Chapter 14 : Classification of Organisms Taxonomy is the science of naming and classifying organisms. In this chapter you will learn about the classification system of organisms, as well as how to identify the scientific name of organisms.
Scientific Names Every “known” organisms is given a scientific name. These names are in latin and represent the genus and species of the organism. Using two names to identify an organism is known as binomial nomenclature. mountain lion Felis concolor
Scientific Names A scientific name capitilizes the genus and lower case is used for the species. Both the genus and species are written in italics. Homo sapiens - you
Classifying Organisms Carl Linnaeus arranged for a system of classifying organisms which uses different groups or taxa. The form and structure of an organism is used to determine to which groups or taxa it belongs to.
Groups : Domain All living things are grouped into one of three domains: Archaea: prokaryotic Bacteria: prokaryotic Eukarya: eukaryotic cells Archaea : bacteria which live in extreme environments
Groups The following are the modern groups in which organisms are classified into : Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
Kingdoms There Eukarya Domain is divided into 4 Kingdoms: Animalia : animals Plantae: plants Fungi : mushrooms, etc. Protozoans/algae: small organisms protozoans
Kingdom Animalia The animal kingdom is divided into 9 smaller groups called phyla’s. Each phyla is divided into groups called classes. Classes are divided into smaller groups called orders, orders divided into families, families into genus’s, and finally the species.
Classification Organisms are then classified based upon their structures and similarities. The species is the basic unit of classification.
How Biologists Classify Biologists define a species as a group of natural interbreeding populations. Species are classified as to their cellular structure, and overall structure, as well as their populations.
Classification Criteria Classification of a species also uses its evolutionary history (phylogeny). Cladistics is a method of analysis of similar species in the past. A cladogram compares similar species and changes from the fossil record of the past.