biodiversity

biodiveristy means the variet of life.

all organisms are given a unique name

each species are given a two part latin name, this binomial system is currently in use today.

the first part of each name is called the genus and is chared by all closely related species.

the second part of the name defines the particular species in the genus.

together these two names mak up a unique species that is often very descriptive.

placing organisms into groups based on shared features, known as classification or taxonomy results in an organised number of catagories.

all orgaisms are grouped togther in the kingdom, next if they share simlarities they are grouped within the same genus.

when organisms share many similarities with members of their genus they are grouped together in the same family.

all families that share this feature are then groupes in the order section.

next they are grouped in the class section and then the phylum which is the most specific part of the kingdom.

intitially scientists only recognised two types of kingdoms, the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom ( kingdom plantae )

as scientists acknowledged that all organisms wouldnt fit into just these two catagories further groups were formed.finally there were five kingdoms formed.

- anamalia kingdom: multicellular eukaryotes that are heterotrophs. organsism that obtain energy as organic molecules by ingesting material from other organisms.

- plantae kingdom: multicellular eukaryotes that are autotrophs: meaning they can make their own molecules by photosynthesis.

- fungi kingdom: multicelluar eukaryotes who absorb nutrients from decaying material.

- protoctista kingdom: eukaryotes that photosythesise or feed or organic matter from other sources but are not included in the other kingdoms.

- ptokaryote system: prokaryote organisms including the bacteria and blue-green bacteria

a scientist named woese proposed a new group named archea was to be added forming a third brand of life alongside the prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

woese theory suggested that most life is microbial and that scientists had been ignoring this major form of life.

luckily other scientists supported woese theory to gain it acceptance among science.

finally a universal tree of life organised with three domains, the prokaryotes,eukaryotes and archea was formed.

the organisms in each domain contain RNA sequences that are unique to their domain.

classification is a way of thinking about biodiversity, it allows us to look at evolutionary relationships.

DNA analysis is used for classification.