Film title: Classification keys
Woodlands can be magical places to explore...
Full of unusual plants and animals.
But what would you do if you came across something you'd never seen before?
How could you find out its name and what kingdom of organisms it belongs to?
You could use an identification system called a classification key.
Classification Key
A classification key is a series of questions about the organism's physical characteristics.
The answers will either branch off to another question or will identify your unknown organism.
classification keys
Identify unknown organisms
It's important to look very carefully at what you've found.
Imagine it was this creature.
The process begins by asking the question at the top of the key.
Does its body have segments?
We can see that the creature's body is separated into segments ... we move down the path labelled 'yes'.
Does it have more than eight legs?
The creature has many more than eight legs.
Again, we follow the 'yes' path.
Does it have 14 pairs of legs?
If the answer were yes we would follow the left path, identifying our creature as a woodlouse.
However, if we count the pairs of legs running up the creature's body, we can see that there are more than 14.
The answer in this case is no, so we would move down the right–hand path.
Does it have one pair of legs per segment?
Looking at each segment of the creature's body, we can see that only one pair of legs extend from each.
The answer is yes.
After answering four questions in this classification key, we have determined that our mysterious creature is a centipede.
The same process can be carried out for all the other invertebrates found in the forest, with some requiring more questions than others.
Classification keys can be used to help identify living things, based on their distinct features.
Classification keys can help identity unknown organisms.
Full of unusual plants and animals.
But what would you do if you came across something you'd never seen before?
How could you find out its name and what kingdom of organisms it belongs to?
You could use an identification system called a classification key.
Classification Key
A classification key is a series of questions about the organism's physical characteristics.
The answers will either branch off to another question or will identify your unknown organism.
classification keys
Identify unknown organisms
It's important to look very carefully at what you've found.
Imagine it was this creature.
The process begins by asking the question at the top of the key.
Does its body have segments?
We can see that the creature's body is separated into segments ... we move down the path labelled 'yes'.
Does it have more than eight legs?
The creature has many more than eight legs.
Again, we follow the 'yes' path.
Does it have 14 pairs of legs?
If the answer were yes we would follow the left path, identifying our creature as a woodlouse.
However, if we count the pairs of legs running up the creature's body, we can see that there are more than 14.
The answer in this case is no, so we would move down the right–hand path.
Does it have one pair of legs per segment?
Looking at each segment of the creature's body, we can see that only one pair of legs extend from each.
The answer is yes.
After answering four questions in this classification key, we have determined that our mysterious creature is a centipede.
The same process can be carried out for all the other invertebrates found in the forest, with some requiring more questions than others.
Classification keys can be used to help identify living things, based on their distinct features.
Classification keys can help identity unknown organisms.
To classify living things, you just need to ask the right questions.
Learning points
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