Classification & biodiversity

• Classification

  The process of grouping living organisms based on their similarities and differences
• Major groups of living organisms

  • Flowering plants (e.g. rose, dandelion)
  • Non-flowering plants (e.g. grasses, ferns)
  • Vertebrates (have a backbone, e.g. birds, snakes, humans)
  • Invertebrates (do not have a backbone, e.g. insects, spiders)
• Classifying and naming organisms

  • Traditionally based on morphological features
  • More recently using DNA analysis to more accurately group organisms and show how related they are
• Domain


  The largest grouping, there are 3 domains: Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea
• Five kingdoms

  • Animals
  • Plants
  • Fungi
  • Single-celled organisms
  • Protists
• Adaptations


  • Morphological (physical) adaptations, e.g. large ears of fennec foxes to dissipate heat
  • Behavioural adaptations, e.g. fennec foxes being nocturnal and burrowing to avoid desert heat
• Competition

  Organisms compete for survival, including for food, territory, and mates
• Types of competition

  • Interspecific (between different species)
  • Intraspecific (within the same species)
• Measuring biodiversity using quadrats


  1. Randomly throw quadrat

  2. Count different species and number of each

  3. Take mean from multiple quadrats

  4. Multiply up to estimate total for area
• Biodiversity


  Measure of the variety and numbers of different species in an area
• Importance of biodiversity


  • Provides food and potential new medicines
  • Supplies industrial materials
  • Enhances human well-being
• Ways to conserve biodiversity and protect endangered species


  • International conventions
  • National parks
  • Trade regulations
  • Seed banks
  • Local biodiversity action plans
• Scientific names are used as they are universal and avoid confusion from language barriers or common name variations