetic engineering