Sizing up Species
Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species
Did you know that a single tree in a rain forest can be home to more than 1,000 different kinds of insects? Or AT A GLANCE Classify organisms using a classification flow chart, play a that a coral reef can support as many as 3,000 varieties of team game to find out how many species may exist within fish and other organisms? Or that the deep ocean floor may different groups of organisms, and make a graph to illustrate be home to more than 10,000 species of living things? The the relative abundance of living things. sheer number of organisms living on earth is extraordi - nary. So far, scientists have identified about 1.7 million OBJECTIVES species worldwide, but there are actually many more. Use a classification flow chart to classify organisms. Name the Estimates range from 3 million to more than 100 million. major groups of organisms and the relative number of species identified worldwide and statewide in each group. Construct bar graphs that compare the number of species, both worldwide and statewide, in different groups of organisms.
SUBJECTS science
SKILLS organizing (classifying, estimating, graphing), analyzing (calculating), interpreting (relating) This activity will help your students understand how LINKS TO ILLINOIS BIODIVERSITY BASICS scientists classify organisms and how many species have CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK been identified within various groups. They’ll discover, species diversity; species for example, that there are nearly 950,000 different species of insects compared to about 4,000 mammal VOCABULARY species. And there are still vast numbers of insects that abdomen, antennae, appendages, arthropod, bacteria, are waiting to be identified—even though about 7,000 biosphere, cephalothorax, class, classification, evolution, new insect species are described every year! Did you family, fungi, genus, kingdom, order, organism, phylum, know that the state of Illinois has about 17,000 native species, taxonomy insect species, but only about 60 species of mammals? TIME And that there are approximately 2,500 species of plants two class periods in Illinois? The state of Illinois has more than 54,000 species of organisms. New species are still being dis - MATERIALS covered in Illinois. For example, in 1999, three spider Part I—copies of “Arthropod Pictures” and “Arthropod I.D. species were discovered in Lake County. Much work Chart” for each student; (optional: scissors and glue) remains to be done in identification of invertebrates and Part II—for each group, a stack of 100 sheets of paper, a microscopic species. ruler, a set of number cards; signs for organism groups; markers; tape or glue; (optional: calculator) Part I introduces students to the biological classification system by guiding them through the identification of Part III—graph paper (four sheets per student or group); selected orders within the Phylum Arthropoda. In Part II, rulers; colored pencils students work in teams to estimate the total number of CORRELATION TO COMMON CORE STANDARDS species and the number of species in various organism AND NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS groups. In Part III, students learn if their estimations science: MS-LS2-5 were correct and then create graphs that illustrate which organism groups contain the most species that have been identified to date.
18 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
BEFORE YOU BEGIN! PART I 2. Use the “Arthropod I.D. Chart” to introduce the process of classifying organisms. Make a copy of the “Arthropod Pictures” and the Hand out a copy of the “Arthropod Pictures.” “Arthropod I.D. Chart” for each student. Depending on (Please note that this is a simplified chart and that all your students’ choices, you may also need scissors and classes and orders in the Phylum Arthropoda are not glue. represented.) Start by writing the names of the six kingdoms on the board or overhead (see page 29). WHAT TO DO! PART I Ask your students if they can describe some of the characteristics of organisms that would be classified 1. Introduce classification. in each kingdom. Ask them if they can name which Begin by explaining to your students that scientists kingdom includes humans. Then ask them which classify living things into various groups. The system kingdom they think the organisms included in the they use classifies organisms into ever more closely “Arthropod Pictures” belong to (Animalia). Ask them related groups and gives scientists from all over the to look carefully at the drawings and try to determine world a common way to refer to particular organisms. what characteristics all these organisms share. To give the students a sense of how this classification Students may notice that all the organisms pictured system works, use the following information to have jointed legs, antennae and other appendages. compare the classification of a house cat with a dog They may also know that all the organisms have a (see “Classification Chart”). The students should notice hard outer shell (exoskeleton). These common that the cat and the dog share many classification characteristics help organize them into a group, or groupings. Cats and dogs are in the same kingdom, phylum, within the Kingdom Animalia called phylum, class and order, but they belong to different Arthropoda. Arthropoda means “jointed feet.” families. You might also ask the students to name other species that would be in the same family as a Hand out the “Arthropod I.D. Chart” and