A Quick Review of Taxonomy / Biological Classifications!

1

Bacteria Domain

--Eubacteria kingdom

2

Archaea Domain

--Archaebacteria Kingdom

--Extremophile Kingdom

--Nonextreme Archabacteria Kingdom

3

Eukarya Domain

--Protista Kingdom

--Fungi Kingdom

--Plantae Kingdom

--Animalia Kingdom

There are six different kingdoms: Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia, and all living things fit into one of them.

Domains and Kingdoms of LifeThere are 3 Domains and 6 Kingdoms

The Three Domains of Life are the Bacteria Domain, the Archaea Domain, and the Eukarya Domain

The Six Kingdoms of Life are Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.

1. Bacteria Domain - this is the oldest and most abundant domain. This domain contains all

the organisms in the Eubacteria kingdom. Bacteria have strong cell walls containing

peptidoglycan, and are prokaryotic and unicelluar. Some are autotrophic and others are

heterotrophic.

There are many types of bacteria, including those that are naturally found in our guts, those in

freshwater and ocean ecosystems, the bacteria that decompose things in our environment, and

those that cause disease.

Image Credit: Bacteria: Mariana Ruiz

Bacteria are simple cells with no nucleus. Bacteria have a domain of their own called the

Bacteria domain. They also have a kingdom of their own: Eubacteria Kingdom.

The Three domains - Some Characteristics: 

Bacteria: Domain Bacteria is familiar to most people when associated with human or animal disease. However, most bacterial species do not (and cannot) cause disease. Many species even play beneficial roles by producing antibiotics and food. The soil teems with free-living bacteria that perform many essential functions in the biosphere, e.g. nitrogen fixation. Our bodies are covered with bacteria that make up our normal flora. [Quote]

Fun Fact:   There are more bacteria in one person's mouth than there are people in the world.   Many are decomposers, some are photosynthesizers, and a few cause disease. Most bacteria cause disease by producing exotoxins that harm human cells, while others cause illness as a result of glycoproteins found on the outside of their capsules. There are many shapes that

bacteria can come in, but three of the main ones are cocci (spherical), bacilli (rods) and spirochete (spiral bacteria).[Quote]

At least 5 major Phyla:

1. Proteobacteria: Enteric bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella typhus, Legionella, Heliobacter pylorii (cause of many ulcers), Neisseria gonorrhea (cause of gonorrhea). These bacteria are very closely related to eukaryotic mitochondria.

2. Cyanobacteria: Photosynthetic ‘blue-green’ bacteria = produce O2 gas. Over 2 billion years ago, these bacteria made the O2 rich atmosphere in which we live!!! These bacteria are very closely related to eukaryotic chloroplasts. [Image] 

3. Eubacteria: Clostridium (tetanus, botulism), Bacillus, mycoplasma (walking pneumonia).

4. Chlamydias: Parasites: Giardia, Chlamydia (STD)

5. Spirochaetes: Spiral bacteria: cause syphilis, Lyme disease

SOURCE: http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k23domain.html

Archaea Domain - This domain contains all the organisms in the kingdom Archaebacteria.Archaebacteria are prokaryotic, unicellular, and some are autotrophic while others are heterotrophic. What separates them from the bacteria domain is the fact that their cell walls do not contain peptidoglycan. Also, their ribosomal proteins are more similar to those of eukaryotes than they are to bacteria

The three basic types of archeabacteria include:A. Methanogens - Methanogens live in the mud of swamps and wetlands (where they create mash gas), and the guts of animals (where they cause gas). They combine hydrogen (H) and carbon dioxide (CO2) for energy. A biproduct of this is methane gas.

photo credit: Methanogens: PM Poon

Methanogens are a type of archaebacteria in the archaea domain.

B. Extremophiles - Extremophiles live in very hot places, very salty places, very acid places, or other extreme conditions where most life can not live.

Thermophilic Archaebacteria: Wing-Chi Poon

These archaebacteria in the Kingdom Archaebacteria and the Archae domain live in very warm

places. The photo was taken in the Midway Geyser Basin at Yellowstone National Park.

C. Nonextreme Archabacteria - These organisms grow in all the same types of environments as bacteria.

Eukarya Domain - The Eukarya domain contains the organisms in the remaining four kingdoms: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. These organisms are eukaryotic, and use sexual reproduction as part of their life cycle (instead of binary fission or other forms of asexual reproduction). Some organisms in the eukarya domain are uniceullular, while others are multicellular.

The kingdoms that are found in the Eukarya domain include:A. Protista Kingdom - Protista are very simple organisms, either containing only one cell, or containing more than one cell but having no specialized tissues. Some are unicellular and others are multicellular. Many protista live in water.

 

Image credit: Euglena: Deuterostome

Euglena are in the kingdom Protista, in the domain Eukarya.

