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General Biology 2: Quarter 1 - Module 6: Systematics
General Biology 2: Quarter 1 - Module 6: Systematics
Quarter 1 – Module 6:
Systematics
General Biology 2 – Grade 12
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 6: Systematics
First Edition, 2020
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Module on Systematics!
educators both from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher or
facilitator in helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum
This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and
independent learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this also
aims to help learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking into
In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the
As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this
module. You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to
manage their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist
The hand is one of the most symbolized part of the human body. It is often
used to depict skill, action, and purpose. Through our hands we may learn, create,
and accomplish. Hence, the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a
learner is capable and empowered to successfully achieve the relevant competencies
and skills at your own pace and time. Your academic success lies in your own hands!
This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful
opportunities for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You
will be enabled to process the contents of the learning resource while being an active
learner.
What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in the
module.
1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the
module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
2. Don’t forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other activities
included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do not
hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are
not alone.
We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning and
gain deep understanding of the relevant competencies. You can do it!
What I Need to Know
This module is made for you to explore important topics and concepts under
systematics. With the use of various exciting activities found in this module, you will
learn about basic principles, descriptions, identification, and classification. You will
also learn to identify the differences between a specific taxon relative to other taxa.
This is the application and use of the evidences of evolution synthesized by scientist
to come up with an organized manner of classifying and grouping the diverse living
organisms on Earth, hence SYSTEMATICS.
A B
1. An organism that form a single
A. Systematics
taxonomic unit.
2. A group/taxon in a clade that is
B. Taxon
more distantly related to the
rest of the given taxon but C. MtDNA
serves as a reference group to
figure out where the root of the D. Phylogenetic Tree
tree should be placed.
3. A group of species used in E. Outgroup of a Clade
cladograms which consists of
one ancestor and all its F. Domain
descendants.
4. It pertains to the evolutionary G. Comparative Cytology
patterns or relationship
between organisms. H. Clade
5. The field of study that deals with
naming, ordering taxa and is I. Molecular Biology
introduced by Carl Linnaeus.
J. Taxonomy
6. The study that deals with the
hierarchy of every life form and
K. Phylogeny
how are they evolutionary
related with each other.
L. Cladogram
7. A set of similar body structure
which indicates common M. Homologous Structure
descent among organisms
under investigation. N. Cladistics
8. A method which applies shared
derived characteristics in O. Morphology
classifying and grouping
organisms. P. Nuclear DNA
9. It analyzes the structures of
organisms to group them into
similar clade and taxon.
10. A way of investigating the
evolutionary relationship using
DNA sequences.
II. True or False. Using the cladogram below, identify whether the following
statements are true or false. Write Chaos if the statement is false and
System if it is true.
______________11. Dorsal nerve cord and notochord is present in all seven species.
______________12. Paired appendages and spinal column are present in all species
except humans.
______________13. Paired legs are present in all species except lamprey and tuna.
______________14. Amnion is present in all species except lamprey, tuna, kangaroo
and bullfrogs.
______________15. Mammary glands are present in kangaroo, rhesus monkeys, and
humans only.
Lesson
1 Systematics
The system unto which the living things were put into order by the scientists
and researchers underwent revisions and numbers of collaboration before it had
been the way it is today. In this module, you will once again be immersed by the
beauty in the order that came from the chaos of diversified life forms found on Earth.
It is also noteworthy that this module is still connected with evolution. You will soon
know how science has tried to establish a way on how to organize the data obtained
from various studies of living organisms and their evolution.
What’s In
By way of a review, you need to analyze the following statements and identify what
evidence of evolution is depicted.
As you examine the statements above, you have been reminded of the different pieces
of evidence that are used in inferring the evolutionary relationship between
organisms, do not forget these details because you will need them to be equipped in
our new learning adventure about systematics.
Notes to the Teacher
This module intends to help learners understand basic taxonomic
concepts, principles, descriptions, nomenclature, identification,
and classification. These are all anchored on the Phylogeny, which
is the evolutionary relationship or relativeness of one organism
from another, it will be important to make sure that the learners
fully grasp the concepts of evolutionary relationship before moving
on to the next discussion or lesson.
