Classification, Variation And Food Webs Flashcards
What is a protoctist?
A living organism that is equivalent or similar to Protista, together with their multicellular descendants.
What is a bacterium?
A bacterium is usually a single cellular organism. They have cell walls but lack organelles or an organised nucleus. They can help you digest food or cause disease, and are often hunted by viruses.
What is an animal?
An animal is a living organism, which feeds on organic matter, whose cells carry out aerobic respiration. They have a specialised nervous system, and are therefore able to respond rapidly. They use sexual reproduction to produce their offspring.
What is a plant?
A plant is a living organism, which feeds on non-organic matter, whose cells carry out photosynthesis. They can adapt to their environment gradually, and use asexual reproduction to produce their offspring.
What is a fungus?
Fungi are living organisms that are usually associated with mushrooms, moulds and fungal infections. They use spores to produce their offspring. They can be single cellular. They feed on non-organic matter.
What are spores?
Spores are little particles, often in air or water.
What are Protista?
Protista is a kingdom that comprises mostly single-celled organisms such as the protozoa, simple algae and fungi, slime moulds, and (formerly) the bacteria. They are now divided among up to thirty phyla, and some have both plant and animal characteristics.
Who was Carl Linnaeus?
Carl Linnaeus classifies organisms according to similarities. He made two large kingdoms, plants and animals. However, he grouped everything that was not an animal into plants, which has now been separated out.
What was Linnaeus’s system of classification?
Linnaeus’s system of classification (which we still use today): Kingdom Largest group Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Smallest group
What is a food chain?
A food chain shows which organisms consume energy from other organisms or sources. It consists of the producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and tertiary consumer. One arrow shows the transfer of energy from one thing to the next, usually through digestion.
What is a food web?
A food web is like many food chains put together. It always has one source, but has many primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. It will usually require a colour key, to differentiate between them.
What are food pyramids of number?
A food pyramid of number has three trophic levels - often the producer, primary consumer and secondary consumer. The width of the bar on each trophic level represents the amount of a certain organism that would be eaten in one ‘meal’.
What is a food pyramid of mass?
A food pyramid of mass is like a food pyramid of number, except the width of the bar represents the total biomass eaten in one ‘meal’.
What are fish?
Fish live in water, breathe through gills, produce eggs, are covered in scales and have fins (and usually a tail).
What are amphibians?
Amphibians live in water and on land, lay their eggs underwater and have moist skin. Their larvae have gills.
