What are the characteristics of life?
ALL living things have the following:
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Die! Have a finite life span
Grow & change over life
Reproduce
Breathe…exchange gases O2 & CO2
Not man-made…natural
Useful to other living things; edible, etc.
Evolve over LONG time…adapt
Consume food & H2O…use energy
Produce & excrete waste
Made of cells
Move
Respond to their environments
Made of the same chemicals: DNA-nucleic
acids, H2O, lipids (fats), carbohydrates
(sugars), proteins
 Homeostasis= internal balance
 Heal nonfatal wounds
** Living things are very different, yet the
same…life is diverse, yet similar (basic
principle of biology).
 Organism= any living thing on Earth
How is life classified?
 Living things are classified by shared
characteristics to make them easier to study
 Organisms are 1st classified by cell type,
ability to make food & # of cells:
1) Unicellular=one cell only! Or
multicellular=more than one cell (+1)
2) Prokaryote= NO nucleus so DNA floats
freely…unicellular only…very simple
organisms Or
eukaryote= HAS a nucleus in e@ cell that
holds DNA…unicellular or multicellular
(ALL multicelled are eukaryotic)…simple
to very complex organisms
3) Organisms that HUNT food=
heterotroph…animals or animal-like
Organisms that MAKE food=
autotroph…plants or plant-like (green!)
 Taxonomy=study of classifying
organisms...taxonomist= someone who does
taxonomy
What are the levels of the modern
classification system?
1) DOMAIN-3
 Bacteria-prokaryotic
 Archaea-prokaryotic
 Eukarya-eukaryotic
2) KINGDOM-4 eukaryotic kingdoms
 Protista-unicellular, no cell wall, auto or
heterotroph, have to live in moist areas; sea
weed
 Fungi-heterotroph; mushrooms, yeast &
mold
 Plants-(Plantae)-have cell wall,
multicellular autotrophs
 Animals-(Animalia)-no cell wall,
multicellular heterotrophs
3) PHYLUM (PHYLA=1+)
 2 plant kingdom phyla…vascular & non
vascular
 9 animal kingdom phyla…vertebrate & 8
different invertebrate
4) CLASS
 3 vascular plant classes…angiosperm,
gymnosperm & fern
 5 vertebrate animal classes…fish, mammals,
reptiles, birds, amphibians
5) ORDER-+++orders per class
6) FAMILY- +++families per order
7) GENUS- +++families per genus
8) SPECIES=one type of specific organism
= Group of organisms that can mate &
produce fertile offspring…babies can have
babies!
 The more levels two organisms share, the
more they have in common, the more
closely related they are…more levels
shared=closer relation btwn two organisms
 Move down levels=more characteristics in
common, less organisms there are in the
group
What did I learn from the video,
“AnimAl ClAssifiCAtion?”
 Classification is NOT a perfect science
 Aristotle made the first classification system
(ancient Greece)
 Latin does not change so it is the language of
classification
 Corolus Linnaeus developed the modern
classification system in 1750’s
 Corolus Linnaeus is Latin for Carl Von Linne
(changed his name b/c he loved Latin so much)
 Linnaeus created binomial nomenclature
 Linnaeus created K,C,O,F, G,S
 Horses & donkeys can mate= mule (infertile)
 Kids pick candy over fancy green
salads!=pneumonic device!
 Taxon=category
 # of kingdoms varies from 4 to 8 depending on who
is talking
 Binomial nomenclature is a two word name for an
organism made from the genus & species names
How does binomial nomenclature
work?
 Binomial nomenclature= two word name for an
organism…invented by Linnaeus
 AKA “scientific name”
 1st word is the genus name, 2nd word is a descriptive
word called the specific epithet
 both words are the species name
 organisms can have 1+ common names but only
one scientific name making it easier for scientists
from all over to communicate about an organism
 in Latin b/c it is dead language that does not
change
 capitalize the genus name, lowercase the 2nd word,
in italacs
 EX:
(diagram)
What are hybrid organisms?
 Hybrid organism= offspring of two different but
closely related species
 Have to be in the same genus for hybrid to be
possible
 Offspring are infertile=can’t have babies of their
own!
 NOT their own species! b/c (above!)
 Does NOT usually happen naturally…man has to
make it happen
 Examples: liger (lion x tiger), mule (donkey x
horse), grolar bear (grizzly x plolar), zebroids
(zebra x horse or donkey: zonkey, zorse), wolphin
(false killer whale x bottlenosed dolphin), wolfhybrid (wolf x dog), tigon (tiger x lion)
How do i “fix” A test?
 Only D or F scores can fix to get a C
 MC: write the correct answer as a statement
including “NOT (incorrect answer chosen)”
EX: #9
The unique two word name for an organism is binomial
nomenclature AKA scientific name, NOT binomial
nomenclature AKA nom de plume.
 T/F: write “It is true that (test statement) OR “It is
false that (test statement). (change the statement to
be true w/elaboration).
EX: #9
It is false that the unique two word name for an
organism is nom de plume. The unique two word name
for an organism is binomial nomenclature.