What’s New
You’re on to learning systematics! Observe the following sets of objects and answer
the following guide questions.
Guide Questions:
1. How do you think were objects grouped in each box?
2. Do you think there is another way of grouping these objects?
3. What is the importance of grouping things according to their classification?
What is It
To learn about systematics in a whole new level, we will try to investigate the topic
in a systematic approach.
Scientists have long begun the quest to understand life forms; we can
summarize this study in a specialized subject that you have been learning ever since
you first loved science as a STEM student, that is BIOLOGY. Because of the hard
works of our experts in this field we have huge data at our hands, which are all a
result of the quest that started hundreds of years ago.
What are those data? Let us explore each in the following section.
Biodiversity
Bio means life and diversity
means variety. We have a diverse
collection of life forms at hand, they vary
from sizes, shapes, body structures,
lifestyle, and habitats. We also have data
about organisms that are already dead
and extinct through various fossil
records analyses efforts of experts in the
field. We have millions of different kinds
of living organisms found on Earth.
Evidences of Evolution
We also have collected data that serve as evidence of evolution. We have
at our hands’ different ways to prove that evolution of organisms took place;
fossil records showed clear differences between the structures of organisms
living in the past and the present, comparative anatomy allowed us to compare
the homologous and analogous body structures of organisms, biogeography
indicates that environmental factors made organisms to evolve unique
characteristics to those living in a the same place, embryology revealed how
some organisms look similar to each other during their early development and
technology-aided in a new development at molecular biology to help compare
and map the similarities between the DNA of various organisms found on
Earth.
Evolutionary Relationship
Having those data at hands, it calls for a need to organize. It is now essential
that these data be organized in a manner that will be beneficial for data management,
further investigation, and communication between experts in the field as well as to
the students studying Biology.
To bring order or to systematize the given data, experts have arrived at the
following field of study, let us explore each of them on the following section.
To process the data that we have at our hands, there are various techniques
and methods that have been developed by different discipline under systematics.
What are these methods? We will explore two of the most famous methods used
in analyzing data under systematics, first is PHENETICS and second is CLADISTICS.
PHENETICS vs CLADISTICS
After we have explored the two given methods of analyzing data under
systematics, it is easy to conclude that cladistics or making cladogram is the
more favored method. This method is systematic and will present more
relevant information when it comes to studying phylogeny or evolutionary
relationships.
HOW TO INTERPRET A CLADOGRAM?
The analyses of our data resulted in the comprehensive data about the
evolutionary relatedness of the organisms. Through systematics, we will be able to
put organisms on their correct classification based on their relativeness to one
another in terms of the phylogeny.
Hence the creation of the “THE TREE OF LIFE”. The tree of life is like a family
tree of all the organisms found on earth, including those that lived on the past that
we have available information from fossil records. The tree is based on the
systematics of the biodiversity of life on Earth. It puts all the organisms into their
own branches, those which are closely related to each other were placed closer to
each other in the tree. The tree of life represents the great evolution of life as well as
the history of life on Earth because the tree also uses information from the geologic
timescale where organisms were put into the time when they first appear. Organisms
found on the root and lower part of the tree are the early ancestors of all the
organisms on Earth.
As you observe the following tree of life, where researchers worked hard to put
all of the studied and available data together so that making sense of the given data
will be more systematic and convenient, you may notice that the tree of life contains
numerous cladograms and clades which were put together as a whole. At the end
of each branch is a taxon which has unique distinctive characteristics from
other taxa.
Image source: Wikipedia.org
TAXONOMY and ITS PRESENCE in the TREE OF LIFE
At the bottom-most part of the tree of life is the origin of life which we have
already explored from module 2 after that is the three domain classification of life
forms on Earth namely the Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.
