BIO Task

Life on Earth Assessment task 2015

Question 1

a) Outline 3 reasons why organisms need to be classified (3 marks)b) What is a dichotomous key and how does it help us to classify living things (5 marks)

a) 1. Classifying organisms provides scientists and other people to easily find and study. 2. Classifying organisms shows the relationships among other various groups of organisms.3. By classifying different organisms it provides identification of any given name.

b) A dichotomous key is a series of questions arranged in couplets; divided into 2 sections. It involves a sequence of steps that allows the identification of living things. These sequences consists of a series of choices leads to a given thing, usually organised by their physical characteristics. The word dichotomous means the splitting of 2 ‘choices’ in each step of the key until the key of the living thing is found alone. A dichotomous key is designed to help people with the identification of all types of living things, from plants to animals. By obtaining the information of the physical characteristics of the object or organism in the dichotomous key, the viewer can identify an object or organism based on the traits found. The viewer can easily make a choice of which of the 2 statements best describes the unknown organism they are trying to find. It guides and help people to accurately identify a plant or animal, developing the virtually object or organism. This is very helpful when 2 species are very similar, and helps identify the difference to the 2 of their physical characteristics. It also enables you to compare the characteristics of the various species identified on the dichotomous key.

For example: Duck, Hen, Lizard and SnakeDoes it have feathers? - Yes=Duck, Hen No=Lizard, SnakeHere the animals can be separated into 2 different groups by whether it has feathers or not.It can be further separated into their single characteristic by whether the animal swims in the yes section and whether the animal has legs or not in the no section. This dichotomous key successfully separates the animals listed by their characteristics.

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Names of kingdoms

Description Advantages Disadvantages

6 kingdom system1990

EubacteriaArchaebacteria ProtistaPlantaeFungiAnimalia

This system involved the separation of Monera into 2 groups: eubacteria and archaebacterial. At the time, it was a whole new way of analysing relationships between organisms in 6 different sections. This is also quite frequently used today with many scientists, as it is complex and categoriesThe method of classification used in this is cell type; complex or simple, the ability to make food and the number of cells in their body.

>Diversity in life with separating the monera into eubacteria and archaebacteria.>The distinction recognizes the common traits that eukaryotic organisms share.>Recognising a common ancestor.>It explains Archaebacteria more clearly.>It shows the evolutionary relationships of the kingdoms>Modern molecular evidence from advanced technology (DNA, microscopes, etc.)

>Viruses still have not been given a proper place in this system of classification.>Slime moulds not given a proper place in Protista as it does not carry characteristics with the rest of the member in Protista.

5 kingdom system 1969

MoneraProtistaPlantaeFungiAnimalia

This system is widely used today as it classifies organisms in diversity. At the time, the new adding of fungi and monera was used in contrast to separate multicellular and unicellular organisms. Today this system is most used as the fundamental of the kingdoms.The method of classification used in this is mostly the number of cells in the organisms, unicellular or multicellular.

>Captured the diversity in life in the addition of monera and fungi kingdoms>Mainly based on the differences in nutrition, producers, consumers and decomposers.>Complexity of organisms: unicellular and multicellular.>Distinction between 2 basic types of cells (eukaryotes and prokaryotes)>Broad outline of the taxonomic system.

>No reference to the lower forms of life>No proper place for viruses>No distinction between the bacterial types in kingdom monera; eubacteria and archaebacteria which is seen in the 6 kingdom system.

3 kingdom system 1735

ProtistaPlantae Animalia

This system was the improvement of the categories: plant and animals, adding Protista as a group which was neither anima nor plant. This was the basics of unicellular (Protista) and multicellular (animals and plants), but it did have a lot of flaws. This was the general understanding of organisms categorised into 3 groups based on their ability to make food and the number of cells. Today with the advancement of technology we understand more about organisms to enhance the kingdom system.

>Organisms are classified into Protista, Plantae and Animalia based on their characters.>Gives a basic model of the kingdom system.>Easy to categories and find the organism using this system as it only contains 3 different categorisation.

>Some things do not fit into any of the categories, eg. Prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic (fungi) organisms are placed together in plantae, when they are different.>No distinction between>No place for lichens.>Absorption type of nutrition is not recognised.>No actual place for bacteria>No decomposers (fungi)>No real place for unicellular organisms, as Protista included some multicellular organisms.

