New GCSE Biology Revision
Living Organisms - what you need to know!
Living organisms can be classified by their characteristics. There are millions of different species on our planet, and in order to make them more easy to identify we use a classification system. This classification system separates species into one of five different kingdoms. The Kingdom’s are decided by what the cells are like and the 5 different kingdoms are split as follows:
Animals - multicellular animals
Plants - all green plants
Fungi - moulds, mushrooms….
Prokaryotes - bacteria
Protoctists - amoeba
Other classification systems include the following:
Vertebrates - these are animals with backbones, including reptiles, mammals and birds
Amphibians - they have lungs but they can also absorb oxygen through their skin. They reproduce through external fertilisation. Body temperature varies according to surroundings
Reptiles - have lungs and dry scales and their body temperature varies according their surroundings, just like amphibians
Birds - have lungs, feathers and beaks
Invertebrates - also known as arthropods, are animals without backbones which include molluscs and arthropods. They are divided into further groups dependent upon how many legs they have
→ 6 legs = insects
→ 8 legs = arachnids
→ 10-14 legs = crustaceans
→ 20+ legs = myriapods
As you can see, the ways we identify different animals/species is quite complex so that we can account for the wonderful variety of what we find around us in our natural environment. To learn more about how to classify living organisms, check out our song living organisms.
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