Types of Living Things

plants? animals?

If you could shrink to the size of a cell you could probably even see dust mites>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

​At this size, you would most definitely see bacteria (a microscopic life form that lives just about everywhere)

Grocery stores are organized so you can find things easily. Products are grouped in aisles according to their similarities. You wouldn’t look in the dairy aisle if you wanted to find canned pineapple!​

​In a similar way, living things are classified by similar characteristics. Each different type of organism is called a species.

One system of classification groups all living things into one of six kingdoms: Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, or Animalia.​

​To classify a living thing into one of the kingdoms, scientists ask three questions?

Does it have prokaryotic (simple) or eukaryotic (complex) cells?

Is it single-celled or multicellular?

Does it get energy by making its own food (a producer) or by getting food from other organisms (a consumer)?

Bacteria are the simplest of all living things. They have prokaryotic cells and are single-celled organisms.

Some bacteria can produce their own food while others break down food and absorb it.

​Primitive bacteria have been found living in hot springs and deep sea vents. Because of this discovery, many scientists divide bacteria into two kingdoms.

Under this system, Kingdom Archaebacteria are the primitive bacteria and Kingdom Eubacteria are the “true” bacteria.

Members of the Kingdom Protista are called protists. Protists are an odd group of organisms.

They are mostly single-celled, though there are some multicellular protists.

All protists have eukaryotic cells.

Some protists can produce their own food while others get their energy by eating other organisms.

​Kingdom Fungi includes the fungi: mushrooms, molds, and yeasts.

You may have seen members of this kingdom growing on rotting logs in the woods. Fungi are important because they break down rotting things and return the nutrients to the soil.

​Fungi have eukaryotic cells and most (except yeasts) are multicellular.

The Kingdom Plantae is made up of multicellular organisms that have eukaryotic cells.

In a process called photosynthesis, plants harness energy from the sun and store it in the form of molecules.

When animals eat the plants, they use these molecules as energy to survive.

Examples of plants include mosses, ferns, trees, and flowering plants.​

Like plants, animals are multicellular organisms that have eukaryotic cells.

Unlike plants, all animals need to eat other organisms to get their energy.

Beetles, worms, snakes, and birds are animals. You are also an animal.​

Organisms belonging to the same kingdom are not necessarily very similar.

As levels get smaller, organisms share more characteristics.

Organisms in the same order share more characteristics than organisms in the same class.

For animals, the levels of classification are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.​

​Taxonomy: the process of identifying and classifying living things that are organized by their characteristics.

​Species: ​a group of similar organisms that can produce offspring.