Biology Essential Standard 3.5
Analyze how classification systems are developed upon speciation.
Bio.3.5.1 Explain the historical development and changing nature of classification systems.
Classification

The first classification system was developed by Aristotle, but it had a few problems.

The modern day classification that we use today was developed by Carolus Linnaeus.
He classified organisms on their body structure and on many different characteristics.

There are 8 levels of classification
Did
King
Philip
Come
Over
For
Good
Spaghetti




Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
The largest and most general or broad classification would be the Domain
and Kingdom.
The smallest and most specific classification is the species. Organisms can
only interbreed if they are in the same species.
At first there were two kingdoms (Plant and Animal), then five and now 6.
The kingdoms are: Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protist, Fungi, Animal,
and Plant. Better techniques and discovery of new organisms results in a
constantly changing and improving classification system.
The naming system we use today was also developed by Linnaeus. It is called Binomial
Nomenclature= the 2 number naming system. It is written in Latin.
Common names can often be confusing so scientists use the
scientific name. The scientific name is the same all over the world. This name
has two parts = the genus and species.
Genus is always capitalized. The species in not capitalized.
The whole thing is in italics or underlined.
If two organisms are in the same genus it means they are related.
Felis domesticus
(house cat)
The tiger, house cat, and lion
Felis tigris
(Tiger)
same Genus.
Homo sapiens
(human)
Bio.3.5.2 Analyze the classification of organisms according
to their
evolutionary
are closely
related.
We can tell
Felis leo dichotomous
(Lion)
relationships (including
keys and phylogenetic
trees).
because they all have the
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
Dichotomous Key—this is like a scavenger hunt to find out the scientific name of an
organism.
1.
Has pointed ears .............. go to 3
Has rounded ears ....... .....go to 2
2.
Has no tail ................... Kentuckyus
Has tail ........................ Dakotus
3.
Dallus
Ears point upward ................... go to 5
Ears point downward ..............go to 4
4.
Engages in waving behavior ..... Dallus
Has hairy tufts on ear...........Californius
5. Engages in waving behavior …… WalaWala
Bio.2.1.2 Analyze the survival and reproductive success of organisms in terms of
behavioral, structural, and reproductive adaptations.
Animal Kingdom:

All are heterotrophs (eat)

Some are Chordates or Vertebrates (they have a backbone) like humans or dogs

Other animals are invertebrates (don’t have a backbone) like worms, insects, and
lobsters.

They can get rid of waste through the use of kidneys and bladders in vertebrates or they
can use nephridia (a simple organ similar to a kidney) which are in invertebrates.

All vertebrates and some invertebrates have a closed circulatory system. The blood
travels from the heart through blood vessels to the organs.

Some invertebrates like insects have an open circulatory system. The blood travels from
the heart into the body kind of bathing the tissues and organs in blood.
Amphibians-like salamanders and frogs
Reproduction- sexual
External fertilization and external development (lays eggs)
Their eggs are moist and must be kept in or near water. Eggs have no
shell.
Their skin is smooth and moist which means they can breathe through their skin as well as lungs.
They have gills when they are young. This means they must live in or near water.
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
Reptiles-like lizards have internal fertilization but external development. They lay
amniotic eggs with a leathery shell so they don’t have to be near water. They breathe
through lungs and have scaly dry skin.
Due to their leathery eggs and dry skin reptiles are not required or dependent
on living close to water like amphibians.

Mammals
Reproduction—sexual
Internal fertilization and internal development
They have hair or fur, give live birth and feed their young milk.
Placenta- when the baby is in the womb of a mammal it is attached to the
mother through a placenta. This provides the baby with nutrients and
oxygen from the mother and gets rid of the baby’s waste.
Internal fertilization, internal development, and a placenta protect the baby mammal and help it
survive better than external fertilization or external development (laying eggs).
Protists Kingdom: Mostly unicellular eukaryotes
There can be animal, plant, or fungi like protists
Most protists live in water. Many of them have contractile vacuoles. An organelle that helps
cells maintain water balance (homeostasis). Excess water is temporarily stored in the vacuole.
Then the vacuole contracts to pump the excess water out of the cell.
The Animal like protists Amoeba
Heterotrophs
Paramecium
- absorb their food through membrane
-oral and anal pore- a crude mouth and anus
-Pseudopods or Pseudopodia- “false feet” Parts of the cell membrane used to
engulf food.
Autotrophs (plant like protists) – do photosynthesis using chloroplast, but can also catch prey
Euglena
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Euglena have eyespots which are organelles
sensitive to light. The eyespot lets Euglena know
where to move so they will have light for
photosynthesis. (Phototaxis)
Reproduction- they usually reproduce asexually
a. spores- which are like eggs that don’t have to be fertilized
b. binary fission: divide in two
Chemotaxis- movement towards or away from chemicals in the environment. Many protists
and bacteria use this to find food or avoid harmful toxins.
Phototaxis- movement towards or away from light. Cyanobacteria and euglena move towards
light to do photosynthesis.
Plants--- Plants evolved from plant like protists



