Worksheet 1: Biological Hierarchy; and Organising the Natural World
1. Define what is meant by the “biological hierarchy”.
Biological hierarchy is the structured organisation of all biological entities. It can be shown in pyramid form with the most simple element at the base being atoms and at the pinnacle is the ecosphere, the most complex.
2. What is an “emergent property?”
An emergent property is when a new property develops on the next step in the biological hierarchy as the levels become more complex. For eg: the heart organ has the ability to pump blood and is the emergent property of various heart cells and tissue.
3. What are cell organelles (or parts)? Give three examples.
Organelles are structures that exist within cells, …show more content…
5. What does an understanding of how the biological hierarchy works allow us to do?
Understanding biological hierarchy allows us to further develop a number of fields including: medicine, conservation, global warming effects etc.
6. How would you define the “taxonomic hierarchy”?
Taxonomic hierarchy is the systematic classification of different species. This is done using the taxonomic rank from most inclusive to most exclusive. In order they are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and …show more content…
How do we “classify” organisms?
Common names for organisms can cause confusion so they are instead classified by Latin scientific names in italics, the genus is always a capital letter and the species is always a lower case letter. For example a platypus is classified as a Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
8. What characteristics do all organisms in the class “Mammalia” share?
All Mammalia share the following characteristics: have distinctive mammary glands and produce milk for their young hair fat layer under the skin for maintaining body heat differentiated teeth (different sizes eg: canine and molars) amniotes (develops from an amniotic egg and use their rib cage to ventilate their lungs)
9. Classify humans according to the taxonomic hierarchy.
Humans are classified as Homo sapiens.
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens
10. Why do you think it is important to classify organisms into a hierarchy?
If there was no hierarchy it would be easy to confuse organisms with similar physical traits, and that can lead to overestimates in the abundance of a species and genetic diversity which can turn into to bad conservation
1. Define what is meant by the “biological hierarchy”.
Biological hierarchy is the structured organisation of all biological entities. It can be shown in pyramid form with the most simple element at the base being atoms and at the pinnacle is the ecosphere, the most complex.
2. What is an “emergent property?”
An emergent property is when a new property develops on the next step in the biological hierarchy as the levels become more complex. For eg: the heart organ has the ability to pump blood and is the emergent property of various heart cells and tissue.
3. What are cell organelles (or parts)? Give three examples.
Organelles are structures that exist within cells, …show more content…
5. What does an understanding of how the biological hierarchy works allow us to do?
Understanding biological hierarchy allows us to further develop a number of fields including: medicine, conservation, global warming effects etc.
6. How would you define the “taxonomic hierarchy”?
Taxonomic hierarchy is the systematic classification of different species. This is done using the taxonomic rank from most inclusive to most exclusive. In order they are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and …show more content…
How do we “classify” organisms?
Common names for organisms can cause confusion so they are instead classified by Latin scientific names in italics, the genus is always a capital letter and the species is always a lower case letter. For example a platypus is classified as a Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
8. What characteristics do all organisms in the class “Mammalia” share?
All Mammalia share the following characteristics: have distinctive mammary glands and produce milk for their young hair fat layer under the skin for maintaining body heat differentiated teeth (different sizes eg: canine and molars) amniotes (develops from an amniotic egg and use their rib cage to ventilate their lungs)
9. Classify humans according to the taxonomic hierarchy.
Humans are classified as Homo sapiens.
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens
10. Why do you think it is important to classify organisms into a hierarchy?
If there was no hierarchy it would be easy to confuse organisms with similar physical traits, and that can lead to overestimates in the abundance of a species and genetic diversity which can turn into to bad conservation