Eubacteria, archaebacteria, protista, fungi, plantae, animalia

kingdom eubacteria (common/true bacteria)

• prokaryotes

• always unicellular, live in colonies

• microscopic

• cell walls made of peptidoglycan (glycoprotein)

• DNA with no proteins/histones

• seldom have introns (unexpressed DNA)

• cell membrane with glycerol-esters

• ribosomes different from archaea

• most are decomposers, some pathogenic/parasitic

• chemosynthetic autotrophs, photosynthetic autotrophs

• important in nitrogen recycling and fixation

• recycling of nutrients

kingdom archaebacteria (extremophiles)

• prokaryotes

• unicellular (some colonial)

• cell walls not made of peptidoglycan

• DNA with proteins

• usually have introns

• cell membrane with glycerol-ether

• extreme environments, no oxygen or light

• methanogens - anaerobes that inhabit sewage, swamps, animal digestive tracts

• extreme halophiles inhabit salty environments

• extreme thermophiles - hot, acidic, environments

domain eukarya

kingdoms protista, fungi, plantae, animalia

kingdom protista

• unicellular, colonial, simple multicellular

• 3 informal groups

  • protozoa - animal-like protist, no cell walls, important part of zooplankton

  • algae - part-time, cell wall of cellulose, important producers in aquatic systems

  • slime and water molds - fungus-like protist, important decomposers

kingdom fungi

• generally multicellular with the exception of yeast

• generally aerobes with the exception of yeast

• body composed of thread-like hyphae, infiltrate food/habitats and absorb nutrients

• chitin cell walls

• decomposers

• some parasitic and pathogenic

  • used as food (yeast in bread and alcohol)

kingdom plantae

• multicellular

• photosynthetic

• multicellular reproductive organs, alternation of generation

• cellulose cell walls

• primary producers of terrestrial biomes

kingdom animalia

• multicellular heterotrophs

• aerobes

• may exhibit tissue differentiation and complex organ systems

• most are able to move about by muscular contractions

• nervous tissue/systems coordinating responses to stimuli

• consumers (most specialize)