Vascular tissue- this is like the plant’s cardiovascular system.
There are two types: Xylem- carries water up the plant
Phloem- carries sugar down the plant
Some plants like moss are nonvascular: they do not have xylem or phloem. Instead they
move water through osmosis.
Having vascular tissue allows plants to live in drier environments and to be larger in size.
Conifer = makes cones
Moss and Ferns can reproduce sexually but need water for the plant’s sperm to swim to the egg.
Both Moss and Ferns can also reproduce asexually. They have spores which is a cell that can
become a new organism without fertilization. It’s kind of like an egg that doesn’t need sperm to
grow. Spores help plants reproduce during drier seasons and are easily spread by the wind.
Seeds, cones, and fruit help protect the embryo of the plant and survive in drier environments.
Cones and fruit also help spread the seeds through wind and animals.
Animal Behavior
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
There are two types of behaviors:
a. learned- behaviors developed from an animal’s life experiences.
b. innate/instinct- behaviors we are born with and no one has to teach

There are several innate behaviors:
Reflex-an automatic response to a stimulus like your leg jerking when your knee is hit
Suckling- this is when a baby automatically knows how to suckle or drink milk from the
mother’s breast
Courtship – this is mating behavior
Territorial defense- protection of an animal’s territory
Estivation- this is like hibernation in the summer time. Frogs do this in the desert to protect
themselves from the summer heat.
Hibernation- deep sleep in the winter time
Migration- when birds or other animals leave the north and move to the south for the winter and
then come back in the summer
Taxes (taxis)- this is movement. Positive taxes is moving towards and negative taxes is moving
away. Ex. Euglena have a positive phototaxis…meaning they move towards the light.
Moving towards
light: Phototaxis

Types of Learned behavior:
Imprinting- this happens mainly in birds. The first animal or object that the new born bird sees
the bird forever recognizes as its mother.
Habituation- becoming so used to something that you cease to be bothered by it or notice it.
Ex. not noticing your ceiling fan anymore or a train that passes by your house
Classical conditioning- Associating or connecting one thing with something unrelated. Pavlov
rang a bell every time he fed his dogs. So then the dogs learned to associate bell ringing with
food even if no food was around. Ex. can opener with your cat or dog
Trial and error- trying something over and over again and learning from your mistakes.
Communication: (both innate and learned) bees, ants, and termites communicate with
pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals used for communication. They can be used to attract
mates, mark trails to food, or signal a threat to the colony.
Plant Behaviors: Plant growth in a certain direction are called Tropisms and they are
controlled by plant hormones.
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Phototropism: Growth toward the light ex. A plant leaning towards a window
Thigmotropism: Growth toward touch. Ex. Vines wrapping around a tree
Gravitropism/Geotropism: Growth in response to gravity. Ex. Roots grow towards gravity
(down) and the stem grows against gravity (up).
Phototropism
Gravitropism
Thigmotropism
Ecology
Biology Essential Standard 2.1
Analyze the interdependence of living organisms within their environments.
Bio.2.1.1 Analyze the flow of energy and cycling of matter (such as water, carbon, nitrogen
and oxygen) through ecosystems relating the significance of each to maintaining the health
and sustainability of an ecosystem.
Bio 2.1.3 Explain various ways organisms interact with each other (including predation,
competition, parasitism, mutualism) and with their environments resulting in stability
within ecosystems.

Food chains: show the flow of energy in the ecosystem. Every food chain MUST start
with a producer because they store energy from the sun (radiant energy) as chemical
energy to pass to other organisms.
Producer or Autotroph- an organism that makes its own food like a plant
Consumer or Heterotroph- an organism that has to eat

Types of Consumers:
Herbivore- eats only plants ex. rabbit
Carnivore- eats only meat ex. lion
Omnivore- eats both plants and meat ex. human
Decomposer- breaks down dead material. Ex. bacteria, fungi, worms
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Producer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Heterotroph
Autotroph
Heterotroph
*only 10% of
the energy passes from one organism to another. Energy is lost as heat.
Heterotroph
Heterotroph
Decomposer
Herbivore
Omnivore
Carnivore
Decomposer/ worm
Energy Pyramid
Carnivore/tiger
Consumer/human
Herbivore/rabbit
Producer/tree
In this energy pyramid both
energy and biomass decrease
the higher up you go. Each
trophic level gets 10% of the
energy from the previous level
Relationships

All living things are in a relationship and when it is a close relationship necessary for life
it is called Symbiosis.

