ECOSYSTEMS

environment - all the conditions that surround any living organism - both the other living things and the non-living things or physical surroundings

--habitat - a place where plants and animals live eg a pond

--Populations - all the members of a single species that live in a habitat 

--Community of living things- all the populations of different organisms living together in a habitat

--ecosystem- a community of animals, plants, micro-organisms, together with the habitat where they live

ANIMALS-

do not have chloroplasts

- cannot make their own food

-can move around

-compact shape so they can move easily

- PLANTS -

-have chloroplasts

-can make their own food by photosynthesis

-cannot move around

-more spread out shape

-Euglena is a single-celled organism that can move like an animal but contains chloroplasts like a plant. It is difficult to classify.

Some fossil vertebrates and newly discovered species can be difficult to classify. For example, Archaeopteryx is an extinct vertebrate known only by its fossil remains. It has characteristics of birds and reptiles

Organisms of the same species:

• have more characteristics in common than they do with organisms of a different species, and
• can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.

-Sometimes a species may have different kinds or breeds that show great variation, but the individuals still belong to the same species. Different breeds of pedigree dog are like this.

-Similar species tend to live in similar habitats, and are closely related in evolutionary terms. They are likely to share a relatively recent ancestor. Closely related species living in different types of habitat may have different characteristics. You can use keys to identify organisms according to their features.

-In the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus started the modern system of putting species of organism into certain groups and giving them scientific names. Each species is given a name using Latin words, so that the same name can be used all over the world. For example, the scientific name for human beings is Homo sapiens. The first part of the name tells you the genus, while the second part of the name tells you the particular species in that genus.

-Dolphins and whales are mammals that live in the sea. They have very similar features to fish such as sharks. This is because adaptations such as fins and a streamlined shape were important if the animals were to survive in this environment.