Life and Its Variety
Map
Arrows point from what you learn first to what it opens. Point at a concept to light up its chain and where it comes back deeper. Right-click a concept (or press and hold it) for its lessons and stories.
- Proven to depth123
- Open
- Locked
- Comes back deeper
Learning path
In the order the concepts build on each other.
- ClassificationReadySorting living things into groups inside bigger groups - domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species - so that the more groups two living things share, the more closely related they are. Today all life falls into three domains: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya.
- Living and non-livingReadyHow biologists tell what is alive: a living thing (an organism) shows all the signs of life together - it is organised, uses energy, grows, senses and responds, keeps its inside steady and reproduces. One sign alone, like moving or growing, is not enough.
- Life processesLockedThe seven things every living thing does, often remembered as MRS GREN: movement, respiration (releasing energy from food), sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion (getting rid of waste) and nutrition. Each kind of living thing does them in its own way.Opens after: Living and non-living
- SpeciesLockedOne kind of living thing: a group that can breed together and have young that can themselves breed. Each species has a two-word scientific name used all over the world, such as Homo sapiens. About two million have been named; most species on Earth probably haven't been yet.Opens after: Classification