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SCIENCE 5. UNIT 1. LIVING THINGS. C.E.I.P. SANTA ANA (Madridejos)

CONTENTS:

1.- Characteristics of living beings.

2.- Vital functions: nutrition, interaction, reproduction.

3.- Cells: parts. Animal cells-plant cells.

4.- Unicellular and multicellular organisms.

5.- Cell, tissue, organ, system

6.- Kingdoms: monera, protoctista, fungi, plantae, animalia

7.- Classification of living beings.

8.- Microscope. Snake versus chameleon

1.– CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING BEINGS.

In nature we can find two types of things: non-living things (stones, rocks, minerals) and living things

(animals, plants…). These living beings have two characteristics: they carry out three vital functions and

they are formed by cells.

2.– VITAL FUNCTIONS.

These vital functions are nutrition, interaction and reproduction.

There are three kind of beings depending on

the way they get their food:

A.- Producers (plants): they produce their

own nutrients from water, minerals, gases…

B.- Consumers (animals): get nutrients from

other living beings, (plants or another animals).

C.- Decomposers (bacteria, fungi, worms…):

get their food from dead organisms and non-

living organic compounds.

NUTRITION is the process in which living

beings get oxygen and nutrients, that they

use to get energy and grow. Later they expel

waste products.

INTERACTION is the process in which li-

ving beings get information from the envi-

ronment and produce different reactions to

them.

Interaction function in

animals and plants.

.– Animals have sense organs to get

information, a nervous system to coordinate

reactions, and locomotor system to move

themselves.

.– Plants haven’t got sense organs, nervous

sytem or locomotor system. They only re-

act to light or water when they grow.

REPRODUCTION is the process in which

living beings produce more beings similar to

themselves.

There are two types of reproduction:

.– Asexual reproduction: When only one

individual produces a new living being.

.– Sexual reproduction: when a male and

a female produce a new living being.

USEFUL WORDS:

.– living being . .– non-living being

.– vital function .– nutrition

.– interaction .– reproduction

.– producer .– consumer

.– decomposer .– nutrients

.– to grow .– to expel

.– waste product .– food chain

.– sense organs .– nervous system

.– locomotor system .– sexual reproduction

– asexual reproduction

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Types of cells in the human body

3.– THE CELL.

Cells are the smallest components of living beings. Cells

have many different forms: they can be rounded in ani-

mals. Cells from plants have polygonal-shaped. There are

star-shaped from the nervous system, or flat from the

skin…

They are very small, and we need some devices

as a microscope to watch them. All cells carry out all

vital functions (they get food, they interacting with the

environment, and they reproduce themselves). We can

think that they are very different one each other, but all

of them has the same structure.

A CELL is the smallest component of a

living being (they are microscopic).

USEFUL WORDS:

.– polygonal-shaped .– device

.– environment .– membrane

.– cytoplasm .– organelles

.– nucleus .– eukaryotic cell

.– prokaryotic cell .– cell wall

.– chloroplast .– photosynthesis

3.1.– PARTS OF A CELL.

Cells have different parts. Every part has got a function.

.- Membrane: is a biological wall that separates

the interior of all cells from the outside environment. It

basically protects the cell from outside conditions.

.– Cytoplasm: is a thick liquid inside the cell membrane. It

is formed by water and other substances. The cytoplasm

contains different organelles and the nucleus.

.– Organelles: are specialized subunits that has a specific

function (produce substances, movement…).

.– Nucleus: controls the activities of the cell, and it has the

genetic material.

If the genetic material is inside the nucleus, the cell is called eukaryotic cell.

When the genetic material is floating in the cytoplasm, the cell is called prokaryotic cell.

3.2.– ANIMAL CELL AND PLANT CELL.

Cells from plants have a hard cover around the membrane called cell wall offering protection, and it gives a

strong structure to plants. They also have a special organelles called chloroplasts to do the photosynthesis.

PARTS OF A CELL are membrane, cyto-

plasm, organelles and nucleus.

Main parts of an animal cell

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Amoeba: unicelular organism

Unicellular organisms are composed only

by one cell.

Multicellular organisms are composed by

lots of cells.

USEFUL WORDS:

.– unicellular organism .– tissue .

-multicellular organisms .– organ

.– system .– to carry out

.– biodiversity .– five kingdoms

.– monera or bacteria .– helpful

.– harmful .– diseases

4.– UNICELLULAR AND MULTICELLULAR

ORGANISMS.

