Variation •nd duJiflcallon

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Invertebrates Vertebrates
Sorting living things
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Cnidarians Fish

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Sac-like body . Body covered In scales

0 How can we sort things into groups?

Some have hard coating
Mostly marine (live In sea)

Flatworms
Je/¥!,h

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. Have gills
Live in water

Amphibians
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A species is a group of living things that have similar characteristics.
Sorting living things into groups is called classification. Scientists have
created a way of classifying all living things. This helps us understand
Long thin body
Live In soil, water or other animals
(these are parasites)

Roundworms
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Soft skin with no scales
Have lungs
Lay eggs In water but live on land -
our world. Reptiles

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Long body with round cross• section Skin tough and hard with scales
Live in soil or are parasites Have lungs
Plant or animal? Lay eggs on land py!/100

The simplest way of sorting a group of living things is to ask yourself,

Segmented worms Birds

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'ls it a plant or an animal?' Long body split into rings or Skin has feathers
It is usually easy to decide whether something is a plant or an animal.
o Most plants are green, because they contain the green pigment
segments
Live In water or are parasites ~
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Have lungs
Have wings for flying
Lay eggs
chlorophyU. which they need to photosynthesise (make food) . Molluscs
o Plants can grow, but they can't move about in the way that most Usually have a shell, soft body,
Mammals

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no segments
animals can.
Aquatic or marine ~ ..... : Skin has hair
Have lungs
Plants can then be divided into smaller groups. We call these groups Mother carries offspring inside
taxonomic groups.
forns have roots, irldn l Tough skin on body with five parts
Marine
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Echinoderms (splny-s~nned Invertebrates

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body until birth, after which
they feed off her milk

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► leaves (fronds) produc•

These plants ~11l!a-.~ . spo,,::,n- -

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Arthropods
produce ..eds
and rruit Hard outer skeleton (exoskeleton)
conirer Have simple eyes and feelers
(Include arachnids and insects)

If · "
spld,r ~
~ Conifers produce seeds - \ .. I ,j
are usually evergreen a~d keeo / ~
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rlhd rl~aves rn w'!'t•r JCT,:..;~ lo<ust

bluebell

amphibian
animals
~· 1 Copy and complete using words from the Language bank: Living arthropod
things with similar ___ can be sorted into groups. There characteristics
• Backbone or not? are different ways of classifying living things. The two main groups classification
of living things are green ___ and animals. Animals can be cnidarian
Animals can also be sorted into taxonomic groups. To sort out a group
subdivided into ___ and invertebrates. invertebrates
of animals. one of the nrst questions to ask is:
mammal
A newly discovered organism lays eggs on land and has hard scaly
' 'Do they have a backbone or not?' 2
skin. Place it into an appropriate taxonomic group.
mollusc
This divides any group of animal into vertebrates and invertebrates. plants
3 Describe the main differences between a reptile and an amphibian. reptile
Vertebrates have a backbone and invertebrates do not. The diagram
below shows how animals can be classined into even smaller groups. If List the main taxonomic groups used to classify animals and briefly species
describe them.
t-e vertebrates

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v,rtatlon and claulllca11011

[) '"'t--' The five kingdoms

11i 105 All living things belong to one of five kingdoms. Plants and animals arc
two of these kingdoms.

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0 How do scientists classify living things?
I thought all animals )

