1. Organizing Life’s Diversity
the Kingdom's of life

2. Fungus
Protists
Reptiles
Mammals
Based on the theory of evolution, what would be an accurate statement about the organisms shown above ?

3. My sister just called me a little fungus!
What’s a fungus?
Did we learn about them in school?
. . . not sure
Do you think I am one?

4. So when you look at a living thing, how do you know if it is a fungus or some other type of organism?
Each group of organisms have a particular set
of characteristics
that distinguish
them from
other
organisms.
Given the diversity of
living things, it is
easy to forget that
all living things
have much
in common

5. Living organisms are divided into kingdoms and are grouped according to their cell type, complexity, and method of obtaining nutrients.

6. Scientists recognize three basic form of life based on genetic similarities and as a result classify living things into
3 DOMAINS.
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukarya
Animals
Fungi
Plants
Protists

7. The domain thought to be the oldest is bacteria which is composed of
the kingdom Eubacteria.
Archaea is the second prokaryotic domain and is also composed of a single kingdom , Archaebacteria.
A third domain, Eukarya contains all four of the eukaryotic kingdoms – Animals, Fungi, Plants, and Protists

8. ? Characteristics Kingdom Prokaryotic – No Nucleus
Cell Type
Prokaryotic – No Nucleus
Eukaryotic – Has a Nucleus
Nutrition
Autotrophs –
make their own food; or heterotrophs – get their nutrition by eating other organisms.
Cell Wall
The cells of 4
kingdoms have a cell
wall which may be made up of different materials.
Body Type
Unicellular (one cell) or Multicellular
(more than one cell). 2 kingdoms are unicellular
– 2 are multicellular and 2 can be either
unicellular or multicellular

9. Get a copy or the “Kingdoms Classification” handout and use the characteristics of
the 6 kingdoms of life on the next slide to complete the blanks in the diagram

11. Lets check our diagrams together . . .
. . . as a class

12. How Scientist Identify Organisms
Dichotomous Keys
How Scientist Identify Organisms

13. As we have just seen, a classification system is a way of separating a large group of closely related organisms into smaller subgroups. With such a system, identification of an organism is easy. The scientific names of organisms are based on the classification
systems of living organisms. To classify an organism, scientists often use a
Dichotomous
key.

14. A dichotomous key is a listing of specific characteristics, such as structure and
behavior, in
such a way
that an
organism can
be identified
through a
process of
elimination.

15. Read the information in the “Constructing a Dichotomous Key” handout and use the information to identify the names of the objects shown on the handout.
Eric
Gina
Sue
Stan
Pots

16. Classifying
Sharks
Get a Copy of Classifying Sharks Using a Dichotomous
Take 10 minutes to work on the sharks key on our own.

17. Classifying Sharks
Read through Classifying Sharks and study the diagram at the bottom of the page
Use the Shark Key to identify the 14 members of the shark family shown on the first page of your handout

18. Classifying Sharks Compare your findings with your lab partners.
Did you get the same results?
Break up into
equal lab groups

19. Check for
Understanding
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING