Section A
At Grouping living organisms
By the end of this topic you will
be able to:
® recognise the characteristics of
living organisms
e observe living organisms in
your environment
® record your observations in
table format.
A Figure 1.1.1 Coral reefs are home to
thousands of living organisms. How
many can you find in the photo?
In biology, we study living things (organisms) and
we compare them to find out how they are similar or
different. In this unit, you will work inside and outside
the classroom to observe living organisms and record
what you find out.
A1.1 Observing living organisms
The Earth is home to millions of living plants and animals (organisms). We
don’t know exactly how many types of organism there are, but about 1.8
million different living things have been found, described and named so far.
New organisms are being found all the time.
Characteristics of living organisms
Living organisms look different from each other and they range in size from
microscopic, single-celled bacteria to giant trees and whales. However all
living organisms share some characteristics. These are:
e Reproduction - living organisms are able to produce new organisms like
themselves.
e Nutrition - plants make food, animals take in food.
Respiration -the cells in living organisms release energy from food,
often this involves oxygen.
Growth -living organisms develop and increase in size.
Excretion - living organisms get rid of waste produced in cells.
Movement - plants move by growing, animals move from place to place.
Sensitivity - living organisms interact with their surroundings and
respond to them.
Making observations
Scientists use their scientific knowledge and their senses to observe things
in the world around them. For example, a scientist might notice that the
banana trees growing on one side of the road were much bigger than the
banana trees growing on the other side of the road. The scientist has made
an observation.
When you observe living organisms, you will focus on their visible
characteristics. Visible characteristics are the things you can see. For example,
colour, shape, size, number of limbs, whether the body surface is smooth,
hairy or scaly, and so on.
Different species
In biology, a species is a group of organisms that share physical
characteristics. For example, parrots and frigate birds both belong to the bird
family but they are different species of birds. The organisms in a species have
similar biological features that allow them to reproduce with each other.
Grouping living organisms Observing living organisms

Members of one species cannot interbreed with members of another species

and produce fertile offspring.

Naming organisms
Living things are often given different names. For example, the fruit of the
Melicoccus bijugatus tree is called an ‘ackee’ in Barbados. In Jamaica, people
call these fruits ‘guineps’ and they call the fruit of the Blighia sapida tree an
‘ackee’. This can get very confusing, so scientists use a system of two-part
Latin names to precisely name and identify different species. The two-part
naming system is called the binomial system. In the trees named above,
the first part of the Latin name is the genus and the second part is the
speciesof the tree.
It is important to understand how organisms are named in biology.
However for your work in this course, you can use the common names of
organisms.

IS Practical activity
Observing living organisms
Your teacher may use this activity to assess: ORR

1 Find an area outside the classroom where there are living organisms.
Observe the area and list:
a_ the living organisms in the area
fs the non-living components of the area.
2 Copy the table below. Choose two animals in your area that are quite
different. Write their names in the correct place at the top of the table.
Observe the animals closely and record what you observe in the table.
Observed characteristics Animal 1 | Animal 2

Habitat (where does it live?)

Conditions it prefers
Size (estimate its size)
Shape
Body covering
Body parts
Food (what does it eat?)
How does it eat?
Type of movement
What does it use to move?
Why does it move?

3 Use your table to find three similarities and three differences between
the two animals you observed. ) Key fact
& Plants are also living organisms. Draw up your own table that lists the
characteristics you could observe in plants. Insects make up aroundhalfof the
named and described organisms
a Choose two different local plants to observe and record their
(plants and animals) on Earth. In
characteristics using your own table. fact about threequarters of the
b List five differences between plants and animals. known animals are insects.
Identifying and grouping organisms Grouping living organisms

We can say that all living organisms are similar in some ways. Name
three ways in which all living organisms are similar.
2 How do you decide whether something is living or non-living?
3 Scientists have discovered over 600 new types of beetleliving on one
type of tree in Costa Rica.
a How do you think the scientists knew these 600 organismswere all
beetles?
bb How do you think they worked out that the 600 types ofbeetle were
all different?
© What system would the scientists have used to name the beetles?
Explain how this system prevents confusion over names.

A1.2 Identifying and grouping organisms

By the end of this topic you will
be able to: The science of classification is called taxonomy.
® observe living organisms in Scientists have classified all known living organisms by placing them in
your environment five main groups called kingdoms. Table 1.2.1 shows the names of the five
e classify living organisms kingdoms, the characteristics that organisms in each kingdom share and
according to physical some examples of the organisms found in each kingdom.
similarities. In this course, you will focus on the plant and animal kingdoms, but you will
also refer to the others when you study health and disease.