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were soft and fluffy . llody'1 1tructural Method of nutrition Eumplts Size an4 example
oraanlsatlon
Classincation is all about sorting organisms into groups. Simple
classification involves observing and comparing organisms. but more No, animals
detailed information, such as genetic make-up, is now used. include birds, Prokaryotes small, simple single absorb food bacteria, 10,000 + 1 µm (that's o thousandth
spiders, humans .. cell (nucleus doesn't ofo mm)
To simply classify living things we ask questions like: blue-green algae,
I could go on have a membrane); and spirochetes
Is it a plant or an animal? for hoursl some formchains
bacterium
Does ii have a backbone?
Protoctlsta large, single cell absorb, Ingest (eat), protozoans like 1mm
How many legs does it have? 250,000+
(nucleus is enclosed and/or amoeba and algae
Does it have body segments or not?
Questions like Does 11 have wings? Does ii live in water? Does ii live on
by a membrane);
some form chains
photosynthesise
food
•
or colonies
land or live in the air? Does it have legs. wings or neither? are not a amoeba
particularly good way of dividing up living things. Using the answers to
these questions, you may put birds, insects and nying lizards into the
same group, but they are genetically very different.
Fungi multicellular (many
cells) thread-like
organisms with
absorb food Pin mould,
mushrooms, yeasts,
100,000+
6cm
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mildews, and potato
Today, living organisms are also classified
specialised cells I blight mushroom .,_:_J,
Carolus Linnaeus according to genetic similarities - information that Plants multicellular form photosynthesise mosses, ferns, 2 50.000+
was not available in Linnaeus's day. But we still with specialised woody and many
A Swedish naturalist cells; do not have metres
use his binomial nomenclature (a fancy way of non-woody flowering
called Carolus Linnaeus their own means of plants
(1707-1778) was really saying 'two-name system') and every species still locomotion ,i s:
oak tree
the first to get to grips has a Lalin name.
with classification. He Animals multicellular form ingest (eat) food sponges, worms, millions few cm to sweral metres
Here's how living organisms are grouped: with specialised cells
classified plants and insects, fish,
have their own
animals by dividing MMP■m= I Plant means of locomotion
amphibians, reptiles,
birds, and mammals
\ hamster -
them into taxonomic
,/;:
iv·
groups.
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In 1727 Linnaeus began ~~
studying medicine at the University of Lund,
but still pursued his love of plants and
V.Pi ·: .
~ ~.;~,
1 Copy and complete using words from the Language bank: The Language bank
_:.; - ;{1 \ .
~- continued to study botany. human stinging nettle
Linnaean system of naming living things gives every ___ a bacteria
two-part Latin name. This name is made up of the ___ and class
in 1751 Linnaeus published Philosophio Phylum Vertebrate Angiosperm
species names.
• Botanica. This was a very important work Class Mammal Dicotyledon
List the five kingdoms of the living world and brieny describe them.
fa mily

1
because in it he introduced a way of naming Order Primate Urlicates fungi
organisms in Latin, which could be Family Hominid Urticaceae 3 Why is it sometimes difficult to tell which kingdom an organism genus
understood by people in different countries. Genus Homo Urtica belongs to? monera
" For each species, he chose one general Species sapiens dloica 4 Find out which genus and species the family dog belongs to. multicellular
(genus) name and one specific (species) order
name. This provided a two-name system that phylum (phyla)
could be used to label any living organism. protoctista

-re species
taxonomic group
 4 Inverted invertebrates
1 We are all d i f f e r e n t ke Match up the organisms and groups. Writ
. . and endings to ma rite
Match up the begmnmgs sentence for each one saying what feat e a
Ures y
complete sentences. Use a di"uerent colour to w used in order to dec1'de whic h was Which . °'-1
each sentence. Organisms
Beginnings snail
Variation means that organisms earthworm
Some different characteristics, such as different crab
eye colours, Jellyfish
A scar Is an example of Invertebrate groups
How fat you are
arthropod
Endings mollusc
environmental variation. cnidarian
is influenced by both inheritance and segmented worm
environment.
are inherited. 5 Vertebrates
have different characteristics. Copy and complete these sentences, filling in th
vertebrate groups. Do a quick sketch of an ::in,~
2 True or false? .
from each group, e1'ther real or imaginary. ~ <utta}

Decide whether the following statements are true
or false. Write down the true ones. Correct the
false ones before you write them down.
a Alsatians and labradors can breed to form fertile
offpring.
b Alsatians and labradors are different species.
c Alsatians and labradors do not show variation.
d Alsatians and labradors are mammals.
3 Identifying organisms
You have a daisy, a moss, a fern, a fly, an
. earthworm and a frog. Draw a simple key so that
___ have scales, breathe air, lay eggs on land
___ have scales, live in water, lay eggs in ·
water.
___ have hair, breathe air, live on land, feed
young on milk.
___ have feathers, breathe air, have Wings, lay
eggs on land.
- - - do not have scales, live in water and on
land, lay eggs in water.

' an alien can identify them. You could include the

following questions.
Questions
Is it green?
Does it have flowers?
Does it have wings?

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