Question 3


Question 2: Compare the classification systems- 6/5/3 kingdom systems (6 marks)


a) Describe the main features of the binomial naming system for organisms and explain why common names are not used to describe living things (4 marks)

b) Choose one Australian plant and one Australian animal and classify it to the species levels (including all taxa) (4 marks)

a) Binomial naming system is the system used to name different species. The species is given a name that has 2 words. The first word is the Genus to which the species belongs to. The word always starts with the capital letter. The second word is the species name or the specific epithet, where there is no capital letter at the start. Both words are in italics or underlined when hand written. Common names such as crab, fish or dolphin can be used in casual communication. Scientists don’t use common names because they are not specific to a certain species. Also it is useful to communicate in the binomial naming, so that they can avoid confusion and easily identify the species. For example ‘blue crabs’ is Callinectes sapidus, or the lesser blue crab is Callinectes similis. Both have the same genus name of ‘Callinectes’ but have different specific epithet. The common names are inappropriate for use in science as they differ country to country. While scientific names can be used all over the world, in all languages and avoid confusion in the species. Common names are often referred to more than one species, while the scientific names are very specific. In science the scientific names are important to be specific, otherwise results may be useless.

b)

Australian Plant Australian AnimalBottlebrush Red kangaroo

Domain Eukaryote EukaryoteKingdom Plantae AnimaliaPhylum Angiosperm ChordataClass Eudicots Mammalia-MarsupialiaOrder Myrtales DiprotodontiaFamily Myrtaceae MacropodidaeGenus Callistemon MarcopusSpecies C. viminalis M. rufus

Question 4



a) List all of the features/characteristics that you would need to observe to classify a specimen as Banksia marginate (3 marks)

b) What characteristics would distinguish Banksia integrifolia from Banksia oblongifolia (3 marks)

a) The Banksia marginate features and characteristics - Style that is curved upwards- Leaves that are 2-10cm long - White on under surface- Leaves less than 1 cm wide- Spike flowers 4-9cm long- Yellow b) The characteristics that would distinguish Banksia integrifolia from Banksia oblongifolia is

that the Banksia integrifolia is a tree, while the Banksia oblongifolia is a shrub. The B.i (Banksia integrifolia) can grow up to 15 metres, while the B.o (Banksia oblongifolia) can only grow to about 3 metres high. The B.i adult leaves have smooth margins and juvenile leaves toothed, while the B.o has leaves that are irregularly toothed. The B.o also has young shoots with covering of rusty hairs while the B.i does not

Question 5



Construct a dichotomous key that could be used to classify the organisms show in Diagram A.

1. a) Body patterned with spots…………………………………………………………….Go to 2 b) Body not patterned with spots……………………………………………………...Go to 3

2. a) Feet circular……………………………………………………………………………………Go to 4 a) Feet not circular ………………………………………………………………………….…..Ezag

3. a) Antennas straight……………………….…………………………………………………….Go to 5 b) Antennas not straight……………………………………………………………………….Go to 6

4. a) Antennas bent………………………………………………………………………………….Galk b) Antennas not bent…………………………………………………………………………….Eena

5. a) Body striped……………………………………………………………………………………..Tyco b) Body not striped……………………………………………………………………………….Mrap

6. a) Square feet………………………………………………………………………………………..Daie b) Not square feet………………………………………………………………………………….Go to 7

7. a) Feet triangular……………………………………………………………………………………Go to 8 b) Feet not triangular…………………………………………………………………………….Noog

8. a) Body patterned with criss-crosses……….…………………………………………….Nisps b) Body not patterned with criss-crosses…….…………………………………………Tocs

Question 6



Use key #2 to classify the Organisms 1, 2 and 3 and list the features used to classify them.

Organism 1

- Legs - More than 3 pairs of walking legs- Body evenly divided into parts- More than 12 pairs of legs

This invertebrate organism is a Myriapod

Organism 2

- Legs- 3 pairs of walking legs

This invertebrate organism is an insect

Organism 3

- No legs- No tentacles or antennae- Body long and cylindrical- Body more than 5 times as long as it is broad

This invertebrate organism is a worm

Question 7



Choose 2 technologies from the list provided. For each technology explain how and/or why it caused biological classification systems to be revised. (6 marks)

Microscopes (light and electron)

Microscopes were a new advancement technology in about the 1930s, when the first electron microscope was developed while the light microscope was developed in the 1960s. Both were used to gain knowledge in microscopic levels in organisms which caused the biological classification systems to be revised.

