Animal Kingdom
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You are familiar with many different living things. There are in fact so many different organisms on Earth that it is an overwhelming task to try to make general statements about them. To help deal with the great diversity of organisms, scientists have assigned them into general groups called Kingdoms. The members of each Kingdom share physical structural characteristics and similar feeding patterns. There are five Kingdoms in all. The Kingdom Monera contains microscopic organisms (bacteria and blue-green algae) that have their genetic material loose in a single cell. The cell thus has no compartments (like drawers in a refrigerator) where specific cell functions are carried out. The Kingdom Protista also includes one-celled organisms, but the amoebae and their relatives have compartmentalized cells. The genetic material that controls cell function and that passes on the traits of parents to their offspring is located in a compartment called the nucleus. Like the Kingdom Protista, the following three Kingdoms contain cells that have compartmentalized function. The organisms, however, are composed of many cells and are much larger and more complex. The Kingdom Fungi contains organisms (e.g., mushrooms and molds) that decompose organic matter into their simpler chemical compounds. When we talk about organic matter we are generally referring to organisms that have died or the non-living products produced by living organisms such as feces and shed skins. Decomposers absorb nutrients from the leftovers they have decomposed. The Kingdom Plantae contains organisms (e.g., trees and mosses) that make their own food using the energy from sunlight. Finally, the Kingdom Animalia contains all of the multi-celled organisms (like insects, fish and mammals) that depend on other living organisms for food.
In this trunk you will find representatives of the different body plans that are found in the Animal Kingdom. Complete the three exercises in order 1. Graph That Diversity, 2. Find that Animal, and 3. Phylogenetic Relationships and then tackle the Mystery Animal, 4.