Page 44 - Science Coursebook
P. 44
3.1 Keys
If you did any ecology investigations in Unit 2, you had to try to identify the
organisms that you found. One way of doing this is to look for a picture of an
organism that looks like yours, in books or on the internet. Another way is to use
a key.
A key is a set of questions about the organism you want to identify. The answer to
each question takes you to another question. You work through all the questions until
you arrive at the name of the organism.
Here is a simple key to help someone to identify an invertebrate. (You will have to
imagine you have the whole animal to look at, not just these pictures.)
To use the key:
• Choose one organism that you want to identify.
• Starting at the top of the key, answer the first question – yes or no?
• Follow the line to the next question, and keep going until you have the name of
the organism.
42 3 Variation and inheritance
A+E SE
