KNOWLEDGE AREA: Diversity,

change and continuity

TOPIC 1: Biodiversity and
Classification of Micro-organisms

Biodiversity
Viruses

Bacteria

Protista

Fungi
TERMINOLOGY

1. Biodiversity: a large variety of living

organisms in a particular habitat or
ecosystem

2. Classification: arrangement of organisms in

groups according to their similarities

3. Microscopic: Organisms that are only visible

with the microscope.

4. Macroscopic: Organisms that can be seen with

the naked eye.
5. Prokaryotes: organisms that do not have a true
nuclei.
6. Eukaryotes: Organisms that have true nuclei.
7. Unicellular: Organisms that are made up of one
cell only.
8. Multicellular: Organisms that are made up of more
than one cell .
9. Autotrophic: Organisms that are able to
manufacture their own food
10. Heterotrophic: Organisms that are unable to
manufacture their own food.
11. Saprotrophic: feeding on dead organic matter

12. Decomposers: heterotrophic organism that feeds

on dead material, they bring about decomposition.
13. Aquatic organisms: Organisms that live in water.
11. Terrestrial organisms: Organisms that live on land.
Organism are grouped into 5 kingdoms according to certain
common characteristics.

I. KINGDOM MONERA
II. KINGDOM PROTISTA
III. KINGDOM FUNGI
IV. KINGDOM ANIMALIA
V. KINGDOM PLANTAE
ACTIVITY 1
Give the correct biological term

1. Organisms that can be seen with the naked eye.

2. A large variety of living organisms in a particular habitat

or ecosystem

3. Organisms that are only visible with the microscope.

4. Arrangement of organisms in groups according to their

similarities

5. Organisms that feeds on dead organic matter

6. Heterotrophic organisms that feeds on dead material

and bring about decomposition.
7. Organisms that are made up of one cell only.
8. Organisms that have a true nuclei.
9. Organisms that are able to manufacture their own
food
10. Organisms that are made up of more than one
cell .
11. Organisms that are unable to manufacture their
own food.
12. organisms that do not have a true nuclei.
13. Organisms that live in water.
14. Organisms that live on land.
CLASSIFICATION:
 Viruses do not belong to any one of the 5 kingdoms
because they have characteristics of both living and non -
living organisms.

 Viruses are considered to be living, because they

undergo reproduction when they are within cells of a
living organisms.
Viruses are non-living:
1. They can not respire.
2. They can not reproduce on their own.
3. They form crystals and can survive in this form
for many years.
 THE STRUCTURE OF VIRUSES

 Viruses are microscopic.

 They are smaller than bacteria and ribosomes.
 Most viruses are only visible under the electron
microscope.
 They have a regular shape, or can be spherical,
spiral or rod-like.
 Some have tails to help in attaching them to the
host cell.
 Thevirus has an outer
coat, called the protein
coat.

 Within the protein coat

there is a central nucleic
acid core.

 The
nucleic acid core
maybe either DNA or
RNA.
 A virus that attacks a bacteria is called bacteriophage.
 Viruses do not have any other cell structures.
 For example there is no vacuoles, Mitochondria
or nucleus.

 Therefore viruses are said to be acellular or non-

cellular.
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VIRUS:

 All viruses are parasitic.

 Viruses are absolutely specific, This means that a
particular virus will only live in a particular host
and nowhere else.
 For example the mumps virus is only found in the
salivary glands of a human.
 Viruses causes many diseases in plants and
animals e.g. AIDS, Influenza
 LOCATION and CHARACTERISTICS:

o Bacteria occur in the air, water and soil.

o They thrive in areas that are moist and damp.
o The optimum temperature for bacteria to grow and
reproduce is between 30⁰C and 37⁰C.

o Some bacteria require oxygen to survive.

o These bacteria are called aerobic bacteria.

o Some bacteria do not require oxygen to survive.

o These bacteria are called anaerobic bacteria.
 STRUCTURE:

 Bacteria are living organisms.

 They are the smallest living
organisms.
 They are microscopic and unicellular.

They can occur in 4 different shapes:

 Coccus
 Bacillus,
 Spirillum
 Vibrio.
STRUCTURE OF A BACTERIUM

 It is surrounded on the outside by

a slime capsule.
Function of slime capsule:
It prevents the bacterium from
drying out.

 Below the slime capsule is the cell

wall.
 The cell wall is made up of 3
compounds: polysaccharides,
proteins and lipids.
o Some bacteria have these long whip-
like structures called flagella.
o Function: The flagella are used for
locomotion.

o The cell membrane/ plasmalemma

lies within the cell wall.
o The cell membrane encloses the
cytoplasm.

o Ribosomes are also found in the

cytoplasm.
o The nuclear material is the
chromatin network, but it is not
bound by any nuclear membrane.
o This area is called the nucleoid.

o The bacteria does not have a

nucleus therefore it is a
prokaryote.
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BACTERIA

 Bacteria may be autotrophic or heterotrophic.

There are 2 types of autotrophic bacteria:

I) Photosynthetic bacteria
II) Chemosynthetic bacteria.

 The photosynthetic bacteria make their own

food using sunlight.
 Chemosynthetic bacteria also make their own
food, but using energy released from chemical
processes.
There are 3 types of heterotrophic bacteria:
i. Parasitic bacteria
ii. Saprophytic bacteria
iii. Mutualistic bacteria

o The parasitic bacteria obtain their food from the living

organisms on which they live. They cause harm to these
living organisms.

o If the parasitic bacteria cause diseases they are called

pathogens.
o If they do not cause disease then they are called non-
pathogens.
o The mutualistic bacteria have a close
relationship with another organism in which
they both benefit.

o The saprophytic bacteria obtain their food

from dead matter. This makes them very
important in the nitrogen cycle and as
decomposers.
 Theseare
eukaryotes.