explain house cat (lynx, bobcat, lion, tiger, cougar and other that the organisms in the Phylum Arthropoda can cats) as well as other species that would be in the same then be classified into different subgroups including family as a dog (wolf, fox, coyote, jackal and so on). subphyla and classes, which share more specific You can also have the students name nonmammal characteristics. For example, arthropods that are chordates (animals with a backbone like fishes, members of the class Insecta have six legs and a amphibians, reptiles and birds) or noncat and nondog body that is divided into three major parts—head, carnivores (bears, raccoons, weasels, mongooses and thorax and abdomen. Scientists use keys such as this so on). to identify unknown organisms and relate them to other more familiar species. Write the following vocabulary definitions on the board to help your students when using the chart. Classification Chart appendage House Cat Dog any body part that extends outward from the main Kingdom: Animalia Animalia body, or trunk, of an animal, such as a leg, claw or Phylum: Chordata Chordata antenna Class: Mammalia Mammalia Order: Carnivora Carnivora antenna (singular), antennae (plural) Family: Felidae Canidae sensory appendage located on the head or Genus: Felis Canis cephalothorax of some arthropods Species: Felis catus Canis familiaris
19 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Sorting Out Taxonomy
Naming Things Keeping Relationships Straight The work of classifying organisms is done by scientists Figuring out just where an organism belongs—how it called taxonomists. Taxonomists divide organisms into a should be classified—is not always easy. Scientists look hierarchical series of more and more specific groupings. for structural and genetic similarities among organisms The most general division of life is into six kingdoms: that they classify together. But differences and similarities Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and among living things are not always clear cut. Taxonomists Animalia. (See page 29 for a description of each kingdom.) sometimes disagree about where organisms should be Within each kingdom, there are groups of increasing classified, how genera should be arranged within families, specificity, each one containing fewer species of increas - and so on. As new information becomes available, tax - ingly close evolutionary relationships to each other. onomists often revise where an organism is placed within These groups are phylum, class, order, family, genus and the classification system. For example, giant pandas, species (see page 21). This hierarchy enables taxonomists which share some characteristics with raccoons and to group organisms based on their characteristics and some with bears, have long been classified, along with evolutionary relationships. Species in any given order are red pandas, in their own group. However, genetic analysis more closely related to each other than to species in any has confirmed that giant pandas are actually true bears, other order; species in any given family are more closely and taxonomists are revising the species’ classification related to each other than to species in any other family; based on those findings. and so on. Defining a Species What’s in a Name? A species is a population of organisms that interbreeds Most organisms have more than one common name. For and produces fertile offspring in nature. example, what some people call a woodchuck might be For example, the red fox and the gray called a groundhog by other people. And a tree might be fox are different species because called downy serviceberry, shadbush or downy Juneberry, they coexist in many areas, but all for the same species. Or a bird might be called a they do not interbreed. house sparrow or an English sparrow, depending on who is talking about it. Common names can be very confusing! Taxonomy organizes organisms Taxonomists use Latin words to give scientific names to in increasing levels of specificity. organisms. Not only does this clear up the confusion over A gray squirrel, for example, common names in any one language, but it also allows would be classified like this: scientists who speak different languages to clearly identify any particular organism or group of organisms. Kingdom: Animalia (animals) Phylum: Chordata (animals with backbones) When scientists refer to a particular organism by its Class: Mammalia (mammals) scientific name, they are using a combination of the Order: Rodentia (rodents) genus (plural: genera) and species (singular and plural) Family: Sciuridae (squirrels and chipmunks) to which the organism belongs. For example, a coyote is Genus: Sciurus (squirrels) referred to as Canis latrans (Canis is the genus name Species: carolinensis and latrans is the species name). The gray wolf, a closely related species, is Canis lupus . The genus and species To refer to a gray squirrel, scientists call the animal by its names are always italicized or underlined. The genus scientific name: Sciurus carolinensis . name is capitalized, but the species name is not.
20 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Sample Classification: Blackpoll Warbler
Kingdom–Animalia >1,000,000 species
Phylum–Chordata +40,000
Class–Aves (birds) 8,600 species
Order–Passeriformes (songbirds) 5,160 species
Family–Parulidae (wood-warblers) 125 species
Genus–Setophaga 28 species
Species– Setophaga striata blackpoll warbler
This diagram is from Life: The Science of Biology by Purves et al. (Sinauer Associates, Inc., 1992).
