Coaching Centre
Chapter 2: Classification Notes
Why scientists classify living things, the characteristics of life, adaptations of Australian plants and animals, the Linnaean system and scientific names, using and building dichotomous keys, the kingdoms, vertebrates, invertebrates and plants, and how DNA is changing the tree of life.
Sections
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2A Why we classify Mastered
What classification is, why scientists group living things, choosing good features to classify by, common names versus scientific names, and how classification developed from Aristotle to DNA.
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2B Is it alive? Mastered
The eight characteristics of living things (MRN GREWW), cells, autotrophs and heterotrophs, and how to tell living, dead and non-living things apart, including tricky cases like fire, seeds and viruses.
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2C Adaptations for survival Mastered
Structural, behavioural and physiological adaptations, with Australian examples (thorny devil, echidna, water-holding frog, eucalypts, banksias), fire-adapted plants, how adaptations arise through variation and natural selection, and living fossils like the Wollemi pine.
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2D The Linnaean system and scientific names Mastered
The seven Linnaean ranks from kingdom to species, what a species is, binomial (two-part) scientific names and how to write them, decoding Latin and Greek roots in Australian animal names, and why names sometimes change.
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2E Using and building keys Mastered
Dichotomous keys in branched and tabular (numbered) form, circular keys, choosing good questions, running a key to identify an organism, and building your own key step by step.
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2F The kingdoms of life Mastered
The five kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi, protists and bacteria), the features used to sort organisms into them (cells, nucleus, cell wall, nutrition), microorganisms, bacteria shapes, and prokaryotes versus eukaryotes.
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2G Classifying animals Mastered
Vertebrates and invertebrates, endoskeletons and exoskeletons, the five classes of vertebrates, ectotherms and endotherms, monotremes, marsupials and placental mammals, and the main invertebrate phyla with a tabular key.
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2H Classifying plants Mastered
Grouping plants by stature, vascular and non-vascular plants (xylem and phloem), and the four main plant groups: mosses and liverworts, ferns, conifers and flowering plants, with Australian examples.
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2I How classification keeps changing Mastered
How new evidence changes classification: from two kingdoms to five, archaea and the three-domain system, DNA comparisons that regrouped organisms, new species from the deep sea such as giant tube worms, and museum type specimens and online databases.
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Review Chapter 2 review and test Mastered
A one-page summary of classification, the key words, and a chapter test with multiple choice, sorting, ordering and extended responses with marking guidelines.