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11291_CEdu_Issue8_Spring_v.03 06/01/2004 16:37 Page 1 ConservationConservation Education SPRING TERM 2004 ISSUE EIGHT Published by the Young People’s Trust for the Environment Suite 29 Yeovil Innovation Centre, Yeovil, BA22 8RN Tel: 01483 539600 Peter Littlewood writes… email: [email protected] Web site: www.yptenc.org.uk When I’m out in the field with a group of young ISSN 0262-2203 Director: Peter Littlewood people, nothing captures the imagination like a sighting of an animal species. It could be something as commonplace It was the Swedish scientist, Carolus as a rabbit nibbling some grass, or as Linnaeus, who first came up with the dramatic as a peregrine falcon on idea of classifying animal and Contents the lookout for prey or plant species in different perhaps a group of roe deer families, and it was he also crossing the path ahead who came up with the 2 Looking at of us. Perhaps it could binomial nomenclature even be a dragonfly that (double-barrelled Living Things has caught a bee on the naming format) that we wing, and is now sitting have used ever since to contentedly (and audibly) give names to species. In munching its way through 1753 he published his 3 Naming Living the bee’s exoskeleton. comprehensive guide to the Plants are fascinating too. What 7,700 plant species that had been Organisms – about the sundew, which lures discovered at that time, and in 1758, he unsuspecting flies to a sticky end in its published his comprehensive guide to Classification clutches? Or the wild arum, the berry- all 4,400 known animal species. like fruit of which can be fatal when We have since discovered countless 4 A Qu ick Look eaten, even in small doses? Or perhaps thousands of new animal and plant imal an ash tree, with its flexible wood that species, all of which have been given at the An was so valuable in the names using Linnaeus’ system of Kingdom construction of longbows? classification. We are still Curiosity grows. There is an discovering new species. enormous diversity of animal There is so much still to find A and plant species in the and learn more about. Why 5 Detailed Look a British countryside, if you not encourage your class t Vertebrates take time to look. Sundew to take a look around the Once eyes have been opened, school playground (when “What’s that?” is a question that the weather gets warmer again) Cold – will inevitably be asked, and frequently. and see how many ‘new’ species they Warm or can discover and identify?! 7 the Often the answer is quite Controlling straightforward, but sometimes, in the ture case perhaps of a small beetle, or Tempera perhaps a kind of spider, there is no common name for them, probably now? because they’re not that common! In that 8 Did you k case, we have to resort to an often strange sounding pair of Latin words, Class which together identify the species, ification and it may well be that we find them Challenge by looking them up in a field guide. We can’t know everything – there’s just too much to see! 11291_CEdu_Issue8_Spring_v.03 06/01/2004 16:38 Page 2 Looking at Naming Living Organisms - Classification Many living things have an everyday name. Some of them even have several Living Things different everyday names. For example, the wild plant usually called Lords and Ladies is also known as ‘cuckoo pint’, ‘jack in the pulpit’, ‘Adam and Eve’ and What exactly is an animal? Well, it’s a living ‘sweethearts’ in different parts of Britain. organism. Anything that is alive is a living Sometimes different living things are Linnaeus’ system gives each living thing Their phylum is called vertebrates organism. How do we know if something is alive? given the same everyday name. For two parts to its name. The first part of its because they have a backbone. example, the bird known as a robin in name is the name of the GENUS group to The phyla (plural of phylum) come You can tell if an animal is alive by giving flowers, trees, dogs, birds, insects and Britain is different from the bird which it belongs. The second part together in the largest group of all, it a prod – if it moves away, then it’s many more. Some organisms look very known as a robin in the USA. of the name is the organism’s known as a KINGDOM. The two most alive! But not all living organisms move. much alike but some are very different. Everyday names can SPECIES name (there may well known kingdoms are the animal You can prod a tree as hard as you like Biologists (people who study the therefore cause a lot of be several species within a kingdom and the plant kingdom. It is and it won’t move away! But trees are science of life) have estimated that confusion! This is why genus). This classification usually very easy to tell the difference living things. there are at least 35 million species every one of the 5 million method is called the between a plant and an animal. What then is a living organism? It is (particular kinds of living organisms) on living organisms known binomial Most animals move from something which can grow, respire Earth. So far only 5 million of them have to Science has been system (this place to place, whereas (take in oxygen), excrete (get rid of been discovered and classified. Most of given a special USA Robin comes from plants do not. Most waste), reproduce and is sensitive to the “unknown” millions awaiting biological name. This Latin words plants have green leaves changes in its surroundings. Some discovery live in tropical rainforests. means that people are able to meaning ‘two and use them to capture living organisms can move. This enormous variety of life on Earth is describe a particular living thing to one names’). The genus the Sun’s energy. Using If you look around you, you can see sometimes known as “biological another and be certain that they are name should always this energy, the plants many different organisms – people, diversity” or “biodiversity”. talking about the same organism. begin with a capital make their own food (a It helps us to decide which organism is letter; the species name process known as begins with a small letter. which if we can put them into groups Chipmunk photosynthesis). This is that have things in common. This For example, the red the most important ‘grouping’ is known as classification squirrel’s binomial name is difference between them. and it makes things easier to identify Sciurus vulgaris; the grey Animals cannot use the and study. Classification helps to make squirrel’s is Sciurus carolinensis. Note Sun’s energy directly, sense of biodiversity. that they both belong to the same so they have to genus, Sciurus. This is because they are eat other plants Red Squirrel In 1735, the Swedish naturalist Carolus tree-climbing squirrels. Squirrels that Linnaeus worked out the classification or animals to get live mainly on the ground, such as energy. With these system that we use today. He separated chipmunks, belong to a different genus. living things into groups and gave differences in mind, identifying names to each particular The binomial system prevents any it is obvious that type of organism. confusion over everyday names. For squirrels belong to the animal kingdom. Linnaeus thought that as many example, each of the robins mentioned characteristics (distinctive features) as earlier has a binomial name, so that To summarise, here are the main groups possible should be used to describe ornithologists (people who study birds) used in classifying the British red species. Some species share can distinguish between them. The squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. characteristics with other species and North American robin’s name is Turdus migratorius and the British robin’s name some characteristics are unique to the Kingdom Animalia, or animal species. This means that species with is Erithacus rubecula. the same characteristics can be put Linnaeus’ system classifies plants and Phylum Chordata, or vertebrate into groups. There are groups animals on several levels, using within groups. For example, Latin and Greek words. The Class Mammalia, or mammal there are several species of squirrels are members of a squirrel but they all share a particular FAMILY of animals Order Rodentia, or rodent that belong to the ORDER number of characteristics, Family Sciuridae – the squirrel called rodents (which such as bushy tails and family (rodents with a includes other animals with long, sharp front teeth. This bushy tail) means that they can be long, sharp, gnawing front put into the same groups. Lords and Ladies teeth, like mice and rats). The Genus Sciurus – the squirrels However, each species of rodents belong to the CLASS that climb trees squirrel has its own distinctive called mammals (animals whose features, which means it has to be given young are fed on their mother’s milk and Species Sciurus vulgaris – the its own particular name. A species is a usually have fur). Mammals belong to an squirrel with bright, single organism, not a group. even bigger group called a PHYLUM. chestnut fur and ear tufts 2 3 11291_CEdu_Issue8_Spring_v.03 06/01/2004 16:38 Page 4 A Quick Look at A Detailed Look at the Animal Kingdom the Vertebrates Animals have been on this planet for over a billion years and the variety of animal life is enormous – from the As we have seen, vertebrates are the animals with a gigantic whales that swim in the oceans to the tiniest of backbone.