Introduction and Classification of Living thing .

Living things

Matter can be classified into living and non-livingthings. Living things have life which is a delicate and complex process of genetic material in all cell nuclei. All living things must contain, Protoplasm; a material absolutely necessary to perform all functions of life. Protoplasm is the total contents of the living cell. Cells are the smallest building blocks of all living organisms ,which include both plants and animals. All living things contain carbon as an essential element. Life began in oceans millions of years ago and has travelled a long way from sea animals to amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The sciences which deal with living organisms are called Biological Sciences.

Classification

Living organisms show a great diversity in their character. Taxonomy is the branch of biological sciences which put them inte dififerent categories of organisms. The classification of animals go like this- Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Specie.

1. plant kingdom

There are nearly half a million species of plants on the Earth. With the exception of few, all of them need three basic ingredients to survive: air, light and water. plants are found in almost every type of habitat. They take their own food using simple raw materials and energy from the sun. Plants require water to grow. They cannot get this water unless it is available in the soil. Plants obtain water from the soil through their roots. It then passes up the stem to the leaves and flowers. The plant does not take all the water available in the soil. Much of the renmaining water evaporates into the surrounding air. The plants can be divided into the following categories:

Non-Green plant

This is a group of plants having simple plant body without root, stem and leaves. They do not contain chlorophyll and hence do not involve photosynthesis. They can grow without the aid of sunlight and seem to popout of the ground overnight. Typical examples of non green plants are bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Green plant

These are those plants which contain chlorophyll and carry out photosynthesis. There are two categories of green plants: non-flowering and flowering plants.

Non-Flowering Plants

These are seedless green plants. They reproduce by means of spores. These plants have existed on Earth for much longer than the lowering plants. Many of them have remained almost unchanged for million of years. They generaly have a simple structure and, with the exception of ferns, do not have supporting fiber. This means that they cannot grow to any greater size. Moses, ferns and algae are familar examples of non-flowering plants.

Flowering Plants (Phanerogams)

These are seed containing green plants There are two groups of seed plants-the gymnosperms and the angiosperms. This division is based on the type of seeds, they have Gymnosperms have naked, or unprotected seeds, while the angiosperms have seed which are protected by a fruit or seed-pod. The gymnosperms are the pine, fir, cedar, cypress and spruce tree while the angiosperms include most other trees, the flowering plants, the grasses, crop plants, vegetable and weeds.

parts of plant

The essential parts of plant

a. Flower

It is the type of flowering plant.which is involved in reproduction. Most flowers have both male an female organs. The male part produces pollens which pollinates the female part,they produces a seed from which a new plant grows.

b. Leaf

A plant's leaves are its food making factories, containing green chlorophyll. They use sunlight, carbo dioxide in the air and water in the soil to make their food. The leaves distribute water from the roots and transport food made in the leaves to the rest of the plant.

c. Stem

This supports the leaves and flowers. It contains tubes to carry water and food around the plant, and it stores food.

d. Roots

These hold the plant in the ground, absorb water and mineral salts from the soil, and in some cases the root is edible.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

The animal kingdom consists of about one and a half million species Animals can be divided simply into two large groups on the basis of external resemblances, homologous features and similarities between them and their development. These groups are Invertebrates and Vertebrates.

Invertebrate

These are those animals which do not posses backbones. These are usually snaller in size but larger in number. About 95 percent of the whole animal kingdom.is composed of invertebrate animals. More familiar exnmples are insects, crabs, worms and spiders.

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Vertebrate

These are those animals which possess segmental backbone or vertebral column. Vertebrate animals are generaly much bigger in size as compared to invertebrate animals. Animals like cats, dogs, snakes, frogs, birds and fish are familiar examples of vertebrates.

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