INTRODUCTION TO CLASSIFICATION

4-27-15

WHY CLASSIFY?

TAXONOMY: the science of classifying thingsExamples of everyday taxonomy:Grocery storeLibraryOnline video store

SCIENTIFIC NAMING

Helps all scientists worldwide know what organism is being talked about

Early on: organisms described by physical characteristics Two-winged, scaley legged, sharp beaked flyer

“Oak with deeply divided leaves that have no hairs on their undersides and no teeth around their edges

SCIENTIFIC NAMING

BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE: each species is assigned a two-part name based on their classification GENUS + SPECIES = scientific name Homo + sapien = human

• Scientific names help scientists to communicate. – Some species have very similar common names.– Some species have many common names.

CLASSIFICATION OF ROADRUNNER AND COYOTE—LOONEY TUNESPseudo-Latin names given

for the Road Runner for the Coyote

Acceleratii incredibus Carnivorous vulgaris

Accelerati incredibilus Carnivorous vulgaris

Acceleratti incredibilis Carnivorous vulgaris

Velocitus tremenjus Road-Runnerus digestus

Hot-roddicus supersonicus Eatibus anythingus

Speedipus rex Famishus-famishus

Velocitus delectiblus Eatibus almost anythingus

Delicius-delicius Eatius birdius

Dig-outius tid-bittius Famishius fantasticus

LINNEAUS Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778)Created seven levels of classification levels

Has been able to adjust to new species being discovered

“As one sits here in summertime and listens to the cuckoo and all the other bird songs, the crackling and buzzing of insects, as one gazes at the shining colors of flowers, doth one become dumbstruck before the Kingdom of the Creator.”

LINNEAN CLASSIFICATIONKingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Least inclusive, most specific

Most inclusive, least specific

CLASSIFICATION OF HUMANS

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order :Primates

Family: Hominidae

Genus: Homo

Species: sapien

SubPhylum Vertebrata

EVOLUTIONARY CLASSIFICATION

Biologists now group organisms into categories that represent evolutionary descent, not just physical similarities

CLADOGRAM: a diagram that shows evolutionary relationships in the development of organismsDerived Characters: “new” characteristics found in recent parts of a lineage.

CLADISTICS IS CLASSIFICATION BASED ON COMMON ANCESTRY.

Phylogeny is the evolutionary history for a group of species.evidence from living species, fossil record, and molecular data

shown with branching tree diagrams

PLANT KINGDOM CLADOGRAM

DOMAINS

Category added above “Kingdom”Domain Bacteria Kingdom Eubacteria

Domain Archaea Kingdom Archaebacteria

Domain Eukarya all organisms with eukaryotic cells

6 KINGDOMS OF LIFE

1. Archaebacteria: unicellular prokaryotes

2. Eubacteria: unicellular prokaryotes

3. Protista: unicellular eukaryotes

4. Fungi: multicellular eukaryotic decomposers

5. Plantae: multicellular eukaryotic autotrophs

6. Animalia: multicellular eukaryotic heterotrophs