Variation and classification
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Spotting variation
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Spot the differences
What are the differences between these organisms?
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How do organisms differ?
There are lots of differences between these organisms.
For example:
some have leaves some eat plants some lay eggs
some have spikes some eat meat
These organisms are different because they are all from
different species.
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Differences within the same species
There are also differences between organisms of the
same species.
For example, these people are all from the same species
(and school!). How many differences between them can
you spot?
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What is variation?
Even though people are all from the same species, there
are many ways in which they are different from each other.
Some of them are
male, some are
female, some are tall,
some are short.
The differences that
occur both between
different species
and within the
same species are
called variation.
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What causes variation?
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What causes variation?
Variation is caused by two factors:
Some features are caused by
inherited factors. These are
features that are passed on
from parents. For example,
natural hair colour is an
inherited feature.
Some features are caused by
environmental factors.
These are features that are
affected by the surroundings.
Someone can be born with brown hair which then gets
lighter in the Sun, or is dyed a different colour.
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Inherited or environmental?
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Defining characteristics
Sometimes it is not easy to determine whether a feature
is inherited or environmental.
Scientists have now decided that only four types of
characteristics are truly inherited and not affected by
the environment at all.
Can you guess what they are?
natural eye colour
natural hair colour
blood group
certain genetic disorders.
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What about other features?
Some features are caused by a mixture of inheritance
and the environment, for example, nose shape.
Someone might have a nose
that looks just like their mum’s.
But if they were in an
accident, they might break
their nose and put a kink in it.
So their initial nose shape was
inherited but over time may have
been affected by the environment.
How can the environment affect skin colour?
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The classification system
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Common features
There is a lot of variation between organisms, but some
organisms also have many features in common.
Compare a cow and a dolphin, you might think they have
little in common but you will be surprised.
How many features can you think of that are common to
both cows and dolphins?
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Comparing cows and dolphins
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What is classification?
Cows and dolphins have several features in common.
Many other organisms also share common features and
scientists use these features to put organisms into groups.
Grouping organisms based on their common features is
called classification.
Sort these
organisms into
four groups
based on their
similarities.
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Classification – grouping organisms
One way that a scientist might have grouped these
organisms is to put them into the following four groups:
mammals plants
birds reptiles
These groups come from the scientific system for
classifying organisms.
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The classification system
The classification system begins with very big groups that
include lots of organisms. Each group is then divided into
smaller groups made up of fewer organisms.
The biggest groups are called kingdoms.
All living things are classified into five different kingdoms.
living things
plants animals fungi monera protoctista
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The five kingdoms
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Which kingdom?
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Classifying animals
How can different types of animals be classified?
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Animal classification
How can different types of animals be classified?
The animal kingdom is divided into two groups.
animals
vertebrates invertebrates
Vertebrates have a backbone. They have a firm body
because of the muscles that connect to their skeleton.
Invertebrates do not have a backbone. They have
soft inner bodies which are held in shape either by a
flexible covering of outer cells or by a hard covering
called an exoskeleton.
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The animal kingdoms
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Vertebrate or invertebrate?
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Classifying vertebrates
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What type of vertebrate?
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Which classification group?
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Odd one out
In terms of classification, which of these organisms is
the odd one out and why?
whale shark tuna
flounder seahorse
The whale is the odd one out – it is a mammal.
All of the other organisms are fish.
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Odd one out
In terms of classification, which of these organisms is
the odd one out and why?
swan kiwi platypus
penguin duck
The platypus is the odd one out – it is a mammal.
All of the other organisms are birds.
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Odd one out
In terms of classification, which of these organisms is
the odd one out and why?
ant ladybird grasshopper
scorpion fly
The scorpion is the odd one out – it is an arachnid.
All of the other organisms are insects.
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Summary activities
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Glossary
classification – Sorting living things into groups.
environmental variation – Differences between
organisms that are due to the environment.
inherited variation – Differences between organisms
that are due to their parents.
invertebrate – An animal without a backbone.
kingdom – One of the five large groups into which
living things are classified.
species – A group of organisms that can reproduce
with each other to produce viable offspring.
variation – The differences between living things.
vertebrate – An animal with a backbone.
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Anagrams
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Multiple-choice quiz
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