21 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
3. Use the “Arthropod I.D. Chart” to classify BEFORE YOU BEGIN! PART II scorpions, spiders, centipedes and other arthropods. Your students will be working in groups of three to five. Explain to your students that they will be using the For the math problem, each group will need a ruler and a identification chart to identify each of the organisms stack of 100 sheets of paper. Calculators are optional. on the “Arthropod Pictures” page. Remind them that all of the organisms are in the Kingdom Animalia You’ll also need to make a set of number cards for each and the Phylum Arthropoda. Their job is to find out group using a thick marker. To make each set of cards, which class and order each organism belongs to. you’ll need six small pieces of paper (about 4 inches x 6 inches). Write the following numbers on separate cards: Go over one example with the whole class to familiar - 4,000; 9,000; 19,000; 72,000; 270,000; 950,000. Make ize your students with the key. For example, hold up another set of cards with the following numbers: 60; 400; a picture of organism A, then ask the students to read 200; 20,000; 2,500; 17,000. (Make the numbers large the descriptions for each of the two subphyla on the enough so they can be seen from a distance.) You may I.D. chart and decide which subphylum organism A want to make each set of cards a different color. (The belongs to (Mandibulata). first set relates to species worldwide, while the second set is the number of species found in Illinois.) Next have the students read the descriptions of each of the classes beneath Mandibulata and decide Next make six signs using poster-sized or butcher paper. which class it belongs to (Insecta). Continue to Write one of the following words on each sheet of paper: order (Coleoptera). Once your students figure out an insects; plants; mammals; birds; fungi; and fishes. Hang animal’s place on the chart, have them write the letter the signs on the walls in your classroom. Have small that corresponds to it under the order it belongs to. pieces of tape or a glue stick handy for attaching the number cards to each large piece of paper. Now have your students work individually or in pairs to classify each of the organisms on the “Arthropod WHAT TO DO! PART II Pictures” page. Remind the students that they need to 1. Discuss how many organisms there are on earth. start at the top of the chart each time. If they’d like, Ask your students to estimate how many different they can cut out the organisms and glue the pictures kinds of organisms (species) they think there are in to the proper places on the bottom of the chart. the biosphere, both worldwide and statewide. You may first need to explain that a species is an interbreeding Answers: A = Coleoptera population of organisms that can produce fertile, B = Cirripedia healthy offspring. C = Scolopendromorpha D = Odonata Discourage students from simply guessing a total E = Amphipoda number of species. Instead encourage them to reflect F = Acari on prior knowledge and observations. Allow students G = Decapoda to discuss their reasoning. Have each student make H = Xiphosura an estimate and explain how he or she arrived at that I = Araneae number. If estimates are low, ask students if they J = Scorpionida considered organisms of all sizes, including micro - scopic organisms.
22 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
Finally, reveal to the students that so far scientists species in Illinois, repeat the above activity, but have identified approximately 1.7 million different substitute 54,000 for 1.7 million (11.25 feet). In organisms in the biosphere and about 54,000 species addition, have the students calculate what percentage throughout the state of Illinois. But they predict that 54,000 is of 1.7 million (3.18 percent). there may be an additional two to 100 million species that haven’t been identified yet worldwide. Number Crunching Help students gain an appreciation for how many 1.7 Having trouble with the math? Follow these steps to million is. Group the students into small teams (three find the height of your tower of paper. to five students per team). Provide them with a ruler and a stack of 100 sheets of paper. Ask them to work First, measure the height in inches of a stack of 100 together to solve this problem: If you were to write sheets of paper. In this example, the height is one- the name of every known living species (1.7 million) fourth inch. (We’ll use the decimal 0.25.) If the on a different sheet of paper and then stack up all the height of your 100-page stack is different, substitute sheets, how tall would the stack be? the measurement of your stack for the 0.25 used in this example. A number of different approaches may be used to solve the problem. One possible solution is to measure Then, use the following ratio to find the height of 1.7 the height, in inches, of 100 pages, and use this million sheets of paper. measurement to calculate the height of 1,700,000 pages. Answers will vary depending on the thickness 1. 0.25/100 = x/1,700,000 of the paper. See the “Number Crunching” box for 2. 100x = 0.25 (1,700,000) an example. 3. 