WV Table 1.2.1 The five kingdom classification system

| Protoctista Plantae (plants) | Animalia (animals)
Simple, single-celled Most are single-celled but Mostly multi-cellular, but some | Multi-cellular with Multi-cellular with specialised cells;
bacteria; absorb food some are multi-cellular; they | are single-celled; absorb food specialised cells; ingest food
This bacteria causes TB Can absorb, photosynthesise | Yeast ig a single-celled fungus | Produce food by
or ingest food photosynthesis
An amoeba is uni-cellular S S 4 ae

This bacteria causes

pneumonia
Sea bamboo is multi-cellular

There is some disagreement
among scientists about the actual
number of kingdoms, with some
scientistsdividing the Monera into
two groups to make six kingdoms.
Groups of animals
Each of the five kingdoms contains many different species with
distinguishing characteristics. To make it easier to place organisms in
groups, the kingdoms are divided into smaller groups. The animal kingdom
can be divided into two large groups: invertebrates (animals with no
spine) and vertebrates (animals with a spine). Each of these groups can be
further divided. Table 1.2.2 shows the main groups of vertebrates and the
approximate number of known species in each group.
Grouping living organisms TUR UOM CeOMele ELT

W Table 1.2.2 The main groups of vertebrate animals

Birds 9900 Reptiles 7200 Fish 21 000

Amphibians 5500

Se

Groups of plants
If you look around outside, you will realise that the plant kingdom also
contains many different species of plant. Like animals, plants can be divided
into sub-groups. The main sub-groups of plants are shown in Figure 1.2.1.
You will deal mainly with flowering plants for your work in this course.
Plants

Algae Mosses and Plants with true roots,

a liverworts stems and leaves

Ferns Cone-bearing plants Flowering plants

Do not produce Reproduce by Grasses, herbs,
seeds, reproduce seeds, often in shrubs and trees
by spores cones that reproduce by
seeds, in fruit
formed after
pollination
of flowers

4 Figure 1.2.1 The major groups of plants

Putting organisms into groups

One method of grouping organisms is to observe them to find characteristics
that they share. Some shared characteristics are colour, number of legs,
wings, shape and size. Organisms that share the same characteristics are
then placed in the same group. This is the method you will use to group
organisms in this topic.
Identifying and grouping organisms Grouping living organisms

Questions
1 Use information from Table 1.2.2 to draw a bar graph that compares the number of known species in each of the
five groups of vertebrates.
Look at these three organisms:
a Are these plants or animals? How do you know this?
bb Write down three visible characteristics that these
organisms share.
© These organisms all belong to the same group.
Which group is this?
© How is organism B different to the other two organisms?
Choose the odd one out in each of the following groups of organisms and give a reason for your choice:
a bread mould, yeast, algae, mushroom
» leaf of life plant, spider plant, ginger, fern
© frog, toad, newt, lizard
«banana tree, sugar cane, black mangrove tree, pine tree.
Choose three groups of vertebrates from Table 1.2.2. Draw up a table of your own and fill in at least three
examples of animals from your country in each group.
Lookat the leaves opposite:
a Find an example ofa local plant that has a leaf
similar in shape and structure to each of these leaves.
Collect or draw a leaf from the plants you have chosen.
Give the name of the plant if you can.
' Choose any two of the leaves you have collected and
write down three visible differences that you observe.

Using a flow diagram to group organisms

To decide whether an organism belongs in a
ee particular group, you can generally ask a question
Does ithave finsand gil if that requires a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. For example,
is its skin covered with hair? Or, does it reproduce
with spores? In order to fully classify organisms
you usually have to ask a series of questions to
narrow down the groups. These questions may be
laid out in the form of a flow diagram (also called a
dichotomous key) like the one in Figure 1.2.2. This
flow diagram can be used to classify vertebrates into
ae one of the five sub-groups shown on pS.
[ Yes _ }

Doesithaveskinwith fur/hair? Doesit havefeathers?

No | | Yes |} No | | Yes
4 J +
[itisaamphibian| itisamammat]ee |tisareptie|
SSS)
|tisabirdey4 i.
4 Figure 1.2.2 A possible flow diagram (dichotomous key)
for classifying vertebrates
Grouping living organisms Identifying and grouping organisms

Using DNA analysis to group organisms

Grouping organisms using visible characteristics has some disadvantages.

This is because organisms that belong to different scientific groups may
share the same visible characteristics. For example, bats and birds both
have wings, but bats are mammals and birds are not. Scientists therefore
group organisms using a combination of what they can see (visible
characteristics) and what they know about the organisms from studying
them in more detail (internal structures and behaviour).

Some living organisms are difficult to classify because they share the
same visible characteristics and internal structure, plus they behave in
similar ways to each other. Consider, for example, a group of single-celled
algae (Symbiodinium) that live inside corals. When scientists study these,
they cannot classify them easily by visible characteristics, structure or
behaviour because they all look like brown specks, even under a powerful
microscope. Other organisms are difficult to classify because they look
different to other members of the same group. For example, members of
the palm family or members of the fern family may all look very different
and this makes it difficult for scientists to decide whethera plant is a fern
or not.