There are three main Symbiotic relationships:
Mutualism-   Both organisms benefit
Example: the sea anemone provides a home for the clown fish and the
clown fish protects the sea anemone from predators
Commensalism-   One organism benefits and the other doesn’t care (not
hurt or helped)
Example: a cow walking in a field stirs up insects for the cow bird to eat
Parasitism-   One organism benefits while the other one is harmed
Example- a tic on a dog

Two other non-symbiotic relationships:
Predator/Prey and Competition: *Competition limits the growth of a
population
Carbon Cycle
Carbon is an element that is in all living things on earth. It cycles the earth mainly in the form of
Carbon Dioxide and Glucose.
 Several ways Carbon Dioxide is added to the atmosphere:
respiration, burning fossil fuels, decomposition, volcanoes and open burning/deforestation

The main way Carbon is removed from the atmosphere is: Photosynthesis
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
Unfortunately due to the burning of fossil fuels humans are releasing way too much
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Too much carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) is causing the Sun’s radiation to be trapped
on the earth (greenhouse effect) which is causing the earth’s temperature to rise (global
warming). This causes the glaciers to melt, the oceans to rise, and climate change.
Burning fossil
fuels
Too much CO2
in Atmosphere
Radiation from sun
trapped by CO2
(greenhouse effect)
Earth’s
temperatures rise =
global warming and
climate change
Water cycle: Water cycles through the ecosystem and this cycling is important to the health of
the environment.
Water goes up into the atmosphere through evaporation (heated water turning to gas) and
transpiration (water evaporating from plants).
Once the water enters the atmosphere it cools down because the atmosphere is cooler. The water
turns into clouds which is condensation.
Once there is enough water in the clouds the water will fall to earth which is called
precipitation. This can be in the form of a liquid (rain) or solid (hail, snow, sleet).
This precipitation can fall into oceans or lakes, it can soak into the ground and become ground
water or it can go from the land to the water called runoff. Runoff can often cause pollution as
it picks up the chemicals on the land and washes them into our water sources.
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Nitrogen cycle: the element Nitrogen also cycles in the ecosystem. Nitrogen is the most
common gas in our atmosphere at 78%. It is important to living things because we need it to
make proteins and the nitrogenous bases in DNA and RNA.
Nitrogen gets into the soil by lightning, decaying bodies (decomposition) and animal urine.
However, plants cannot use this Nitrogen so there are bacteria that “fix” the nitrogen called
Nitrogen fixing bacteria so plants can use it and take it in through their roots.
Animals get their nitrogen from the plants and food that they eat.
In some plants like beans bacteria live on their roots. The bacteria receive food from the plant
and the plant receives fixed nitrogen. This is a mutualistic relationship.
Bio.2.1.4 Explain why ecosystems can be relatively stable over hundreds or thousands of
years, even though populations may fluctuate (emphasizing availability of food, availability
of shelter, number of predators and disease).
Population growth
Populations will grow unchecked until they are limited by limiting factors. Limiting factors are
resources like water, space, food that a population can run out of and limit population growth.
Carrying Capacity- the number of organisms an ecosystem can support

There are three population curves:
J-curve. This population grows extremely fast (exponential growth). The population uses up all
the resources. It will crash and all die out.
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S-curve. This population grows until it reaches it carrying capacity. Then it will stabilize over
the carrying capacity.
Carrying Capacity
Populations may fluctuate or
change depending on size,
density, resources, predators, and
disease.
Predator/Prey curve
Predator and prey population growth are opposite of each other. When the predator is up the prey
is down and vice versa. They help balance or limit each other’s population and maintain
stability in the ecosystem.
Human Population

Birthrate- the number of people born each year
Deathrate- the number of people that die each year
If birthrate and deathrate equal then no population growth
If high birthrate and low deathrate then population will grow
If low birthrate and high deathrate then the population will decrease.
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
Age structure graphs are a way to show how the population of a country is distributed.
There are two main age structure graphs- rapid and stable growth.
Rapid growth- has lots of kids and not very many old people
- is typical of a developing country (poor)
Stable Growth- not many children and lots of older people
- is typical of a developed or industrialized country (wealthy)
Rapid Growth
Kenya
Stable Growth
USA
Biology Essential Standard Bio.2.2 Understand the impact of human activities on the
environment (one generation affects the next).
Bio.2.2.1 Infer how human activities (including population growth, pollution, global
warming, burning of fossil fuels, habitat destruction and introduction of nonnative species)
may impact the environment.
Bio.2.2.2 Explain how the use, protection and conservation of natural resources by humans
impact the environment from one generation to the next.
Environmental problems
Humans are responsible for almost all modern day environmental issues.