Archaea and bacteria are among the oldest living organisms on earth, together
they were comprised of the prokaryotes. Prokaryotes are single-celled
microorganism, they have simple cell structures and minimal specifications for
survival. The difference between a bacterial prokaryote and archaean prokaryote lies
on their cell wall, bacterial prokaryotes have developed peptidoglycan in their cell
wall while archaea do not. Peptidoglycan is a chain of protein that gives strength and
protection to the cell wall of the bacteria, it also serves a function in binary fission,
the bacterial cell division.
Have you liked learning about systematics and basic taxonomic principles,
have you enjoyed knowing about how organisms on Earth were classified and
grouped?
Nothing to miss because there are still more learning activities waiting for you!
Analyze the following cladogram, answer the questions that follow.
1. If lancelet is the outgroup, will it have the same characteristics with the rest
of the organisms in the cladogram?
2. Which taxon is most related to leopard? Why?
3. Which taxon (aside from the outgroup) is most distantly related to leopard?
4. What characteristics separate salamander from tuna?
5. Based on the cladogram, which organism will have most similar DNA
sequence with turtle? Explain your answer.
What I Have Learned
Now it’s your turn! Read and fill out the following “I have
learned oath.”
Biology indeed offered me great adventures as I learn greatly about life! It teaches
how to classify and create a system for the diverse lists of organisms found on Earth.
What is more amazing is how scientists and field experts collaborated to make a
consensus body of knowledge that is then presented in a comprehensive diagram.
The application of this work is useful in tracing our history and in foreseeing what
will happen to us in the future so that we may recommend ways on how to ease our
living. With proper precaution, science is beneficial to society. I ___________________
(write/state your name), do solemnly pledge that I will only do good and responsible
science for my society specifically in learning about the systematics.
What I Can Do
Let’s checked how well you have learned from our exploration about systematics by
answering the following questions. Choose and encircle the letter of the best answer.
You did a great job on reaching at this far end of this module! Let’s wrap up
this brilliant learning experience with another exciting activity.
Create your own graphic representation for the taxonomy of living things.
You may choose to create a graph or picture representation whichever is more
suitable and enjoyable for you.
Additional Activities: Assessment:
Students answers may 1. C What I Have
vary. 2. A What I Can Do: Learned:
3. D
10 pts- the graphical 4. B Students answers 1. Phylogenetic
representation contains 5. A may vary. s
complete hierarchy or 6. C 2. Cladistics
taxonomy of biological 3. Cladogram
7. B
organisms, eye-catching 4. Morphology
8. D
and easy to comprehend 5. Molecular
9. A biology
10. B 6. Tree of life
11. B 7. Taxonomy
7 pts- the graphical 12. A 8. Carl
representation contains 13. C Linnaeus
incomplete hierarchy of 14. D 9. Domain
biological organisms, 15. A 10. Species
with interesting
graphics.
What’s In:
1. Molecular
What’s New: biology
What I Know:
What’s More: 2. Comparative
Students’ answers anatomy 1. B
1. No may vary. 3. Fossil record
2. E
2. Turtle. More 4. Biogeograph
relative organisms 3. H
y
were put closer to 5. Embryology 4. K
each other. 5. J
3. Lamprey 6. A
4. Four walking legs 7. M
5. Leopard. They are 8. N
descendants of a 9. O
hypothetical 10. I
common ancestor 11. Order
as is evident in 12. Chaos
their branching
13. Order
from a node, they
14. Chaos
are also part of a
clade. 15. Order
Answer Key
References
DepEd (2020). Most Essential Learning Competencies with Corresponding CG codes.
General Biology 2. Pp. 631-633.
CHED (2016). Teaching Guide for Senior High School in General Biology 2. First
Edition. Pp. 109-129.
Tiamzon, Maria Elena, et al. (2016). General Biology 2 Textbook for Senior Highschool.
Quezon City: Vibal Group, Inc. Pp. 122-215.
Jasper, S. “Phylogeny and Systematics.” Texas University. 2008. June 26, 2020.
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/Bio213/phylogeny.html
BasicBiology. “Taxonomy.” Basic Biology Inspired by Life. 2019. June 26, 2020.
https://basicbiology.net/biology-101/taxonomy