2.1 – WAYS OF CLASSIFYING LIVING THINGS

The Key Ideas for chapter 2 are:  people use classification systems to organize the diversity of living things  living things can be unicellular or multicellular  scientists classify organisms into groups based on internal and external features  scientists classify living things into five kingdoms: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera

When you classify things, you put the things that have similar characteristics together. Sorting things into groups makes it easier to keep track of them.

Organizing things according to their similarities and differences is called classification. SO… A classification system is the organization of living or non-living things according to their similarities and differences.

How could you further classify all the thousands of living things around you? People use different systems, depending on what they want to know and what is important to them. For example, if you were stranded on a deserted island, the first thing you’d probably want to know is which plants/animals you could eat and which you couldn’t!

Traditional Ways of Classifying Living Things In the past, people relied on their detailed knowledge of living things to help them survive on the plants and animals that were available to them. The Aboriginal peoples of the northwest coast of BC have classified over 200 different plants according to their uses, such as food and medicine. This information has been passed along from one generation to the next.

Traditional Ways of Classifying Living Things cont’d Aboriginal peoples also classify animals according to important characteristics like:  which animals are useful  which animals are dangerous  where the animals are found  the season animals can be hunted in  the animals’ use as a source of food/clothing

Scientific Ways of Classifying Living Things Scientists use classification systems to help understand the diversity of life on Earth. They examine an organism’s internal and external structures to discover how they are similar and different.

Scientific Ways of Classifying Living Things cont’d When scientists examine the internal structures of an organism they are looking at its cells and organs.

Scientific Ways of Classifying Living Things cont’d When scientists examine the external structures of an organism they are looking at what the organism looks like.

Scientific Ways of Classifying Living Things cont’d Scientists use microscopes and other forms of technology to compare organisms in a very detailed way.

Scientific Ways of Classifying Living Things cont’d Scientists can compare:  the cell structure of different organisms  organisms from around the world to discover how different organisms may be related