INTRODUCTION:
Scientists believe that there are over 10 million different kinds of life forms, or species, on Earth. Imagine trying to study and understand the lives, patterns, behaviors and evolution of so many different kinds of organisms. In order to make their job easier, scientists classify living things into groups based on how they are the same and how they are different.
As an example, think of Halloween candy. On Halloween night after returning from trick or treating, what did you and your friends do? Many kids pour their candy out on the floor or bed and begin separating the candy into piles based on how the candy items are the same and how they are different.
Biologists do the same thing with life-forms. Instead of dumping all the life-forms on the floor and placing them in piles, scientists write down which group each type of organism belongs to. Scientists who classify living things are called taxonomists. It is their job to look at every kind of living thing and determine how they are similar and how they are different from other living things.
Here is where it gets a little tricky. A life-form might be very similar to one living thing, but less similar to another, and even less similar to a third living thing. For example, a dog is very similar to a wolf, less similar to a horse, and very different from a lizard.
To help scientists keep this all straight, they start by classifying, or by placing life-forms in groups called kingdoms. These kingdoms represent a very large group of life-forms that are all similar in some ways, but can be very different from one another in other ways. The Six kingdoms that biologists have developed are the Archaebacteria Kingdom, the Eubacteria (true bacteria) Kingdom, the Protist Kingdom, the Fungi Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom, and the Animal Kingdom.
TASK: YOUR TASK IS TO NAVIGATE THROUGH A SERIES OF WEB PAGES AND INVESTIGATE AND LEARN NEW KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION / TAXONOMY. As you navigate through this Quest, be sure to explore the selected areas in more depth, if needed. BEGIN THE QUEST:
I. IN THE BEGINNING…
1. All living organisms can be sorted into one of two groups depending on the fundamental
structure of their cells. These two groups are the
_________________ and_______________.
Prokaryotes:
2. What are prokaryotes?
3. Describe the DNA in a Prokaryotic Cell?
4. Scientists have divided the Prokaryotes into two kingdoms. What are they?
Eukaryotes:
5. What are eukaryotes?
6. Scientists have divided eukaryotes into four kingdoms. What are they?
Using your search and navigation web skills, find the scientific definition of
7. TAXONOMY –
8. TAXONOMIST –
9. What is the category (the largest or broadest group) that taxonomists place organisms into first?
10. What is the next category or group that taxonomists place organisms into?
Each time we place an organism into a smaller group, or one lower in the hierarchy, the organisms become more and more similar – or more closely related.
11. What Kingdom does the Grizzly Bear Belong to?
12. What other organisms belong to the same kingdom?
13. What Class does the bear belong to?
14. What Order?
15. What Family?
16. What Genus?
17. What species?
18. What is the most specific category – genus or species?
19. What is a species?
20. What does interbreed mean?
21. Are all dogs members of the same species?
22. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), a Swedish physician and botanist, was the founder of what?
23. He originated a system called?
24. What two hierarchical categories are used in the Binomial Nomenclature system when naming an organism?
All living things, and even some viruses, have a scientific name.
25. Having a scientific name for every organism that lives or has once lived on Earth, avoids what?
26. How is an organism's name written in the scientific community (underlined, italicized or both)?
27. What is the scientific name for humans?
28. Who developed the first known method of classification?
29. How did Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, scientist, and educator, classify organisms?
30. In what year did Carolus Linnaeus introduce his classification system?
31. The system is referred to as what?
32. How does the Linnaean Taxonomy system categorize organisms?
33. Based on what?
34. What does the Linnaean Taxonomy system use to categorize organisms?
35. List the hierarchy levels from kingdom to species in order from broad to most specific
Domain:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
36. Navigate the World Wide Web and Place the chimpanzee into each of the seven hierarchical taxonomic categories, beginning with Kingdom and ending with the scientific name.
1. Kingdom - Animalia
2. Phylum -
3. Class -
4. Order -
5. Family -
6. Genus -
7. Species -
37. The two kingdom system was introduced by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. (a long time ago…). He classified animals into two main groups based on what he observed about the characteristics of the organism. What were the two groups?
38. Protists are usually single-celled organisms. What type of cells (prokaryotic or eukaryotic) are Protists?
39. Are bacteria prokaryotic or eukaryotic?
40. The four Kingdom classification system was introduced in 1956 to include bacteria as its own kingdom. Based on what you know about cell types, why do you think Bacteria was moved to its own kingdom?
