Classification &

Diversity
of
Life
 Characteristics of Life
Organisms are highly organized,
coordinated structures that consist
of one or more cells

All organisms are made out of

All organisms reproduce to cells
increase their numbers

All organisms use a source of Organisms respond to diverse

energy for their metabolic stimuli. For example, plants can
activities bend toward a source of light,
climb on fences and walls,
 Concept Check

The picture shows the

different stages in the life of
a pea plant. Which
characteristic of living
things is being shown here?
-Reproduction
-Growth and Development
-Respond to the
environment
Concept Check

Which characteristic of
living things is being shown
in the picture?
-Reproduction
-Growth and Development
-Respond to the
environment
 Why the Diversity of Life happened?

 As a result of EVOLUTION OR ADAPTIVE RADIATION

 Adaptive Radiation is an evolutionary pattern happens over a short
period of time in which a single species rapidly diversify into
different kinds of closely related species to adapt a specific
environmental changes.

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 Origin of life: Chemical and Biological Evolution

Biological evolution led to the formation of

life and complex organism

 Chemical evolution was the first step in the

development of life on this planet.
 During the early history of Earth, complex
organic molecules was formed from
simpler inorganic molecules through
chemical reactions in the oceans
 Domains of Life
 Living things have evolved into three large clusters of
closely related organisms, called “domains”: There are
THREE major main domains of life:
 Bacteria, Archaea & Eukaryota (or Eukarya)
 Eukaryotaa is Eukaryotic.

 Order of appearance
Bacteria evolved first
Gave rise to Archaea
Eukaryota evolved recently

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 Domains of Life
 Three major main domains of life
 Bacteria
 Prokaryotes with cell wall containing peptidoglycan. Wide variety
of lifestyles, including many that can produce their food.
 Archaea
 Prokaryotes but with no peptidoglycan and with similarities
to Eukaryotes in genome organization. Usually live in
extreme conditions, e.g. high salt concentrations., high
temperatures, etc.
 Bacteria and Archaea are Prokaryotic

 Eukaryota (or Eukarya)

 Eukarya is Eukaryotic.
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 Domains and Kingdoms

6 Kingdoms

3 Domains
 How was the Diversity of Life Identified ?
-Systematics

 Systematics is the study of the diversity of organisms and the

relationship between the organisms
 Systematic is usually considers following areas
 (1) Taxonomy-The science of naming organisms and
grouping them into logical categories
 (2) Phylogeny–It is the science that explores the evolutionary
relationships among organisms

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 What is Taxonomy?
 Taxonomy (from Ancient Greek τάξις (taxis) 'arrangement',
and -νομία (-nomia) 'method') is the scientific study of
naming, identifying and classifying groups of biological
organisms based on shared characteristics.
 The current taxonomic system now has EIGHT levels in its
hierarchy
 Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these
groups are given a taxonomic rank

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 Organization of Organisms

– All Organisms are arranged into

Taxonomic Hierarchy.
– Taxonomic hierarchy is the process of
arranging various organisms into
successive levels of the biological
classification either
– In a decreasing or an increasing order
from kingdom to species and vice versa.

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Taxonomic Hierarchy
 A domain is the highest (most general)
rank of organisms

Taxon
(singular)
Taxa
(Plural)
Development of Taxonomy

 Introduced by the scientist Carolus Linnaeus (in

1735)
 Father of the modern classification system.
 He developed the system based on physical and
structural similarities
 Used binomial system of
nomenclature to classify the organisms

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 Binominal Nomenclature
◦ In this system each species is assigned a unique two-
part name
◦ Genus
◦ Species
◦ Genus: A genus is a principle taxonomic classification,
which is a group of closely related organisms ranks below
family and above species.
◦ A Genus can include more than one species.
◦ Species: A species is a closely related group of organisms,
which comprise similar characteristics

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 Rules: Binominal Nomenclature

 Equus is the genus name for Horses and their close relatives.
 Equus burchellii, the Zebra
 Equus africanus, the Donkey
 Binomial names are either italicized or underlined.
 Equus africanus (DO NOT undeline the space between)
 The first letter of the genus is capitalized; the specific species is
NOT capitalized.
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 Class Assignment Handout
(6 participants)
Examine and Answer the question based on a Table
showing the classification (taxonomic rank) of four
different organisms.
Examine and answer the question based on the Table showing
the classification of four different organisms.