Habitat Destruction- destroying the home of an organism.
This could happen because of deforestation (cutting down trees), invasive species or
melting glaciers. Urban (city) development in North Carolina has led to a great deal of
habitat destruction.
 Pollution: We are slowly polluting our land, water, and air.
-garbage dumps are quickly filling up due to excess waste
-water runoff from urban (city) development is polluting water sources
- In North Carolina hog/pig waste is stored in a lagoon. These lagoons often overflow into our
water sources which is a big pollutant. Pesticides also pollute our water from farmland runoff.
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
Bioaccumulation when poisons build up in the food chain. The higher up you go in the
food chain the more poison there is.
Ex. The USA used to spray DDT which is a pesticide on our crops. It ended up in our rivers and
lakes. Small fish would then have this DDT in their system. The big fish would eat the small fish
and get even more DDT. Eagles would eat the big fish. Eagles ended up with tons of DDT in
their system which caused them to crush their eggs.
10g of DDT
1000g of DDT
10,000g of DDT
The pH scale helps determine if something is a Base or an Acid. Cells and organisms like to be at
a neutral pH.
Acidic
1 2 3 4 5 6
Neutral
7
Basic
8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Acid Rain- this is rain that has a pH of less than 7. It can kill off whole forests and kill
fish in lakes and rivers. It is caused by air pollution like burning fossil fuels.

Ozone Layer- Ozone is a layer of gases which filters out the harmful UV radiation from
the sun. Without the ozone humans would be exposed to radiation and have more cases of
skin cancer. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) which were in refrigerators and spray cans
destroy the ozone layer.

Nonnative or invasive species- these are organisms which are from another country.
They do not have any natural predators so they take over their new environment pushing
out other native species.
Ex. Boa Constrictors have been put in the everglades. It has no natural predators and is
taking over. This is not good for other animal species in the area. Kudzu is a plant from Asia
that is taking over large areas in North Carolina.
Conservation and Stewardship: when humans work to protect and take care of the
environment
Ex. recycling, replanting trees, cleaning streams and rivers
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Bio.3.4.3 Explain how various disease agents (bacteria, viruses, chemicals) can influence
natural selection.
Viruses
They are not thought to be alive because they do not carry out all life functions.
Capsid
They have a capsid (a protein coat)
with DNA or RNA on the inside.
Viruses can have the word-phage at the end of their name.
Ex. Bacteriophage is a virus which infects bacteria
There are two life cycles for viruses:
Lytic cycle- the virus injects its DNA into the cell.
The cell starts making viruses inside of it.
Soon the cell will burst open or lyse releasing new viruses.
Lysogenic cycle- in this cycle the virus DNA is inserted into the host DNA and then just waits. It
could stay in the lysogenic cycle for a short or long time. Eventually this will turn into the lytic
cycle when the cell starts to make new viruses.
HIV- this virus is different than any other. Normally our immune system can fight back and
eventually get rid of the virus. But HIV actually attacks the immune system and destroys it. So
then the body has no defense.
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Immune System
 Antigens- foreign invaders in the body. Bacteria, viruses, etc.
 Pathogen- an organism that can make you sick
 T cells- cells in our bodies that work to destroy bacteria or viruses
 B cells- these will release antibodies which will attach to a virus and disable it
 Memory B cells- your body remembers every virus you have ever had. When you get the
same virus again the memory cell will recognize it and order an attack before you can get
sick.
 Vaccine- this is when you are given a weakened or dead virus. This allows your body to
“remember” a virus that never actually made you sick. It prevents you from ever getting
truly sick.
 Antibiotic- this is a medicine which will kill bacteria

Active immunity- this is immunity or resistance that a person has because they have
actually had the disease. You can also get this from a vaccine.
Ex. You have had chicken pox so now you have active immunity against it or
you get a vaccine against chicken pox.

Passive immunity- this is when you are immune from a virus that you never actually
had. Mothers can pass this on to their children when they breastfeed them.
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