Kingdoms of Life

• Animals, plants, fungi, protocols, and bacteria are all eukaryotic organisms, made up of eukaryotic cells which have certain things in common like the fact that their DNA is in the form of chromosomes or that their DNA is found in a nucleus.
• Bacteria are classified as prokaryotes, meaning they don't have a nucleus and their DNA is just loose in a cell.
• Bacteria are between 10 and 100 times smaller than eukaryotic cells.
• Viruses are not classified as organisms and are therefore not in any of the kingdoms of life.
• Viruses are another 10 to 100 times smaller than prokaryotic cells.
• There are around 5 to 10 million different species of animals on earth, ranging from humans to chickens to ladybirds to lionfish.
• All animals are multicellular, heterotrophs, and most of them reproduce sexually.
• Plants are multicellular, autotrophs, and most of them reproduce sexually.
• Fungi can be either multicellular or unicellular, with some being autotrophs and others being heterotrophs.
• Fungi can be considered pathogens which means they can cause disease in humans, such as the fungus that causes athlete's foot.
• Nearly all protozoans are unicellular, meaning they are single-celled organisms.
• Most protozoans have nothing to do with humans, but a few species, like Plasmodium, can cause diseases like malaria.
• Bacteria are single-celled organisms that live just about everywhere, including on our skin and in our intestines.
• Some species of bacteria can photosynthesize and have chloroplasts, while others feed off other organisms, either living or dead.
• Scientists believe that there are probably more species of bacteria than all of the other kingdoms combined.
• Viruses are super tiny particles that can fit almost a million of them across the width of a single fingernail.
• Viruses come in different shapes and sizes, with a basic structure involving a protein coat around the outside surrounding some genetic material on the inside.
• Viruses can only reproduce inside living cells, which is why they are considered parasites.
• All viruses can be considered pathogens because they always cause harm to the other living organisms when they use their cells to reproduce.
• Examples of viruses include the influenza virus, tobacco mosaic virus, HIV, and COVID-19.
• Fungi that are multicellular have a body called a mycelium which is made up of loads of little thread-like structures called hyphae.