Download Science and Technology Concepts

Study Guide
Lesson 1: What Are Organisms?
That’s Life! Pg. 6-7









An organism is a living thing.
Living things carry out life processes:
o Grow
o Reproduce
o Respond
o Move
Can a plant move? YES!!
o A plant can slowly turn to face the sun.
o Plants roots can grow towards a water supply.
o A carnivorous plant, like the Venus Fly Trap can capture prey.
Plants can make their own energy through a process called photosynthesis. This process allows
the plant to create a sugar called glucose.
Other organisms capture their food then break it down into usable nutrients through a process
called digestion.
Living things also can take in oxygen and use it to break it down nutrients for energy. This process
is called cellular respiration.
While performing life processes organisms excrete waste.
Organisms can be unicellular or multicellular.
o Unicellular: an organism made up of one cell
o Multicellular: an organism made up of more than one cell
Organisms are very diverse. This means they vary in shape, size, and complexity.
What’s in an Organism’s Name? Pg. 8-11


Taxonomy is the science of classifying living based on the principle that everything in our world
is related in some way.
Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish scientist in the 18th century, developed a seven-layer system for
classifying plants and animals according to their structure.
High number of
Species and
Diversity
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Very
Different
An easy way to remember all of the Taxonomic Levels is to use a mnemonic device.
King
Kingdom
Philip
Phylum
Came
Class
Over
Order
For
Family
Green
Genus
Soup
Species
o Carolus Linnaeus also developed a two part naming system for organisms called binomial
nomenclature. Every organism has a first name, which is the Genus (First letter is
CAPITIALIZED) and a last name, which is the Species (first letter is lowercase). When
the Genus and Species name of an organism are typed they are written in italics and
when they are hand written they are underlined.
 Examples:
Common Name
Scientific Name
Lion
Panthera leo
Tiger
Panthera tigris
Human
Homo sapiens
Red Maple Tree Acer rubrum
Grey Wolf
Cheetah

Carolus Linnaeus only grouped plants and animals. By the 20th century biologist, scientists that
study organisms, added more kingdoms. Today there are 6 kingdoms of life.
1. Animalia: Animals
2. Plantea: Plants
3. Fungi: Fungi include mushrooms, mold, and mildew.
4. Protista: Protists are microscopic organisms that have a nucleus. A nucleus acts as the
control center of a cell.
5. Eubacteria: Unicellular bacteria that do not have a nucleus.
6. Archaebacteria: Unicellular bacteria that can live in extreme environments and do not
have a nucleus.