Some living beings are composed only by one cell. They

are called unicellular organism (or single-celled organ-

ism), but when they are formed by lots of cells, they are

called multicellular organism. Cells are very small and

you can only see them through a microscope. In a human

body there are more than ten trillion of them.

In multicellular organisms cells form tissues, organs and

systems.

.- A tissue is a group of similar cells that carry out a spe-

cific function. (muscle cells produce movement). Tissues

build organs.

.– An organ is made up of different tissues that carry

out a task. (heart pumps blood to the body). Organs form

systems.

.– A system is made up of different organs that work to-

gether to carry out a common function (all bones form

the skeletal system).

.– A multicellular organism is formed by lots of sys-

tems working together.

Cells form tissues.

Tissues form organs.

Organs form systems.

Systems form multicelular organisms.

Living beings organization

5.– CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING BEINGS.

We call biodiversity to the variety of living beings that we can find in our planet. To study this biodiver-

sity we classify all beings in five big groups or five kingdoms. Each kingdom are formed by living beings

with similar characteristics.

FIVE KINGDOMS are: monera (or bacteria),

protoctista, fungi, plant, and animal kingdom.

5.1.– MONERA KINGDOM (or bacteria) they are micro-

scopic unicellular organisms (without nucleus: prokaryote)

that can live everywhere, even inside our bodies. There are

helpful bacteria (in our intestine…) and harmful ones that pro-

duce many infections and diseases.

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5.2.– PROTOCTISTA KINGDOM is formed

by unicellular living beings with a nucleus

(eukaryotic) like amoebas, protozoa... and oth-

ers are multicellular like algae. They live in the

water in colonies.

Algae make their own food like plants, the rest

of them eat other living things. paramecium algae

5.3.– FUNGI KINGDOM.

.- Fungi cells have a nucleus (eukaryotic) and cell wall like plants.

.– They are unicellular like yeast, or multicellular like mould and mushrooms.

.– They don’t have roots, leaves or flowers.

.– They don’t have chlorophyll, so they can’t make their own food (het erotrophic).

.-They are decomposers, so they grow on mortal remains of living beings.

5.4.– PLANT KINGDOM.

.– They contain chlorophyll to produce their own food through the photosynthesis (autotrophic).

.- They can’t move from the soil.

.- They are multicellular with a nucleus.

.– There are two groups: .– Without flowers like moss and fern (they reproduce themselves by spores).

.– With flowers, like lemon, orange, almond trees, rose bush…

yeast

mushrooms mould

moss fern

Plants with flowers

5.3.– ANIMAL KINGDOM.

.– They are multicellular with a nucleus (eukaryotic), without a wall cell .

.– They can’t produce their own food (heterotrophic).

.– They can move around.

.– There are two groups: vertebrates and invertebrates.

vertebrate invertebrate

USEFUL WORDS:

.– amoebas .– protozoa

.– algae .– yeast

.– mould .– mushrooms

.– autotrophic .– heterotrophic

.– chlorophyll .– moss

.– fern .– vertebrate

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6.– CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING BEINGS.

Scientists classify living beings into 5 kingdoms. There

are lots of types of organisms in each kingdom, so they

divide these kingdoms into smaller groups. The small-

est group is the species. A species is a group of similar

organisms which can reproduce one with each other.

Scientists name every organism with two words:

Genus and Species

( example: a cat is Felis Silvestris).

Another example: the human being: Homo sapiens.

Let’s see its full classification:

KINGDOM PHYLUM CLASS ORDER FAMILY GENUS SPECIES

Animalia Chordata Mammals Primates Hominidae Homo sapiens

One idea to remember these words is to learn the first letter from each word. The letters are: KPCOFGS.

If we remember a funny sentence is easier: King Philip Can Only Find Green Socks

7.– THE MICROSCOPE. PARTS.

Scientists use different devices to learn about living beings. Many of these beings are so small that it’s im-

possible to see them with the naked eye, so they have to use the microscope.

A microscope is an instrument used to see

objects that are too small for the naked eye

Eyepiece: lens that mag-

nifies the image from the

objective.

Objectives: lenses to magni-

fy the image from the object.

Stage: surface where we place the material.

Mirror or lamp: to illuminate the object. Focus knob: to control the dis-

tance between the material and

the objective. To focus the ima-

USEFUL WORDS:

.– kingdom .– phylum

.– class .– order

.– family .– genus

.– species .– microscope

.– eyepiece .– stage

.– focus .– mirror or lamp Human body through the

microscope

Normal things through

the microscope

Base.

Arm

Diafragm: to control the light

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