ORGANISMS

All living things share 7 features that make them different from
objects that are not alive.
Excretion: Removal of toxic materials, waste products of
metabolism and substances in excess.
Growth: A permanent increase in size and dry mass by an
increase in cell number or size.
Movement: An action causing a change of position or
place. In animals they are easy to see, in plants are the
tropisms, their ability to respond to a change in the
environment.
Nutrition: Take in of nutrients (organic substances and
mineral ions) containing raw material for energy, growth
or tissue repair. They are absorbed and assimilated by
organisms.
Reproduction: The make of a new organism of the same
specie.
Respiration: Chemical reactions that break down nutrients
to release energy.
Sensitivity: The ability to detect or sense changes in the
environment (stimuli) and to make responses.

CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS

It's possible in many different ways. They are classified because
in that way it's easier to study them.
Each group shares certain features that are not found in other
groups; they share them because they all have descended from
the same ancestor. Species in each group are related and their
bodies have similar structures and work in similar ways.
The system we use to classify organisms was introduced by
Linnaeus in 1735. He gave to every living organism two names,
this is called a binomial. The first one is the genus and the
second one de species, for example: Homo (genus) sapien
(specie). The genus name always has a capital letter, the
species name not.

In this way, organisms are classified in 5 kingdoms: animals,

plants, fungi, protoctists and prokaryotes. Each kingdom has
it's characteristics.
Kingdoms: largest group of animals recognized by biologists.
1.Monera: They consist of single cells and their chromosomes
are not organized into a nucleus (this makes them different
from protoctista) Example: bacteria and the blue-green algae.
2.Protoctista: They are single-celled (unicellular) organisms with
their chromosomes enclosed in the nucleus. Some of them
make food by photosynthesis, and are called protophyta, for
example the Euglena and the Chlamydomonas. Others take in
and digest solid food, they are called protozoa, and are for
example the Akoeba, Paramecium and Vorticella.
3.Fungi: Most of them are made up of hyphae. For example the
mushrooms, toadstools, puffballs and the tree-trunks. Some
fungi live in food such as cheese, bread and fruit; in the soil on

in dead wood; and some are parasites and live in other

organisms.
4.Plants: They are made up of many cells that have an outside
wall called cellulose. Plants make their own food by
photosynthesis.
5.Animals: Animals are multicellular organisms whose cells
have no cell walls or chloroplasts. Most animals ingest solid
food and digest it internally.
Species: Apart from small variations, members of the same
specie are almost identical in characteristics, behaviour and
anatomy; they can successfully breed together. Closely related
species are grouped into genus.
AMIMAL KINGDOM:
Divides into 2 main phyla: vertebrates and invertebrates:

Invertebrates:

Nematodes: unsegmented and circular body with points at

both ends. They live as parasites in plants and animals, in
water, in soil. Example: worms living in human's digestive
system.
Annelids: Worms with elongated and cylindrical bodies
which are divided into segments (all segments have
organs). Example: earthworms and lugworms.
Molluscs: Many of them have shells, of different sizes and
structures; others doesn't have one. All molluscs have a
muscular foot. They have antennae and external eyes.
They breath through a breathing aperture.
Arthropods: Means jointed limbs, which all arthropods
have. They have a hard, firm external skeleton, called
cuticle, which encloses their bodies. Their bodies are
segmented with flexible joints which permit movement.

1- Crustacea: Apart from a skeleton and jointed limbs they

have two pairs of antennae and compound eyes. They have a
pair of jointed limbs in each segment of the body. They can be

marine or freshwater, and examples are crabs, lobsters,

shrimps.
2- Insects: They have three pairs of jointed legs,
compound eyes and wings. Their segments are divided into
head, thorax and abdomen. They have just one pair of
antennae and no limbs in the thorax. Examples are bees,
mosquitoes and butterflies. Their cuticles are almost
impermeable.
3- Arachnids: Their bodies are segmented into two regions,
the cephalothorax and the abdomen. They have pedipalps (son
como antenas) to reproduce and a gland to secrete poison.
They have several pairs of simple eyes and four pairs of limbs.
Examples are spiders, scorpions.
4- Myriapods: They have a head and a segmented body.
There is apair of legs on each body segment. As they grow,
additional segments are formed. They have one pair of
antennae and simple eyes. Examples are the millipedes and the
centipedes.

Vertebrates:
They have a vertebral column. They divide into mammals,
birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Some of them have a
variable body temperature, which depends on the temperature
of their surroundings (fish, amphibians, reptiles); and some
others have a warmer body temperature that the one in their
surroundings (mammals, birds).

Fish: Their bodies are covered with scales and they have
fins which play part in movement.
Amphibians: They have four limbs and no scales. They
spend part of his life in water and the other half on the
land. They have moist skin and webbed feet which is
useful for swimming. The females lay eggs and males lay
sperms over them, therefore fertilisation is external.
Examples are frogs, toads and newts.

Reptiles: Their skins are dry and have scales in the outer
layer; this helps to prevent the water loss. Examples are
lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises, and crocodiles.

Birds: They have wings covered by feathers of different

types, some of them keeps them warm, some others are
adaptation to fly; they are all around their body except in
the legs and toes, where they have scales. They also have
peaks (pico).

Mammals: They have four limbs and hair instead of scales

or feathers. They have a diaphragm which plays part of
breathing. Eggs are fertilized internally, and the milk made
in the mammary glands contains all the nutrients
necessary for the offspring.

Vocabulary:

Body: elongated, cylindrical, segmented, circular,

Parts of the body: thorax, abdomen, head, jointed limbs,

skeleton (cuticle in arthropods).

Other features: claws, compound eyes, antenna, wings,

simple eyes, shell, muscular foot.

Scales, fin (aleta), moist skin, webbed feet (frogs feet),

feathers, peak (pico), whiskers.

Protophyta or unicellular 'plants': they contain chloroplasts

and make their own food. For example, Euglena and
Chlamydomonas.
Protozoa or unicellular 'animals': they take in and digest
solid food. For example, the Ameba (it moves by a flowing
movement of it's cytoplasm and picks bacteria and
microscopic organisms as it goes), the Vorticella (has a
contractile stalk and feeds by creating a water current and
taking in the particles that are moved to the cell), and the
Paramecium.

3.Fungi: They are made up of microscopic threads called

hyphae. The branching hyphae spread and absorb food from

the material on which the fungi is growing. Fungi includes

organisms such as mushrooms, toadstools, puffballs, etc. Some
of them live in the soil or in dead wood; some others in food as
cheese, fruits, bread; and others are parasites and live in other
organisms.
4.Plants: They are made up of many cells (multicellular). Plant
cells have a cell wall made of cellulose and chloroplasts with
photosynthetic substances. They made their food by
photosynthesis.
5.Animals: They are multicellular organisms as plants, but they
dont contain cell walls or chloroplasts. Most animals ingest
solid food and digest it internally.
Phyla in te Animal Kingdom:

Phylum Annelids:

Phylum Molluscs: Animals with soft, unsegmented bodies.

Sometimes they have a shell,

There is a doubt among scientists: viruses. They don't agree

whether this group should classify as living organisms or not,
because they only share on feature with them (they can
reproduce) and they cannot do it without help.