Putting it together
The whole chapter comes down to one question: what group does this organism belong to, and what is its name?
Some useful scientific names
| Human | Homo sapiens |
| Asian elephant | Elephas maximus |
| Jungle fowl | Gallus lafayetti |
| Asoka barb | Puntius asoka |
| Blue water lily | Nymphaea stellata |
| Ironwood | Mesua nagassarium |
| Coconut | Cocos nucifera |
Activity 13.4 and assignment 13.3
Activity 13.4: Identify several plants in the school garden and display their scientific names.
Assignment 13.3: Using books, newspapers or the internet, write down the scientific names of five animals and five plants commonly seen in your environment.
Exercises (1) and (3)
The problem
(1) Write down the classification systems put forward for classifying organisms, and the scientists who put them forward.
(3) Name the three main domains and give examples of organisms belonging to each.
Answer
(1) Scientific classification — Aristotle (4th century BC)
A successful classification and binomial nomenclature — Carolus Linnaeus (18th century, 1753)
The five kingdom classification — Robert Whittaker (1969)
The three domain classification — Carl Woese (1990)
(3) Archaea — methanogens, halophiles
Bacteria — bacteria, cyanobacteria
Eukarya — algae, fungi, plants, animals
Exercises (4) and (5)
The problem
(4) State the benefits of coral reefs, the remarkable structures built by cnidarian species.
(5) Classify these mammals by order: bat, whale, monkey, mouse and bear.
Answer
(4) Coral reefs supply marine life with habitat, food and shelter, performing an important service for their survival.
(5) Order Chiroptera — bat
Order Cetacea — whale
Order Primates — monkey, mouse
The bear belongs to none of those three — it belongs to Order Carnivora.
The source names only four orders, so the bear needs a fifth — a good reminder that a list should not be taken for a complete one.
Glossary
| Classification | වර්ගීකරණය |
| Domain | අධිරාජධානිය |
| Kingdom | රාජධානිය |
| Hierarchial organization | ධුරාවලි සංවිධානය |
| Vertebrates | පෘෂ්ඨවංශීන් |
| Invertebrates | අපෘෂ්ඨවංශීන් |
| Binomial nomenclature | ද්විපද නාමකරණය |
Chapter summary
- Living things are classified for the convenience of studying them.
- All living things are divided among three main domains — Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.
- The kingdoms Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia belong to Domain Eukarya.
- Taking flowers as the chief criterion, Kingdom Plantae divides into non-flowering and flowering plants.
- Taking the backbone as the basis, Kingdom Animalia divides into invertebrates and vertebrates.
- The invertebrates divide into the phyla Cnidaria, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda and Echinodermata.
- The vertebrates are classified as Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves and Mammalia.
- Binomial nomenclature, with a generic name and a specific epithet, is used for naming living things.