100x/100 = 425,000/100 4. x = 4,250 inches Compare your answer to a football field, which 5. To calculate feet, divide by 12 inches. measures 300 feet long; the Statue of Liberty, which 4,250 inches/12 inches = 354 feet measures 302 feet high; and the Willis Tower in Chicago that is 1,730 feet high to the top of its If you want to find the height of a different number antenna. of pages (1.6 million or 100 million), substitute that number of pages for 1,700,000. Now that students have a better feel for 1.7 million, challenge them to determine how tall the stack of paper would be if they had a sheet of paper for each 2. Decide how many species are in each group of species that scientists predict exists but hasn’t yet been organisms. discovered—1.6 to 100 million. Have the students use Hand out a set of number cards (representing the the same procedure to arrive at a range representing worldwide numbers, see “Before You Begin”) to each 1.6 to 100 million. Using the same type of paper, we team, and explain that each card represents the number calculated a height of 333 feet to 20,833 feet (that’s of species worldwide that scientists have identified more than one to almost 70 football fields tall, or in a particular group of organisms. Hold up a number more than one to 69 Statues of Liberty tall or about card (for example, 19,000) and explain that 19,000 0.19 to 12 times the height of the Willis Tower). refers to the number of bird, plant, mammal, insect, fish or fungi species that scientists have identified. In order to help students grasp the concept of 54,000 (Remind your students that this number is not the number of individuals but the number of species—
23 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
there may be millions or billions of individuals.) and then use a process of elimination. Other teams Now explain that each team has to work together to may base their guesses on experience and observation. decide which group of organisms listed on the signs posted around the room this number refers to. Once 4. Reveal the actual numbers. their decisions have been made, the teams should Go to each sign and tell your students the correct tape their number cards on or below the appropriate answers. Then have your students discuss their signs on the wall. Teams should record their choices reactions. Did any of the answers surprise them? so they will remember them. Leave the cards on the signs. Repeat the process for the set of Illinois cards. WORLDWIDE: STATEWIDE: Insects ...... 950,000 Insects ...... 17,000 3. Discuss the students’ decision-making process. Plants ...... 270,000 Plants ...... 2,500 Ask your students to share the methods they used for Fungi ...... 72,000 Fungi ...... 20,000 making decisions. Did they guess or reason? Many Fishes ...... 19,000 Fishes ...... 200 teams may start with what they believe are the groups Birds ...... 9,000 Birds ...... 400 with the highest and lowest number of species. Some Mammals ...... 4,000 Mammals ...... 60 may start with the number they are most certain about
24 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
BEFORE YOU BEGIN! PART III might also have each number on this axis represent Each student or group will need four sheets of graph 1,000 different species, so that the number 250 on paper, rulers and colored pencils. the graph would actually represent 250,000 species. The horizontal axis represents the different organism WHAT TO DO! PART III groups. You can have your students graph the groups of organisms used in Part II. Next, have them compare 1. Discuss how the data can be presented in a graph. the species worldwide with the statewide numbers. (See graph below.) Ask your students how they would present the 2. Create bar graphs to illustrate the number of species data given in “Sizing Up Species” on a graph. species in different groups of organisms. Which format is most appropriate? (A bar graph is Hand out graph paper, rulers, and colored pencils, probably the easiest to draw, but a pie graph most and have your students create their own graphs of dramatically illustrates the contrast in numbers of the groups of organisms used in Part II. They’ll each species.) Review how to set up a bar graph on the need about four sheets of graph paper to make room chalkboard or overhead. Explain that the vertical for the bar of 950,000 insect species. You can also axis represents the number of different species in have them make graphs using a computer. See the each group of organisms. The vertical axis should graph below for a sample. increase in increments of 5,000 or 10,000. They ) s 0 0 0 , 1 (
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25 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
WRAPPING IT UP approximate number of species that have been iden - Assessment tified to date. Have each student write a paragraph to 1. Use both the classification activity and the graphing summarize that information. Then pool the data for activity as bases for assessment. Have the students the group and have each student create a bar graph write an explanation of how the “Arthropod I.D. (on graph paper or using a computer program) that Chart” works. On the graph, have the students write illustrates the relative numbers of species in each the educated guesses the class discussed and how group. (Note: Separate the classes and orders when the data on the graph either do or do not support creating the bar graphs.) each guess. Here are some suggested classes: Osteichthyes (bony 2. Select 10 wild species that live in Illinois. Use fishes); Amphibia; Reptilia; Aves (birds); Mammalia. species from a variety of taxonomic categories Here are some suggested orders: within the Class (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, in - Reptilia, Testudines (turtles), Squamata (snakes, sects, crustaceans, mollusks, spiders, plants, etc.). lizards); within the Class Mammalia, Soricomorpha Working in groups or as individuals, have the stu - (moles, shrews), Rodentia (rats, mice), Carnivora dents research the organisms and find their classifi - (cats, dogs, weasels, raccoons), Artiodactyla (even- cation information. Have them develop their own toed ungulates such as deer, camels, hippos). identification chart for the organisms.