Structure of cells was visible in light microscopes, understanding more about organisms in plants, animals. This caused the change in the biological classification system, especially the kingdom system. In the 5 kingdom system developed in the late 1960s the addition of fungi and monera. The light microscope has led to the change in the kingdom system, as well as understanding the fundamental classificatory features in the major fungal groups. Scientist did not categories organisms at a macroscopic level but at a microscopic level. They did not just look at the physical features of an organism and with the development of microscopes; people were able to identify distinctive features of organisms at a microscopic level. By using this information, fungi and monera were classified into the kingdom system.

With further look into organisms, by the advancement of technology, scientists were able to look deeper into organisms and their structure which made scientists revise on the classification systems. Another major change was the 6 kingdom system developed in the 1990s. In the newly advanced electron microscopes scientists were able to further into cells, further than light microscopes could. Scientists were still able to understand the microscopic features of different organism and their relations with other organisms, enabling scientists to classify individual organisms into the kingdom system. In this discussion with other scientist they found more about the unicellular and multicellular organisms. They were able to understand its complex features and relations with other living organisms. The electron microscope enabled detailed observations of all structure, which led to the change in the kingdom system. In further investigation of Protista and Monera scientists were able to find the differences in the features of unicellular and multicellular organisms, classifying monera into 2 different groups; Archaebacteria and Eubacteria.

DNA Sequencing

DNA technologies have advanced the science of taxonomy, and changing the orientation of classification in biology. Sequencing of DNA and their lengths of chromosomes from organisms have added to the knowledge of evolutionary relationships between organisms. It has enable scientists to continually change the classification systems. The sequences of bases in certain genes have showed us the relations and differences between individuals, organisms and plants. In studies of gene sequencing, scientists were able to group according to relationships in each detailed structure of their DNA sequencing. By understanding the trends in these genes classification of different organisms was used in the system that shows evolutionary relationships. For plants the structural appearance and the plants gene sequencing have been used in classification. Such as banksias, waratahs, grevilleas, etc. are classified not only by its physical features but their DNA sequencing. Traditional taxonomy is usually based on similarities and differences in anatomical structures, biochemistry and composition of organisms. In further research, species relies on individual 7 | P a g e Y u k i S u z u k i

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organisms of the species being able to interbreed with each other. If they could not produce an offspring it was not classified as same species, no matter how similar they looked. This could be seen in their individual DNA structure. These factors have caused the change in the biological classification systems.

Question 8 (Bibliography)



a)

1. Book: online bookJoel B. Hagen (2009). The Classification of Kingdoms: Chapter 2 Glenview, IL: Doing Biology, Harper Collins. Available from: http://www1.umn.edu/ships/db/contents.htm (Accessed 9/03/2015)

2. Website: university siteThe State University of New York- University of Buffalo (2007). Biological Classification [Internet]. America. Available from: http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu/labs/nomenclature.html (Accessed 9/03/2015)

3. Website: government siteHeino Lepp. 2011 Australian National Botanic Gardens and Australian National Herbarium, Canberra (Last updated: 20 October, 2014) Classification & identification[Internet] Australia. Available from: https://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/classification-identification.html (Accessed 10/03/2015)

b)

1. This resource I used was an online book for teachers and students, ‘Doing Biology’. The usefulness of the online book was very suitable for the use of classification. It organised the categories well and understood the level of language the book used as a high school student. The validity of the online book was that the information gathered was in a professional manner and consisted many detailed facts that linked up with other information given. The source is reliable but it did contain some unrelated facts that did not fit in to the information I was finding but still matched with other sites.

2. This website contained valuable information which I used to complete my task. This site was very useful as it consisted of many diagrams and examples that captured my attention. The wording of the information given was very on point and accurate. It outlined the most important parts of what I was researching, and cited the critical needs of ‘biological classification’. The validity of this site was that it contained a consistent variety of examples and diagrams which helped me understand the information. It contained strong information but some information was opinionated. The author was most likely written by the student from university, but the site was still reliable. It referenced other sources and was straight to the point in giving the important information.

3. This website was a government site and contained extremely valuable information that I used. It also contained links in the site such as Australia plants, Australia animals and additional information which was useful. The site was extremely useful with a content categorized at the start giving the overview of what was included. The language used was very professional with bold or capital writing on important aspects. It was easy to take in information and use in my assessment task which I found very helpful. The validity of this government site was that it contained other information with detailed facts. The information was consistent throughout the site and consisted of examples and images that helped my research. Some information given was a little too descriptive and detailed, but it was still related to its topic. This government site is reliable, and the best site out of the entire site I visited. With the use of sophisticated language and the consistency of valuable information, the site was extremely beneficial for my assignment.


https://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/classification-identification.html

http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu/labs/nomenclature.html

http://www1.umn.edu/ships/db/contents.htm

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