Archaea: Life's Extremists...!

1. Methanogens: “methane-makers” Use only CO2, H and N to produce energy to live, and as a result give off methane gas. [Image]. Live in swamps, marshes, gut of cattle, termites, etc. Methanococcus jannaschii, isolated from the deep sea Alvin probe, was the first Archaean whose genome was sequenced. Methanogens are decomposers; and can be used in sewage treatment. Methanogens may someday be used to produce methane as fuel!

2. Extreme Halophiles: “salt lovers”Require an environment as salty or even10x saltier than ocean water. Some prefer up to 30% salt concentrations! These bacteria live in the Dead Sea, the Great Salt Lake, salt evaporation ponds. 

3. Extreme Thermophiles: “heat / cold lovers”Prefer temperatures above 60�C (up to 110�C for hyperthermophiles!) or near or below freezing. (Some thermophiles will die at roon temperature). Thermophiles ive in hot sulfur springs, Yellowstone Park, deep sea hydrothermal vents “black smokers”, geothermal power plants. Also live in ocean waters around Antarctica, under the polar ice caps, etc. Thermus aquaticus and Pyrococcus furiosis and two species.

B. Fungi Kingdom - Many fungi are decomposers. The cell walls of fungi include chitin. Although most fungi are multicelluar, yeasts are a type of fungi that are unicellular.

Image credit: Mushrooms: Alan Rockefeller

Mushrooms are in the Fungi Kingdom in the Eukarya domain.

2. Fungi – Mushrooms, bread molds, water molds, yeasts ,etc

The Kingdom Fungi includes some of the most important organisms on Earth. By breaking down dead organic material, they cycle nutrients through ecosystems. Other fungi provide drugs such as penicillin and other antibiotics, foods like mushrooms, truffles and morels, and the bubbles in bread, champagne, and beer. 

Fungi also cause plant and animal diseases: in humans, ringworm, athlete's foot, and several more serious diseases are caused by fungi. Plant diseases caused by fungi include rusts, smuts, and leaf, root, and stem rots, and may cause severe damage to crops. However, a number of fungi, in particular the yeasts, are important "model organisms" for studying problems in genetics and molecular biology. [Quote]

C. Plantae Kingdom - Plants are multicellular autotrophs (with only a few exceptions), with cell walls containing cellulose.

3. Plantae – Flowering plants, gymnosperms (conifers), ferns, mosses, etc

Kingdom Plantae includes all land plants - an amazing range of diverse forms with more than 250,000 species. Plants first appeared on Earth in the Ordovician period approximately 510 million years ago. The most striking, and important, feature of plants is their green color, the

result of a pigment called chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll to capture light energy, which fuels the manufacture of food—sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates. [Quote]

D. Animalia Kingdom - The animal kingdom contains all types of animals, including humans, birds, fish, insects, dogs, cats, earthworms, and numerous others. Animals do not have cell walls. They are eukaryotic, multicellular, and heterotrophic.

4. Animalia – [There is so much to say about this Kingdom - please visit the links if you want more information!!!] [Image]

First appeared on Earth ~650 million years ago. Includes sponges, jellyfish, corals, fish (etc etc) and a special mention to: Arthropods (includes insects):

"By nearly any measure, the most successful animals on the planet are the arthropods. They make up over three-fourths of all currently known living and fossil organisms, or over one million species in all. Since many arthropod species remain undocumented or undiscovered, the true number of living arthropod species is probably in the tens of millions. One recent conservative estimate puts the number of arthropod species in tropical forests at 6 to 9 million species (Thomas, 1990). 

"Arthropods range in distribution from the deep sea to mountain peaks, in size from the king crab with its 12-foot armspan to microscopic insects and crustaceans. Despite this unbelievable diversity, the basic body plan of arthropods is fairly constant. Arthropods have a stiff cuticle made largely of chitin and proteins, forming an exoskeleton. They have segmented bodies to form integrated units (heads, abdomens, and so on). The phylum takes its name from its distinctive jointed appendages, which may be modified in a number of ways to form antennae, mouthparts, and reproductive organs." [Quote]

And another special mention to Tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals):

"Tetrapods were the first vertebrates to truly walk the land. Before tetrapods existed, vertebrates (like fish) were all confined to living in aquatic habitats. The tetrapods began moving to land in the Paleozoic around 360 million years ago. Tetrapods are a name that we have given to anything with four feet (tetra=four, pod=feet). Therefore all land dwelling vertebrates can be considered tetrapods. Tetrapods, whose closest living relatives are lungfish, have two main groups:amphibians and amniotes. The amniotes in turn have two main groups: the synapsids (including mammals) and the sauropsids (including reptiles and their fossil relatives)." [Quote]

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/21574837/%E2%80%9CDomains-of-Life%E2%80%9D-Foldable