3. Have students make a collage that includes the Resources different classifications of species or have students choose a classification, such as mammals, and make Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 1999. a collage of just that classification. Biodiversity of Illinois, volume I: aquatic habitats. Illinois Department of Natural Resources, 4. Write a short magazine article that discusses the Springfield, Illinois. CD-ROM. amazing diversity of life on earth. Include illustrations Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 2000. and captions. Biodiversity of Illinois, volume II: woodland Portfolio habitats. Illinois Department of Natural Resources, 1. Graphs can be part of the portfolio. The collage Springfield, Illinois. CD-ROM. could also be added to the portfolio. Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 2001. Biodiversity of Illinois, volume III: prairie and edge Extensions 1. Survey the species diversity of your school grounds habitats. Illinois Department of Natural Resources, or a nearby park or reserve. Your students don’t need Springfield, Illinois. CD-ROM. to identify the species by name; they just need to be May, R. M. 1992. How many species inhabit the earth? able to tell that one species is different from another. Scientific American (267): 42-48. Afterward, find out if the ratios of species in different Wilson, E. O. 1987. The little things that run the world. organism groups are similar to the ratios illustrated on the graphs your students made. Conservation Biology 1(4): 344-346. Wilson, E. O. 1988. Biodiversity. National Academy 2. Have students research a class (or order) of organisms Press, Washington D.C., 538 pp. within the Phylum Chordata. Tell them to find out World Wildlife Fund. 1994. WOW!—A biodiversity what characteristics the animals within the class share, examples of species within the class, and the primer. Quad/Graphics, Pewaukee, Wisconsin. 67 pp.
26 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Student Page Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued) Arthropod Pictures Each of the following creatures represents a general group of arthropods. First identify all 10, then write the letter of each one in the correct place on the Arthropod I.D. Chart.
27 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund Student Page Activity 1-2 Sizing Up Species (continued)
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28 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund KINGDOMS Eubacteria Fungi The eubacteria group contains most of the familiar types Most fungi are made of many cells. Mushrooms, molds, of bacteria*. These organisms are single-celled and lack a yeasts and mildews are examples of fungi. They are not nucleus and organelles. Some of them obtain nutrients by able to make their own food. Instead, they get their food absorption of materials from living or dead organisms; energy by digesting the organisms on which they grow some make their own food; and some decompose dead (usually plants). organisms for food. Plantae Archaebacteria As you might guess, this is the kingdom of plants. Most Archaebacteria are associated with extreme habitats, such plants produce their own food energy through photo - as hot springs and thermal vents on the ocean floor. Like synthesis—a chemical reaction involving sunlight, carbon the eubacteria, they do not have a nucleus or organelles, dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll. Flowering but genetically they are structured like the eukaryotes, plants, mosses, ferns and certain types of algae are those organisms that do have a nucleus. This very ancient members of this kingdom. group may be the ancestors to multicellular organisms. Animalia Protista (or Protocista) Most animals are multicellular organisms that have special - The kingdom Protista consists of single-celled organisms. ized tissues, organs and organ systems. Unlike plants, Protists have a nucleus as well as other cell structures animals cannot make their own food, and their cells don’t that perform specific jobs. Protists include certain types of have cell walls. Fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals algae, slime molds, amoebas and diatoms. and insects and other invertebrates are all part of the Kingdom Animalia.
*The number of kingdoms is often under debate, depending on how scientists interpret current research.
29 Illinois Biodiversity Basics Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Wilderness, World Wildlife Fund