Classification and Biodiversity

• What is classification?


  Putting different organisms into groups in a logical way
• Why do we classify organisms?

  • Helps us to explore the variety of living things and to see how they relate to each other
• Methods of classification


  • Morphological features
  • DNA analysis
• 5 kingdoms of living organisms


  • Plants
  • Animals
  • Bacteria
  • Single celled organisms
  • Fungi
• Plants are divided into


  • Flowering plants
  • Non-flowering plants
• Animals are divided into

  • Vertebrates
  • Invertebrates
• What is the binomial system and who developed it?

  Developed by Carolus Linnaeus, a modern system for classifying organisms
• Groups in the binomial system


  • Kingdom
  • Phylum
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus
  • Species
• Scientific names


  Names that made up of the Genus and Species groups to refer to different organisms.
• Scientific names are used because they're universally understood by scientists, eliminating any language barriers, and they aid identification and classification
• Adaptation


  Features that aid living things to survive in their habitats, can be morphological or behavioural
• Behavioural adaptations


  • Hibernation
  • Migration
• Competition


  Occurs between organisms as there are a short supply of resources. For example: Food, territory, mates, light and minerals.
• Types of competition


  • Intraspecific (within a species)
  • Interspecific (between different species)
• Biodiversity

  The number of different species and the number of individuals within those species in an area, a measure of the healthiness of a habitat
• Biodiversity is important as it provides us with food, potential food, medicine, raw materials which enhances human wellbeing
• Ways biodiversity and endangered species are protected

  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
  • Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
  • Captive breeding programmes
  • National Parks
  • Sperm and Seed banks
  • Local biodiversity action plans
• Biological control


  When a living organism is introduced to a habitat to control a population of a pest species
• Alien species


  Organisms that are accidentally or deliberately introduced into habitats where they don't naturally occur
• When alien species become invasive

  • They have no predators in that area resulting in the population growing out of control
  • They compete with the native species causing the native species to die out in the area
  • They prey on native species causing a reduction in their population
  • They carry a disease that the native species are not immune to
• Advantages of biological control

  • When a predator is established, there is no need to re-introduce them at a later date
  • The biological control agent is usually specific to the pest species
  • It is an alternative to pesticides which can cause harm to insects and cause bioaccumulation
• Disadvantages of biological control

  • There is a delay between introducing the predator and the reduction in the pest population
  • The biological control agent can introduce new diseases that the native species are not immune to
  • The biological control agent can compete with native species or become predators to the species
• Measuring the number of a species via quadrats?

  1. Lay two 20m tape measures at a right angle

  2. Roll two 20-sided dice to generate a coordinate

  3. Place the 1m2 quadrat at the point of the coordinate

  4. Count the number of plants in the quadrat and record this result

  5. Repeat for at least 10 quadrat samples
• Transect line


  A series of quadrat samples taken in a line, to show the frequency and distribution of species in a habitat
• Capture and recapture


  1. Animals are captured, marked and released

  2. A few days later, animals are recaptured

  3. The number of marked and unmarked animals caught are recorded

  4. Population size is estimated by an equation
• When using data from the capture and recapture method, assumptions must be made that there is no death, no mass immigration or emigration, and the marking technique doesn't affect chances of survival