Biodiversity and Interactions

• Classification is the grouping of living things according to similarities in characteristics
• The earliest known system of classification is that of Aristotle, who attempted in the 4th century B.C. to group animals, based on the criteria as a mode of reproduction and possession or lack of red blood
• Theophrastus. who was the student of Aristotle, classified plants according to their uses and methods of reproduction.
• Binomial nomenclature is a classification system based on structural similarities
• Carolus Linnaeus devised the presently used system of nomenclature
• Taxonomy is the science by which organisms are classified and placed Into categories based on their structural similarities and evolutionary relationship
• Hierarchy is a series of levels, each more inclusive than the last.
• Order: a group of closely related families.

  Family: a group of closely related genera

  Genus: a closely related species.

  Species: a group of organism of a particular kind that can naturally interbreed and produce fertile young.
• Kingdom: a group of closely related phyla

  Phylum: a group of closely related classes

  Class: a group of closely related order
• These groups of organisms are Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.
• Kingdom Plantae are eukaryotic and contains chlorophyll. It has the ability to grow by cell division.
• Kingdom Animalia are eukaryotic, multicellular and heterotrophic organisms.
• Kingdom Monera includes bacteria and blue-green algae
• Kingdom Protista are either plant-like or animal-like depending on whether they have chlorophyll
• Kingdom Fungi are eukaryotic cells containing distinct bound organelles
• Autotrophs are organisms that are able to make their own food from simple substances.
• heterotrophs are organisms that cannot produce their own food by carbon fixation like plants.
• Producers are organisms that make their own food by using photosynthesis
• Decomposers use dead organic matte as their food sources.
• Consumers are organisms that feed on other organisms to obtain energy and nutrients.
• The first consumers or the primary consumers are called herbivores

  Carnivores are the secondary consumers in a food chain

  Omnivores are the tertiary consumers. Such as humans

  The last consumers are the scavengers
• Energy enters into an ecosystem as light and it is converted to chemical energy by producers and exits the ecosystem as heat
• A food chain shows how a group of organisms within an ecosystem gets their food and energy.
• A food web is a series of food chains in an ecosystem that are connected together.