SSHS Biology
Introduction to Biology Unit Topic 2
Intro to Bio
Diversity of Life
Topical Understanding
Living things display both unity and diversity. All living things exhibit the
characteristics of life, yet they solve the problems of life in many different ways.
Life exists in many different forms and varieties. This diversity occurs at many
levels: ecosystem, species and genetic.
To study the diversity of life, biologists use systematics to name organisms and
group them into categories that represent lines of evolutionary descent.
Essential Questions
 Why do humans group and classify?
 How many different types of life are there?
 How can we organize the diversity of life so we can study it?
Areas of Focus
= Diversity of Life
= Systematics
C. Gay Revised 8/05/15
SSHS Biology
Introduction to Biology Unit Topic 2
Knowledge and Skills
= Systematics
 Taxonomy
 Binomial nomenclature
 Linnaeus’s System of Classification
 Modern systems of classification
o Domain
 Bacteria
 Archaea
 Eukarya
o Kingdom
 Eubacteria
 Archaebacteria
 Protista
 Fungi
 Plantae
 Animalia
o Phylum or Division
o Class
o Order
o Family
o Genus
o Species
Biology Textbook Reference
Chapter 18.1 pp. 446-450
Chapter 18.3 pp. 457-463
= Naturalist Skills
 Identify organisms using dichotomous keys
 Justify the Kingdom placement of an organism in a using its characteristics
 Compare the structure of an organism’s skull with the way it obtains its nutrition
 Observe natural objects from various perspectives and scales, and record accurate data
C. Gay Revised 8/05/15