 Slime moulds,
diatoms, seaweed
brown and green
algae are examples of
protists.
BASIC STRUCTURE OF PROTISTA

 The organisms that belong to this kingdom do

not have the same basic structure.

 They show a great deal of diversity in their

structure.

 Some of them are unicellular and microscopic.


 Others are multicellular and macroscopic.
• Protozoans are a group of protists that are animal
like and are able to move, like the Amoeba and
Euglena.

• They have pseudopodia or flagella to enable them

to move.
 Others are plant like and cannot move,
like the sea weed.

 The diatoms look like microscopic, glass-

like ornaments.

 Some have chloroplast (Euglena and

green alga) and others do not.
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTISTS

 Most are aquatic while others are terrestrial found living in

damp soil or snow.

 Some are autotrophic and some are heterotrophic organisms.

 There are different types of heterotrophic protists as well.

 Some of them are parasitic.

 The slime moulds engulf their food by a process called

phagocytosis.
• Phagocytosis is the process whereby
pseudopodia are formed around a food particle.

• Asexual reproduction by binary fission occurs.

During binary fission one cell divides to form two.
Mushrooms, yeast, ringworms, penicillium and the
moulds found on bread are examples of fungi.

GENERAL STRUCTURE OF FUNGI:

Like the Protista, all fungi do not have the same
structure.

1. Fungi are similar to plants because they all

have cell walls.
2. However they are all unlike plants, they do
not have chloroplasts. Therefore they are
unable to make their own food.

3. They all reproduce by spores.

4. Their spores are produced in different parts

of the fungus. For example:

5. The bread mould spores are produced in

spore cases called the sporangia, while the
mushroom spores are produced in club-
shaped structures. Penicillium produce
spores in a sac-like structures.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNGI

o The fungi are heterotrophic, but they all obtain

their food differently.
o Some are parasites, since they depend on
other living organisms for food.
o Others are saprophytic, they feed on dead and
decaying matter.
o Some are unicellular like the yeast.
o Most are multicellular.
The structure of the bread
mould:

Since the bread mould does not

have true roots, stems and
leaves it is called a thallus.
Each threadlike structure is called hyphae.

There are 3 types of hyphae :

1. Rhizoids - these are root-like structures that

penetrate the bread.
2. Stolons - these creep over the surface of the
bread.
3. Sporangiophores - these are upright hyphae
and they end in structures that carries spores.
Give the correct biological term for the following:
1. Organisms that do not have a true nuclei.
2. Organisms that have true nuclei.
3. A kingdom that have only multicellular and
autotrophic organisms.
4. Organisms that are made up of one cell only.
5. Organisms that are made up of more than one cell .
6. Organisms that are able to manufacture their own
food
7. Organisms that are unable to manufacture their own
food.
8. Organisms that can be seen with the naked eye.
9. Organisms that are only visible with the microscope.
10. A virus that attacks a bacteria.
11. Bacteria that lives in the presence of oxygen.
12. Bacteria that can live in the absence of oxygen.
13. Long whip-like structures that are used for
locomotion.
14. The area within the bacteria that contains nuclear
material.
15. Organisms that live in water.
16. Organisms that live on land.
17. The process during which food is engulfed by
means of pseudopodia.
18. An organism that does not have true roots,
stems and leaves.
19. Root-like hyphae that penetrate the
bread.
20. Structures that creep over the surface of the bread.
The kingdom that has all the prokaryotes is.

A. Monera
B. Protista
C. Plantae
D. Fungi
The kingdom that is made up of organisms that digest their
food before taking it in is…

A. Monera
B. Protista
C. Animalia
D. Fungi
The kingdom that contains all the autotrophic organisms is…

A. Monera
B. Protista
C. Plantae
D. Fungi
The kingdom that is made up of eukaryotic,
unicellular organism is…

A. Monera
B. Protista
C. Plantae
D. Fungi
The micro-organism that is both living and non-living
is…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
All heterotrophic, eukaryotic organisms belong to the
Kingdom…

A. Monera
B. Protista
C. Animalia
D. Fungi
The smallest living micro-organism is…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
Small pox is a disease that is caused by…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
The organism that is able to reproduce by converting the
host’s nuclei to its own…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
Unicellular, prokaryotic organism with cell walls
and flagella…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
Diatoms, Spirogyra and seaweed are examples
of…

A. Bacteria
B. Virus
C. Fungi
D. Protista
The jelly-like material derived from seaweeds is
called…

A. Agar
B. Diatoms
C. Seaweeds
D. None of the above
The rod-like shape of the bacteria is…

A. Coccus
B. Spirilum
C. Bacillus
D. Vibro
The area of the cytoplasm in bacteria that contain
nuclear material.

A. Nucleoid
B. Nucleus
C. Nucleolus
D. Chromatin network
The outer coat of the virus is called…

A. Plasma lemma
B. Cell wall
C. Cell membrane
D. Protein coat
The root like hyphae of the bread mould is

A. Rhizoids
B. Stolon
C. Sporangiophore
D. Mycelium
Collective name given to the tangled mass of thread-
like structures in the bread mould is…

A. Rhizoids
B. Stolon
C. Sporangiophore
D. Mycelium
The upright hyphae of the bread mould is…

A. Rhizoids
B. Stolon
C. Sporangiophore
D. Mycelium
Since the bread mould does not have true root, stems and
leaves it is called a…

A. Rhizoids
B. Thallus
C. Sporangiophore
D. Mycelium
The horizontal hyphae, found on the surface of the bread
in the bread mould is…

A. Rhizoids
B. Stolon
C. Sporangiophore
D. Mycelium