Biological Classification Flashcards
History of Biological Classification (8)
- Aristotle was the first to come up with a scientific basis of classification.
- He divided plants into trees, herbs and shrubs based on morphological characters.
- Divided animals into those which had red blood and those which did not.
- Linneaus’s time had a two kingdom system of classification- Plantae and Animalia.
- 2 kingdom was easy to use and understand but did not separate between uni/multicellular - eu/prokaryote - photosynthetic/non photosynthetic plants.
- Need for considering nature of wall, cell structure, mode of nutrition, mode of reproduction, habitat, phylogenetic relationships besides gross morphology.
- Whittaker’s system: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animilia
- Three domain system- divides Monera into two domains leaving eukaryotes in one domain- three domain - 6 kingdom.
Whittaker’s System of Classification and it’s Benefits (8)
- R H Whittaker in 1969 - 5 kingdom system - Monera , Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.
- Criteria for classification: 1) Cell Structure 2) Body Organization 3) Mode of Nutrition 4) Reproduction 5) Phylogenetic relationships.
- Monera - prokaryotes.
- Protista - unicellular eukaryotes.
- Fungi - chitin cell walls and heterotrophic - different kingdom from plants.
- Earlier plant kingdom - bacteria, blue green algae, fungi, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms - all had a cell wall.
- Multi and unicellular were placed together - Chlamydomonas and Spirogyra were both “plants”.
- Whittaker - Chlamydomonas and Chlorella (having cell walls) and Paramoecium and Amoeba (w/o cell walls) are placed together in Protista because criteria for classification has changed.
Kingdom Monera: Introduction (8)
- Only members are bacteria.
- Most abundant microorganisms.
- Varied habitats - snow, desert, hot spring, deep ocean.
- Many are parasites - live in or on other organisms
- Shapes - coccus: spherical, bacillus: rod, vibrio: comma, spirillum: spiral.
- Simple structure - complex behaviour.
- Most extensive metabolic diversity.
- Can be autotrophic (photo/chemo) OR heterotrophic (feed on living/ dead organisms)
Archaebacteria (6)
- Special - live in harsh habitats.
- Extremely salty areas - Halophiles.
- Hot springs - Thermoacidophiles.
- Marshy areas - Methanogens.
- Different cell wall structure - survive in extreme conditions.
- Methanogens - gut - ruminant animals - cows and buffalos- responsible for biogas production (methane) from their dung.
Eubacteria Autotrophic - Blue Green Algae and Chemosynthetic Bacteria (10)
- Eubacteria - true bacteria.
- Have rigid cell wall and sometimes motile flagellum.
- Cyanobacteria (blue green algae) have chlorophyll a similar to green plants and are photosynthetic autotrophs
- Can be unicellular, colonial, filamentous, freshwater, marine or terrestrial.
- Colonies surrounded by gelatinous sheath.
- Form blooms in polluted water bodies.
- Some can fix atmos. N2 - special cells - heterocysts - Nostoc & Anabaena.
- Chemosynthetic - oxidise inorganic substrates - nitrates, nitrites and NH3 - use released energy - ATP production.
- Chemo- help in recycling nutrients - P, S, N and Fe
Eubacteria Heterotrophic (4)
- Most abundant in nature.
- Important decomposers.
- Useful to humans - milk to curd, antibiotics and N fixation in leguminous plant roots.
- Harmful - pathogens - Cholera, Typhoid, Tetanus and Citrus Canker.
Reproduction in Bacteria (3)
- Mainly by fission.
- Unfavorable conditions - produce spores
- Sexual reproduction - primitive type of DNA transfer
Mycoplasma (4)
- Completely lack cell wall.
- Smallest known living cells.
- Can live w/o oxygen.
- Pathogenic in plants and animals.
Kingdom Protista: Introduction (7)
- Unicellular eukaryotes.
- Boundaries of the kingdom - not well defined.
- Includes - Chrysophytes, Dinoflagellates, Euglenoids, Slime Moulds and Protozoans
- Primarily aquatic.
- Link with fungi, plants and animals
- Well defined nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
- Reproduce asexually and sexually by cell fusion and zygote formation.
