Kingdom, phylum, class, order,
family, genus, species
As you move down to species the fewer
organisms are found within each group as they
share more similarities
Classified in two ways; Artificial system- based on one or
two characteristics that make identification easier. Birds by
the sea- sea birds
Natural system- bases in DNA enable scientists to
know how much more closely related organisms are,
can be reclassified
Species
Group of organisms that can
interbreed to produce babies
Named by the binomial system-
two parts to name, first is genus
and second is species. Genus
part starts with capital letter, and
species part starts with lower
case
Problems with classifying
Living things are at different stages of
evolution, new ones being discovered all
the time. Makes difficult to place
organisms into distinct groups.
Archaeopteryx- had characteristics which
puts into two different groups...
Feathers(bird) and teeth and tail like a
reptile
Present specific problems- Bacteria do not
interbreed, reproduce asexually, can't be
classed into different species
Mules- hybrids, produced when members of
two species interbreed. Infertile, can't be
classed as a species
Classification and evolution
Organisms that are grouped together usually closely
related and share ancestors but have different features
if they live in different habitats
When classifying, important to bear in mind
similarities and differences. Dolphins and fish- live in
same habitat however dolphins are mammals.
Dolphins and bats live in different habitats but are
both mammals
Energy flow
Pyramids of biomass
Pyramids of numbers and pyramids of biomass can be
both used to represent feeding relationships between
organisms in a food chain or web.
Show the dry mass of living material at
each stage of a food chain
May look different to pyramids of numbers if producers are large or
a small parasite lives on a large animal
POB are a better way of
representing trophic levels they are
difficult to construct
Some organisms feed on others from different trophic levels
Measuring dry mass is difficult as it involves
removing all the water from an organism, which
will kill it
Energy flow
As energy flows along the food chain some is used in growth.
However, at each trophic level much of the energy is
transferred into other, less useful forms such as; heat from
respiration; egestion; excretion
Material that is lost at each stage is not
wasted. Most is used by decomposers
Each trophic level loses up to 90% of the
available energy, an animal at the end of the
food chain doesn't have a lot of food
available to it
efficiency = energy used for
growth / energy output
Recycling
The carbon cycle
Carbon- one
element found in
living organisms
Needs to be recycled so it can become available
for other living organisms
Carbon dioxide is removed by photosynthesis
Feeding passes carbon
compounds along a food chain
or web
Released in the air by plants and
animals respiring/soil bacteria and fungi
acting as decomposers/the burning of
fossil fuels
Absorbed by the air by oceans, marina
organisms make shells made of
carbonate, which then become limestone
Carbon in limestone can return to air as carbon
dioxide during volcanic eruptions or weathering
The nitrogen cycle
Plants take in nitrogen as
nitrates from the soil to make
protein for growth
Feeding passes nitrogen compounds along
a food chain or web
Nitrogen compounds in dead plants and
animals are broken down by decomposers and
returned to soil
Number of microorganisms are
responsible for the recycling of
nitrogen
Decomposers- soil bacteria which convert
proteins and urea into ammonia
Nitrifying bacteria convert the
ammonia to nitrates
Denitrifying bacteria convert
nitrates to nitrogen gas
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in
root nodules fix nitrogen gas