With advances in science and technology, scientists are now able to use
the DNA sequences of different organisms as an aid to classification. If
two organisms share a great many DNA sequences, it is likely that they
are closely related. Looking at patterns of nucleotides in the DNA of
an organism allows scientists to determine how closely related species
may be.
Scientists in New Zealand have used DNA sequencing to study different
plant species. This work has actually led to some plants which were
considered to be ‘fern-like’ being reclassified as actual ferns. Dr Leon
Perrie, a Te Papa scientist who studies ferns and fern-like plants, says this
about DNA and classification:

With DNA work, we have been able to get a better idea of how
things are related. We have learnt more about the evolutionary
history of plants and animals. As we’ve updated our understanding
of how plants and animals are related to one another, we’ve had
to change the taxonomic classification in order to reflect that
improved updated understanding of their evolutionary history.
A great example within the fern type of plants is that there are
several small groups of plants which used to be regarded as fern
allies. In particular, there is the Tmesipteris fork ferns. They were
previously grouped with plants like Lycopodium and Selaginella in
the fern allies, but with DNA analyses, people have worked out
that Tmesipteris fork ferns are actually more closely related to ferns.
So they are now regarded as ferns, rather than as fern allies.

Scientists who study coral reefs have also used DNA sequencing to show
that the single-celled algae found inside corals actually belong to different
and distinct species. This will allow them to understand coral reefs better
and perhaps take steps to prevent coral bleaching. Read the case study
that follows to find out more about this work.
Identifying and grouping organisms Grouping living organisms

Case study
DNA analysis aids in classifying single-celled algae
20 September 2012
For nearly 260 years - since Carl Linnaeus developed his system of
naming plants and animals - researchers classified species based on
visual attributes like colour, shape and size. In the past few decades,
researchers found that sequencing DNA can more accurately identify
species. A group of single-celled algae - Symbiodinium - that live inside
corals and are critical to their survival - are only now being separated
into species using DNA analysis, according to biologists.
‘Unfortunately with Symbiodinium, scientists have been hindered by
a traditional morphology-based system of species identification that
doesn’t work because these organisms all pretty much look the same
- small round brown cells,’ said Todd LaJeunesse, assistant professor
of biology at Penn State. ‘This delay in adopting the more accurate
convention of identifying species using genetic techniques has greatly
impeded progress in the research of symbiotic reef-building corals,
especially with regard to their ability to withstand global warming.’

Corals are able to build large reef structures in many of the world’s shallow
tropical environments because they contain symbiotic micro-algae called
Symbiodinium. Different species found in different corals look nearly identical.
LaJeunesse and his colleagues looked at Symbiodinium that previously
had been grouped together as sub-sets ofthe same species. They report
their results in the September issue of the Journal ofPhycology. They
examined specific DNA markers - identifiers - from the organisms’ cell
nuclei, mitochondria and chloroplasts. Even though the symbionts
appeared very much the same, except for their size, genetic evidence
confirmed that the two are different species altogether.
These findings indicate that hundreds of other coral symbionts
already identified with preliminarily genetic data are also distinct
species with unique ecological distributions.
‘The recognition of symbiont species’ diversity should substantially
improveresearchintoreef-building coralsandfacilitatebreakthroughs
in our understanding of their complex biology,’ said LaJeunesse.
He began his work of classifying Symbiodinium using genetic tech-
niques as part of his research into their ecology and evolution and in
later studies of coral bleaching events related to global warming.
Grouping living organisms Identifying and grouping organisms

‘Knowing exactly which Symbiodinium species you’re dealing with is

important because certain species of Symbiodinium associate with
certain species of coral,’ he said. ‘Although many corals are dying asa
result of global climate change, some may be able to survive because
they associate with Symbiodinium species that are better adapted to
warm water temperatures.’
Other researchers on this project were John Everett Parkinson,
graduate student in biology, Penn State, and James Davis Reimer,
associate professor of biology, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa.
The National Science Foundation supported this research.
Extract from: http://www.sciencedaily.com

1 Astudent saw these four marine organisms (A to D) on a scuba diving trip.

Use the flow diagram below to correctly name the organisms.
A

‘Does
it haveasingle mainbranch? ‘Staghomcoral
= STR Ma — = i 7 eS =
S

ae

Seapen Sea fan

| peesSoy res | tf Wer |

2 Modern technology allows scientists to use DNA to assist in classification of different species.
a What is DNA?
lb How can DNA help scientists decide whether an organism belongs to a taxonomic group or not?
c DNA analysis has recently helped scientists to distinguish different species of single-celled algae that live in
corals. What are the advantages of knowing that these algae belong to distinct species?