1) Which taxon includes the most specific characteristics?

2) Which taxon includes the broadest characteristics?

3) If two organisms belong to the same family, what other taxonomic groups do
the organisms have in common? Why?
Examine and answer the question based on the Table showing
the classification of four different organisms.

4) Which two organisms in the chart are most closely related? Explain.

5) To which taxa do all four organisms belong?

6) Which organism is most unique and Why?

 Answer Key
– 1) Species
– 2) Kingdom (animalia)
– 3) Class (mammalia), Phylum (chordata) and Kingdom
(animalia)
– 4) None of them has common family, however Mountain lion
and Domestic dog are most similar as they belongs to the
same order (carnivora)
– 5) Phylum (chordata) and kingdom (animalia)
– 6) Green frog as it belongs an unique class (amphibia)
 Phylogeny

 Phylogeny is the study of evolutionary relationships among

different groups of organisms
 Phylogeny is based on derived characteristics
 Fossils- Fossils are the preserved traces of animals, plants, and
other organisms from the remote past found in rocks and formed
from bones and shells
 Comparative anatomy studies- Comparative anatomy is the study
of similarities and differences in the structure of different species
 Life cycle information-Examination of the various developmental
stages of organisms reveal relationships
 Biochemical and molecular studies- DNA sequence comparisons to
determine relatedness among the species.
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 Phylogenetic Tree or Phylogram
How to read ?

- Phylogenetic tree is a diagram

known as Phylogram that shows
relationships among different groups
of organisms
- All the branches in a phylogram
represent any evolutionary distance
between different groups
-The length of the branches indicates
the differences between the DNA

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 Cladistics

 Cladistics is a method to evaluate the

degree of relatedness among organisms
within a species based on shared
characters and similarity of species
derived from ONE Ancestor.
 Cladistics involves diagram known as
Cladogram
 Each Cladogram Contains several
Clades
 Each clade includes common ancestor
and descendent species with shared
Characteristics or Traits

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Difference between Cladistics and Phylogeny

Cladistics Phylogeny
Cladistics is often used to trace a very Phylogenetics is the study of the
common ancestor of one species and relationships and evolutionary
study their characteristics. history between groups of organisms

All the branches in a cladogram are of All the branches in a phylogram

equal length as they do not represent represent any evolutionary distance
any evolutionary distance between different groups
 Clade: Derived shared and Unique Trait
 Derived shared
trait
 Unique Trait
 Say bird has
feather but reptiles Feather
do not !
 Feather

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 Analyze the Cladogram!

How many clades are shown in this cladogram?

Ans-3
How are they designated in the diagram?
Ans-by Color-Purple, orange and yellow
What trait is shared by most animals in this cladogram?
Ans-Vertebrae
What traits are shared by only snakes and lizards?
Ans-Amniotic egg and internal fertilization
Which animals share the most common ancestor? How do
you know?
Ans-Snake and lizard, They share the most derived traits
Which animal is different from all others? WHY
Ans-Lancelet as it is NOT a vertebrae
 Concept Check
1. Which of the following groups share the most recent common ancestor?
Cone bearing plant and Flowing Plant
2. Which most shared derived character appeared first during the course of
the plants’’ evolution?
Seeds
3. Which of the following groups, taken by themselves, do NOT forms a
clade?
Mosses and Flowering Plant
Diversity
of
Life
 Domains and Kingdoms

6 Kingdoms

3 Domains
What are similarities and differences between
Archaea and Bacteria

Extremophiles (archaea) Mesophiles (bacteria) grow

live in "extreme best in moderate
environments," such as in temperature range from 20-
high salt & high 45 °C
temperature (80-100°C). *Peptidoglycan is a
polymer of amino acids and
sugars
 Decomposers
– Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying
organisms. Example: Bacteria, Earthworm, Fungi (mushroom)
– Decomposers play a critical role in the flow of energy through an
ecosystem (learn later!).
– They break apart dead organisms into simpler inorganic materials,
making nutrients available to plants.
– They aid in the recycling of nutrients.

