1. Classification

2. Classification
Scientists believe that there are over 10 million different kinds of life forms, or species on Earth. Imagine trying to study and understand the lives, patterns, behaviors, and evolution of so many different kinds of organisms. In order to make their job easier, scientists classify living things into groups, based on how they are the same, and how they are different.

3. Think of candy…
As an example, think of your Halloween candy. On Halloween night, after returning from trick or treating, what do you and your friends do? Many kids pour their candy out on the floor or bed, and begin separating the candy into piles based on how the candy items are the same, and how they are different.

4. Classification
The chocolate goes into one pile, the smartees™ into another, the sugar daddies™ into yet another pile, until all the candies are in the appropriate place. Biologists do the same thing with life forms. Instead of dumping all the life forms on the floor, and placing them in piles, scientists write down which group each type of organism belongs to in books.

5. People who classifiy
Scientists who classify living things are called taxonomists. It is their job to look at every kind of living thing, and determine how they are similar and how they are different to other living things.

6. Classification
Here is where it gets a little tricky. A life form might be very similar to one living thing, but less similar to another, and even less similar to a third living thing. For example, a dog is very similar to a wolf, less similar to a horse, and very different from a lizard.

7. Classification
To help scientists keep this all straight, they start by classifying, or by placing life forms in groups called Kingdoms.
These kingdoms represent a very large group of life forms that are all similar in some ways, but can be very different from one another in other ways.
The 6 kingdoms that biologists have developed are:
The Archaebacteria Kingdom
The Eubacteria Kingdom
The Protist Kingdom
The Fungi Kingdom
The Plant Kingdom
The Animal Kingdom.

8. Classification
How would you divide your Halloween goodies into Kingdoms?
One possible way to divide the treats into kingdoms could be The Edible Kingdom, and The Non-Edible Kingdom. The word “edible” means that you can eat it.
All your edible goodies would go in one pile, and all your non-edible goodies, like pencils, stickers, tooth brushes, etc could go in another.
Even today among scientists, there is still much debate about how things should be divided.

9. Classification - Phylum
The next group that scientists have developed to further classify living things is the Phylum (plural: phyla).
Life forms are grouped together based once again on how they are similar and how they are different.
Everything in the Animal Kingdom is similar to each other in important ways. Can you think of some ways that animals are similar to one another? How are they different?

10. Classification
One important way that animals are different is whether or not they have a backbone. Animals with a backbone belong to the Chordata Phylum.
It is important for you to know that some members of this phylum do not have a backbone. However, they do have a strengthening rod similar to a backbone.

11. Classification
How might you group your Halloween goodies into different phyla? In the previous example, we decided that we would break our treats into two kingdoms. The Edible Kingdom, and the Non-Edible Kingdom.
Under the Edible Kingdom, two possible Phyla might be The Good For Me Phylum, and The Bad For Me Phylum. Again, this is only one possible example. We encourage you to be creative in thinking of your own phyla.

12. Classification
Biologist continue classifying life forms further into Orders, Families, Genius, and Species. In the example below you can see how scientists have classified the European Tree Frog. Notice that the tree frog starts out in the very broad Animal Kingdom, from there each group becomes more and more narrow, until we have only this type of frog. Also, notice that each time we move to a smaller group, the life forms are more similar to one another.

14. Properties of Life
What qualifies something as “living” versus “non-living?”
Consider these points
complexity
movement
response to stimulation
A life-defining property must be exclusive to living things
Prompt students to decide what properties the living things in the kingdoms have? Are those properties exclusive to living things? What properties are? 14

15. Basic Properties of Life
1. Cellular organization
all living things are comprised of at least one cell
2. Metabolism
all living things process energy which is used to power other processes
3. Homeostasis
all living things maintain stable internal environments to optimize conditions for metabolism and other processes
All organisms share 5 properties that are unique to life. 15

16. Basic Properties of Life
4. Growth and reproduction
all organisms have the capacity for growth and reproduction
5. Heredity
all organisms pass genetic information across generations from parents to offspring 16

17. The Organization of Life
Living things function and interact with each other on many levels
The organization of life is a hierarchy of levels of increasing complexity
cellular
organismal
populational
The following slide sequence shows the hierarchy of transitions from one level of complexity to the next—emphasize the interconnectedness. 17

18. Cellular Level 18

19. Organismal Level 19

20. Population Level 20

21. Phylogeny
The connections between all groups of organisms as understood by ancestor/descendant relationships
The fundamental proposition is that plants or animals of different species descended from common ancestors

23. Classification Worksheet