1st STATION
LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION OF ORGANISMS What we already know is that the cell is the simplest form of life, able to perform the three vital functions.
There are some organisms made just by one cell. Some of them are prokaryotic and some others eukaryotic. Their shape is highly variable and adapted to the organism’s life.
The majority of organisms are composed of many cells, developed from an initial cell the zygote. But HOW ARE THE ORGANIZED?
CELLS COORDINATE THEIR ACTIVITY TO MAKE THE ORGANISM WORK AS A WHOLE.
• Level 1.- Unicellular organism . Typically bacteria and protozoa. • Level 2.- Multicellular without tissues . Only very simple organisms like fungi, sponges and algae. Each type of cell performs one function. • Level 2.- Tissues without forming organisms as jelly fish and moss. • Level 3.- Multicellular with organs but without systems. This is characteristic of some invertebrates like some worms and most plants. • Level 4.- Multicellular with systems . This is typical of animals, most invertebrates and all vertebrates. One of the functions of these systems is to coordinate all the other organs and systems.
YOUR JOB IS TO CLASSIFY EACH ORGANISM INTO ONE LEVEL OF COMPLEXITY, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE AND NAME IT FROM THE TERMS ON THE OTHER SHEET: Plasmodium (produces malaria), amanita, jellyfish, shrew, lichen, earthworm
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2ND STATION
CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING THINGS
Scientists categorize living things in groups and sub-groups based on the characteristics they share. These groups and sub-groups are called taxa.
Taxa are classified in taxonomic ranks that have specific names: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum and kingdom.
This classification is hierarchic: the genus includes several species, the family includes several genera, etc, until the highest rank, the kingdom. The species is the smallest taxonomic rank, which groups together those organisms with more characteristics in common. The bigger the taxonomic rank, the fewer characteristics they share.
Connect both columns that match colloquial and scientific name. Every recognized species on earth (at least in theory) is given a two-part scientific name. This system is called "binomial nomenclature." These names are important because they allow people throughout the world to communicate unambiguously about animal species. This works because there are sets of international rules about how to name animals and zoologists try to avoid naming the same thing more than once, though this does sometimes happen. These naming rules mean that every scientific name is unique. For example, if bluegill sunfish are given the scientific name Lepomis macrochirus , no other animal species can be given the same name. So, if you are a Russian scientist studying relatives of sunfish and you want to discuss bluegill sunfish with a Canadian researcher, you both use the scientific name and know exactly what the other is talking about.
SQUIRREL Sciurus carolinensis SPARROW Passer montanus
MOUSE Mus musculus RABBIT Oryctolagus cuniculus
CAT Felis silvestris LINX Felix pardina
DOG Cannis familiaris BEAR Ursus arctos
Order the taxa from the smallest to the biggest ones and name them as class, kingdom, phylum, order, species and family orderly according to the text.
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3rd STATION
THE FIVE KINDOMS After studying it for several times, just few people are able to remember the five kingdoms and which living beings include each one of them. Please, do not be one of those!
MONERA KINGDOM.- Unicellular prokaryotic cells, which sometimes form colonies. They are called BACTERIA.
PROTOCTISTA KINGDOM .- They are a little bit more difficult to identify but very abundant in nature.Unicellular or multicellular eukaryotic organisms, which never develop real tissue, as algae and protozoa.
FUNGI KINGDOM .- It groups unicellular or multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs and organisms decomposers as molds and mushrooms.
PLANT KINGDOM .- They are multicellular autotroph eukaryotic organisms. They have no locomotion systems. So they do not move but stay loose. Acacias, mosses and cactuses are good examples and you name it.
ANIMAL KINGDOM .- Multicellular heterotrophy eukaryotic organisms, which have specialized tissue, and generally, a locomotion system. Squirrels, flies, sardines… you name it.
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ASSIGN EACH ORGANISM WITH ITS NAME AND THE KINGDOM WHAT IT BELONGS TO: Euglena, Aspergillus, Elephant, Pseudomonas, Acacia.
SPECIES NAME KINGDOM
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4TH STATION
PLANT CELL
It is a type o eukaryotic cell, much bigger than a prokaryotic one and with a great variety of organelles in the cytoplasm.
The most characteristic organelle of a plant cell is the chloroplast. It’s got chlorophyll, a protein able to break down the molecule of water thanks to the solar energy and construct carbohydrates from its hydrogen plus the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Can you believe it? Plants live just from water and air. This process is called photosynthesis and it is impossible to perform with the solar energy. Therefore, they are autotrophs what means that they are able to make their own food.
Besides, as plants have not a skeleton, they need to protect and support their cells with a cell wall made out of cellulose. And to keep their shape and stick the cytoplasm to the wall they have vacuoles full of water. Other organisms as fungi need this protection to their cells. Contrary to the plants, fungi organisms are heterotroph.
Which is the name of the specific plant organelles?
Why are plants green?
Is an orange able to photosynthesize? Why?
Why do you think that leaves are flat?
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5th STATION
ANIMAL CELLS
An animal cell is always eukaryotic. Its shape varies depending on the function it performs. They can be spherical as egg cells, biconcave as red blood cells, long and narrow as muscle cells and star shaped as neurons. They cannot make their own food as plant cells because they are lack in chloroplasts. But they are perfectly able to survive because have evolved along the history of live.
They are quite used to work in groups. There are no I in TEAM.
Besides, they have organelles that plants are lack of as centriols and other proteins that are part of the cytoskeleton of the cells. Guess why?.... Exactly they don’t have a cell wall to keep their shape. It is like a scaffold as the one used when a building is refurnished.
The animal cell can have a flagellum as the sperm cell or the one of Euglen or other types of protozoa. Or can have several cilia as the trachea cells to expel the specks of dust that get into our lungs. People that smoke loose these cilia and, guess what, they need to cough and cough to expel the particles of dust.
Answer the following questions:
1. What characteristics are specific of animal cells? 2. Explain how they keep their shape if they don’t have a cell wall. 3. Identify each type of tissue with the cell they include. 4. What make a cell move in water?
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