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 Difference-Fungi and Plant
Unlike plants (which take in CO2 and give off O2)
mushrooms take in O2 and give off CO2

Fungi Plantae
1.They include unicellular as well as
1.They include multicellular eukaryotes
multicellular eukaryotes and have cell
and has cell wall made out of Cellulose
walls made out of Chitin
2. They lack chlorophyll. 2. Chlorophyll is present.

3. They feed on dead and decaying
matter (decomposer)
4. Example: Mushroom, Bread mould,
etc.
3. They make their own food using
inorganic substances.
4. Example: Mango, Neem, etc.

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 An Exception:
Cyanobacteria

 Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, microorganisms that are

technically bacteria. They were called blue-green algae because dense
growths often turn the water green, blue-green or brownish-green.
 These single-celled bacteria live in fresh, and marine water.
 They use sunlight to make their own food, hence known as
AUTOTROPH.
 Benefits of Cyanobacteria:
 Biofertilizer: They have the ability to convert solar energy into biomass.
 Decomposer: They have the ability to fix atmospheric N2, decompose
the organic wastes
1 and biodegrade heavy metals.
 Lichens

 A Lichen, is actually two organisms i.e a fungus living in a symbiotic relationship with an
algae or cyanobacterium (or both in some instances).
 There are about 17,000 species of lichen worldwide.
 Fungi are incapable of photosynthesis (hence can’t make their own food), so create a moist
environment for Algae or Cyanobacteria that can conduct photosynthesis, similar to plants
 Benefits of Lichens:
 Air Quality Indicator: It's a natural air quality indicator,
 Lichen trap particulate matter (PM) in the air like dust, while also absorbing smaller
pollutants like sulfur, mercury, and nitrogen. By this means they provide cleaner, healthier
air for us to breathe
 They only thrives when the air quality is clean. In fact, scientists use lichen as a measure of
air quality in different areas.
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 Virus

What is VIRUS?
-They are Acellular Infectious Particles.

What is Acellular Infectious Particles?

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 Acellular Particles
– Acellular: They have some characteristics of life but do not have a
cellular structure (only DNA or RNA and a protein coat), are called
acellular.
– Parasite: Viruses can't reproduce without a host (human, animal,
plant)
– Viruses evolve faster than any other living organism, Within hours,
thousands of copies can be made from a single virus inside host
– Viruses can be made: Viruses are so simple that it is possible to
assemble one “from scratch” in the lab, using just a few
components.
Cellular Organisms vs Acellular Particles
Eukaryotic Cell
1. Cellular organisms:
Prokaryotes
-Archaea
-Bacteria Virus

Eukaryotes
-Eukarya Prokaryotic
Cell

2. Acellular particles:
Eukaryotic
-Viruses Nucleus

Viruses are so small can only be

seen with an electron microscope.

1 ųm (1000 nm)
 DNA vs RNA Virus
DNA Virus RNA Virus

A DNA virus store genetic An RNA virus store genetic

information in the form of DNA information in the form of RNA
(Chicken Pox Virus) (Covid-19 )

Stable due to lower mutation* rate
*mutation is change in genetic
material
Drug/vaccine resistance is not
common for this virus
Very unstable, have high mutation
rate and change the protein coat
frequently. WHY?*
They can rapidly evolve resistance to
new drugs/vaccine ( due to high
mutation)

*Viruses mutate to adapt to their surroundings and more effectively

move from host to host numbers and avoid immune system of the host
and increase their .
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Summative Group Assignment
(HANDOUT)
Room Name: ISLAM6907