biodiversity

• 7 Characteristics of living things

  • MOVEMENT
  • REPRODUCTION
  • SENSITIVITY
  • FEEDING
  • EXCRETION
  • RESPIRATION
  • GROWTH
• MOVEMENT


  Living things move, some faster than others
• REPRODUCTION


  Living things produce offspring
• SENSITIVITY


  Sense what is going on around them
• SENSITIVITY


  • Five senses
  • Ecolocation
• FEEDING


  Photosynthesis or ingestion
• EXCRETION


  Getting rid of waste. Includes urine, sweat and CO2. Oxygen in plants.
• RESPIRATION


  Living things need to release energy from food through cellular respiration
• RESPIRATION


  • Breathing
  • Cellular respiration: Using Oxygen in the cells mitochondria to break down food for energy
• GROWTH

  Increase in size over time
• All living things are made of cells
• All living things are made of cells – cells are the building blocks of life
• Biodiversity is the huge variety of living things in the biosphere with enormous variation between them
• Species


  2 organisms are of the same species if they can breed, and their offspring is fertile
• Taxonomy

  System of classifying and naming organisms
• The 5 Kingdoms classification

  • Animal Kingdom
  • Plant Kingdom
  • Fungi Kingdom
  • Protist Kingdom
  • Bacteria Kingdom
• Animal Kingdom


  • Consumers
  • Very sensitive to environment / respond quickly
  • Divided into vertebrates (animals with a backbone) and invertebrates (no backbone)
• Parasites


  An organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host
• Plant Kingdom


  • Producers – make their own food
  • Photosynthesis: Light energy from the sun is trapped to make food from CO2 and water
• Fungi Kingdom


  • Don't carry out photosynthesis
  • Some are microscopic like yeast, others large like mold
  • Very long masses of thread like cells
  • They develop spore producing structures like mushrooms
  • Spores are very small cells that can develop into a fungus
• Role of fungi


  • Used to produce fermentation products like beer
  • Can cause disease in humans like Athletes foot
  • Important role as decomposers in an ecosystem
  • Can parasite plants and animals
• Protist Kingdom


  • Mostly unicellular like unicellular algae or multicellular seaweed
  • Live in water and get their nutrients from it
  • Carry out photosynthesis
  • Doesn't usually have leaves, stems or roots
• Bacteria Kingdom


  • Unicellular organisms, many different types
  • Reproduce by binary fission
  • Can act as decomposers
  • Some cause diseases like E.coli and others causes "the tummy bug"
  • Some produce fermented dairies like yogurt and cheese
• Microbes or microorganisms


  Organisms too small to see without a microscope
• Bacteria


  • Unicellular microorganisms
  • Bacteria reproduce asexually – Binary fission
• Cholera


  • Bacteria spreads through waste (faeces) of infected people
  • Contaminated water supplies spread the disease
• Food poisoning


  • Improper hand washing from infected people leaves microbes in food
  • When the food with microbes is consumed it infects other people
• The tragic tale of typhoid Mary

  • Irish-born American cook believed to have infected between 51 to 122 people with typhoid fever
  • First person in the US identified as an asymptomatic carrier of pathogenic bacteria Salmonella typhi
  • Persisted in working as a cook – forcibly quarantined
• Antibiotics


  Chemicals (initially produced by microorganisms) to kill bacteria
• Fungi often produce antibiotics to kill bacteria around them
• Human medicine – treat bacterial infections
• Bacteria resistant to antibiotics like MRSA are becoming a problem in healthcare
• Fungi


  • Mushrooms, moulds, mildew and yeast
  • Consumers
  • Multicellular or unicellular
  • Can cause disease or food decay
  • Used to make antibiotics and alcoholic drinks
• Viruses


  • Small infectious particles that can cause disease
  • Not made of cells so not classified as living
  • To reproduce they enter cells of living things using them to make copies of the virus (replicate)
• Viruses


  • Common cold
  • Influenza
  • Coronavirus
• Virus reproduction


  Virus need live cells to reproduce
• Vaccines


  • Protect us against very dangerous viruses
  • Inactivated (killed virus) or small parts of the virus that train our immune system to fight it
  • Like a fire drill for infection
• Vaccines are very important to protect the population against outbreaks/epidemics/pandemics
• Biodiversity


  The variety of living things
• Sustainability


  We must maintain ecosystems and the organisms within for the future