41. In 1990, Woese, proposed a three DOMAIN SYSTEM. What are they?
1.
2.
3.
42. Fill in the Blanks - The Three Domain System:
1. Archaea Domain Contains the _________________ Kingdom
2. Bacteria Domain –Contain the __________________ Kingdom
3. Eukarya Domain-Contains the –
_________ Kingdom
_________ Kingdom
_________ Kingdom
_________ Kingdom
43. What are viruses?
44. Are viruses alive?
45. Why are viruses bad?
46. What are examples of some Viruses?
LOOK UNDER - Interesting Facts about Viruses:
47. RE-WRITE the first sentence here – it’s important!
All living organisms can be sorted into one of two groups depending on the fundamental structure of their cells. These two groups are the prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Prokaryotes:
2. Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms that do not have a nucleus or membrane-bound organelles.
3. The DNA in a prokaryotic cell is not contained within a nucleus, but is instead located in the cytoplasm.
4. Scientists have divided the prokaryotes into two kingdoms, which are the Archaebacteria Kingdom and the Eubacteria Kingdom.
Eukaryotes:
5. Eukaryotes are organisms that have cells with a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.
6. Scientists have divided eukaryotes into four kingdoms, which are the Protist Kingdom, the Fungi Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom, and the Animal Kingdom.
7. TAXONOMY is the science of naming, describing, and classifying organisms.
8. A TAXONOMIST is a scientist who studies and classifies organisms.
9. The category that taxonomists place organisms into first is the Kingdom.
10. The next category that taxonomists place organisms into is the Phylum.
11. The Grizzly Bear belongs to the Animal Kingdom.
12. Other organisms that belong to the Animal Kingdom include humans, dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles.
13. The bear belongs to the Mammalia Class.
14. The bear belongs to the Carnivora Order.
15. The bear belongs to the Ursidae Family.
16. The bear belongs to the Ursus Genus.
17. The bear belongs to the Ursus arctos Species.
18. The most specific category is the species.
19. A species is a group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.
20. Interbreed means to reproduce and produce offspring.
21. No, all dogs are not members of the same species. There are many different dog breeds, and each breed can interbreed to produce fertile offspring within their own breed.
22. Carl Linnaeus was the founder of modern taxonomy.
23. He originated a system called Binomial Nomenclature.
24. The two hierarchical categories used in Binomial Nomenclature are Genus and Species.
25. Having a scientific name for every organism avoids confusion caused by different common names in different languages.
26. An organism's name is written in the scientific community using both italics and underlining.
27. The scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens.
28. Aristotle developed the first known method of classification.
29. Aristotle classified organisms based on their characteristics and similarities.
30. Carolus Linnaeus introduced his classification system in 1735.
31. The system is referred to as the Linnaean Taxonomy system.
32. The Linnaean Taxonomy system categorizes organisms based on their physical characteristics.
33. Based on their physical characteristics and similarities.
34. The Linnaean Taxonomy system uses a hierarchical structure to categorize organisms.
35. Hierarchy levels from kingdom to species: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
36. Chimpanzee hierarchical taxonomic categories:
1. Kingdom - Animalia
2. Phylum - Chordata
3. Class - Mammalia
4. Order - Primates
5. Family - Hominidae
6. Genus - Pan
7. Species - Pan troglodytes
37. The two main groups that Aristotle classified animals into were the Animalia and Plantae.
38. Protists have eukaryotic cells.
39. Bacteria are prokaryotic.
40. Bacteria was moved to its own kingdom because it has fundamental differences in the structure and function of its cells compared to other organisms in the four kingdom system.
41. The three domains proposed by Woese are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.
42. The Three Domain System:
1. Archaea Domain Contains the Archaebacteria Kingdom.
2. Bacteria Domain Contains the Eubacteria Kingdom.
3. Eukarya Domain Contains the Protist Kingdom, Fungi Kingdom, Plant Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom.
43. Viruses are non-living particles that infect cells and reproduce inside them.
44. Viruses are not considered alive because they do not have cells and cannot carry out metabolic processes on their own.
45. Viruses can cause diseases in their host organisms.
46. Examples of viruses include influenza, HIV, Ebola, and the common cold.
47. The first sentence under "Interesting Facts about Viruses" varies depending on the webpage and information provided.