Chapter 4 - Grouping and Identifying Organisms Notes

EXCEL GLOBAL SCHOOL
CHAPTER 4
GROUPING AND IDENTIFYING ORGANISMS
Objective of the Lesson
 Describe the seven characteristics of living
organisms.
 Discuss reasons for classifying viruses as living
or non-living.
 Describe a species as a group of organisms that
can reproduce to produce fertile offspring.
 Use and construct dichotomous keys to classify
species and groups of related
organisms
4.1 Characteristics of living organisms
Key words
excretion organism
growth reproduction
movement respiration
nutrition sensitivity
Definitions
 Characteristic
A feature or quality belonging to a person, place
or thing and serving to identify them
 Living Thing
The term living things refers to any organism or a
living form that possesses the characteristics of life or
being alive.
 Respiration
A chemical process in which oxygen is used to
make energy from carbohydrates (sugars)
 Sensitivity
The ability of an organism or part of an organism to
react to stimuli; irritability.
 Reproduction
The process in which a living organism produces
a new individual of the same kind.
 Excretion
Excretion is the process that biological organisms
use to expel or eliminate the waste products produced by
their metabolisms.
 Nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological
process by which an organism uses food to support its
life
Key Points
There are two groups of things- living things and

non-living things
Characteristics of life
 If something is called living thing, it must have
seven special features. These are called the
characteristics of life. They are
 Movement
 Respiration
 Sensitivity
 Growth
 Reproduction
 Nutrition
 Excretion
 Use the mnemonic MRS. GREN to help you
remember the above life processes
Point to remember - Excretion
Skin, kidneys and lungs are the three major organs of
excretion in humans:
1. Sweat glands in the skin produce sweat. This contains
water, urea and salt. Excreting sweat helps keep the body
cool in hot conditions.
2. The kidneys remove excess water, salts and urea to
prevent a toxic build-up of these substances in the body.
3. The lungs remove excess carbon dioxide (and some
water) when breathing out
4.2 Viruses
Key Words
electron replicate
microscope RNA
influenza virus
protein
Definitions
Replication
Replication is a biological process of duplicating or
producing an exact copy.
Key Points
 Viruses are non-cellular, microscopic infectious
agents that can only replicate inside a host cell.
 From a biological perspective, viruses cannot be
classified either a living organism or non-living.
 A virus is made up of genetic material and protein
that can invade and reproduce only within the living
cells of bacteria, plants and animals.
Virus Replication
1. Attachment: Virus attaches to the host cell.

2. Entry: Genetic material is injected into the host cell.
3. Replication: The virus takes over the cell's
metabolism, causing the creation of new proteins and
nucleic acids by the host cell's organelles.
4. Assembly: Proteins and nucleic acids are assembled
into new viruses.
5. Release: Virus enzymes cause the cell to burst and
viruses are released from the host cell. These new
viruses can infect other cells.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious
disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The severity of COVID-19 symptoms can range from
very mild to severe. Some people may have only a
few symptoms. Some people may have no symptoms
at all, but can still spread it. This is called
asymptomatic transmission.
4.3 What is a species?

Key words
fertile species
identical specimen
infertile variation
offspring
Definitions
Species
A species is defined as a group of organisms that can
reproduce to produce fertile offspring.
Offspring
The young creation of living organisms.
Fertile
Capable of producing offspring
Variation
Variation can be defined as any difference between the
individuals in a species or groups of organisms of any
species.
Key Points
Species and reproduction
There are millions of species of organisms on Earth
A species is defined as a group of organisms that can
reproduce to produce fertile offspring
These species can be classified into groups by the
features that they share e.g., all mammals have bodies
covered in hair, feed young from mammary glands and
have external ears (pinnas)
All the organisms in a species share the same
characteristics but they are not all identical to each other.
Variation between individuals can sometimes make it
difficult to decide whether two organisms belong to the
same species. To be sure, scientists try to find out if they
can reproduce with one another.
Organisms that belong to different species cannot usually
reproduce with one another. Very rarely, two organisms
from different species do reproduce together. They will
produce infertile offspring.
4.4 Using keys

Definition
 Classification
The method of arranging the organisms into g roups
are called classification
 Dichotomous Key
A key for the identification of organisms based on a
series of choices between alternative characters.
Key Points
Identifying organisms
Biologists often want to identify an organism that they
have found.
Biologists also use keys to help them to identify
organisms. A key is a set of questions about the organism
you want to identify.
The answer to each question takes you to another
question
You work through all of the questions until you arrive at
the name of the organism.
The simple key to help someone to identify an organism.
It is a dichotomous key.
Dichotomous key
 Keys are used to identify organisms based on

a series of questions about their features
 Dichotomous means ‘branching into two’ and it
leads the user through to the name of the
organism by giving two descriptions at a
time and asking them to choose
 Each choice leads the user onto another two
descriptions
 In order to successfully navigate a key, you need
to pick a single organism to start with and follow
the statements from the beginning until you
find the name
 You then pick another organism and start at the
beginning of the key again, repeating until all
organisms are named.
Keys are sometimes arranged differently. Here is the
same key set out in a different way. Instead of a question,
the key starts with a pair of statements to choose from.
4.5 Constructing keys

Constructing a key
 Consider only one characteristic at a time
 Use morphological or observable characteristics as much
as you can
 Use major characteristics when dividing the organisms in
the beginning and use lesser or less obvious
characteristics to divide them into smaller groups
 When writing contrasting statements, rely on similar
word formats (i.e., have feathers and don’t have
feathers)
 Be specific in your statements and avoid repeating the
same characteristics
 Use questions that lead to yes or no answers rather than
statements

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EXCEL GLOBAL SCHOOL

There are two groups of things- living things and

1. Attachment: Virus attaches to the host cell.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

4.3 What is a species?

4.4 Using keys

 Keys are used to identify organisms based on

4.5 Constructing keys

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