Chrysophytes (9)
- Diatoms and Desmids (golden algae)
- Fresh water and marine.
- Float passively with water currents - plankton.
- Most of them are photosynthetic.
- Diatoms - cell wall - two thin overlapping cells which fit over each other like a soap box.
- Cell wall embedded with silica - indestructible.
- Cell wall depositions - billions of years - diatomaceous earth.
- Gritty - polishing and filtration of oils and syrups.
- Diatoms - chief producers of the ocean.
Dinoflagellates (6)
- Mostly marine and photosynthetic.
- Appear yellow, green, brown, red or blue depending - pigment present.
- Cell wall - stiff cellulose plate - outer surface.
- Two flagella - 1) longitudnal 2) transverse - in a furrow between two wall plates.
- Red dinoflagellates - ex. Gonyaulax undergo massive multiplication - sea appears red - red tides.
- Toxins released - rapid multiplication - kill other marine animals - fishes.
Euglenoids (6)
- Found in fresh water - stagnant water.
- No cell wall - instead - protein rich layer - pellicle - makes their body flexible.
- Two flagella - one long and one short.
- Photosynthetic in the presence of sunlight - but in the absence of sunlight -behave like heterotrophs - predating on smaller organisms.
- Pigments identical - higher plants.
- ex. Euglena
Slime Moulds (7)
- Saprophytic protists.
- Bodies move along dead and decaying twigs and leaves engulfing organic material.
- Suitable conditions - aggregation - plasmodium - may grow and spread over several feet.
- Unsuitable conditions -plasmodium differentiates - fruiting bodies bearing spores at their tips.
- Spores have true walls.
- Spores - extremely resistant and can survive for many years even under adverse conditions.
- Spores - dispersed - air currents.
Protozoans Introduction (3)
- All heterotrophs - predators or parasites.
- Primitive relatives of animals.
- 4 major groups - 1) Amoeboid 2)Flagellated
3) Ciliated 4)Sporozoans
Amoeboid Protozoans (4)
- Fresh water - sea water - moist soil.
- Amoeba - false feet - pseudopodia - capture prey.
- Many forms - silica shells on their surface.
- Some - parasites - Entamoeba
Flagellated Protozoans (3)
- Free living or parasitic
- Have flagella
- Parasitic - cause diseases - sleeping sickness - trypanosoma (trypanosoma gambiense / tryposomana brucei - vector - Tsetse fly
Ciliated Protozoans (5)
- Aquatic - actively moving
- Thousands of cilia
- Cavity - gullets - opens to the outside of the cell surface
- Coordinated movement of rows of cilia pushes water laden with food into the gullet.
- Ex: paramecium
Sporozoans (2)
- Have an infectious spore like stage in their life cycle.
2. Plasmodium causes malaria.
Fungi - what they are and where they’re found (from introduction paragraph of NCERT) (10)
- Heterotrophic.
- Great diversity in morphology and habitat.
- Seen on moist bread and rotten fruit.
- Mushrooms and toadstools.
- White spots on mustard - parasitic fungi
- Disease causing fungi - Wheat rust causing puccinia.
- Anti biotics - penicillium
- Yeast - beer and bread
- Cosmopolitan - present in air, water, soil, and on other plants and animals.
- Found in warm and humid places (food stored in refrigerator to prevent fungi and bacteria).
Body Organization of Fungi (from introduction paragraph of NCERT) (7)
- Yeast is unicellular - only exception.
- Fungi are filamentous.
- Bodies consist of long, slender thread like structures - hyphae.
- Network of hyphae - mycelium.
- Some hyphae are continuous tubes - multinucleate cytoplasm - coenocytic hyphae.
- Other hyphae might have septa or cross walls.
- Cell wall - chitin and polysaccharides.
Nutrition Of Fungi (from introduction paragraph of NCERT) (4)
- All heterotrophic.
- Saprophytic - absorb soluble organic material from dead substrates.
- Parasitic - depend on living plants and animals.
- Symbionts - algae - lichens and roots of higher plants - mycorrhiza.