Classification and Taxonomy

Learning Goals I will be able to explain the purpose of taxonomy I will be able to understand the 7 taxa levels and how to use them to show connections between organisms I will be able to explain the 6 Kingdoms

Diversity of Life There are over 2.5 million identified species Some biologists believe there may be 20 million more that have not been discovered How can you possibly keep track of all of these?

Global Naming of Organisms One of the biggest challenges is having different names for the same organism in different parts of the world Modern naming is based on Greek and Latin words Originally biologists used long names to describe the physical characteristics of the organism Unfortunately not everyone used the same characteristics and many of these names were very long

Linnaeus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, developed a system for naming organisms Binomial Nomenclature is a system that gives each organism a two part scientific name For Example: Red Maple = Acer rubrum

What’s in a name? The whole name is in Italics or underlined The first name is the Genus name and the second name is the Species name The Genus name is Capitalized the species name is not capitalized The species name normally describes a characteristic of the species

Classifying Organisms Once Linnaeus had come up with a system for naming organisms he started to group them Organisms were put into groups based on similar characteristics These groups are called Taxa and the science of naming and grouping is called Taxonomy

8 Layer Classification System Taxonomy uses a system of 7 levels of taxa The organisms in each Taxon become more closely related as you move down the ladder The Taxons in order of most general to most specific are: Domian, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus Species Kids Play Catch Over Farmer Green’s Shack

Evolution of Classification Systems Linnaeus’ original system was based on 2 main Kingdoms: Kindom Animalia and Kingdom Plantae Today we have a six kingdom system Eubacteria Archaebacteria Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

What factors contribute to how organisms are classified? Evolutionary connections Homologous structures Embryonic development

Eubacteria Unicellular Prokaryotic Can be hetertrophic, autotrophic, or saprotrophic

Archae Unicellular Prokaryotic Ancient bacteria, often extreme environments, often anaerobic Heterotrophic only (no autotrophs)

Protista Unicellular & multicellular Eukaryotic Animal-like, plant-like, fungi-like Heterotrophic, autotrophic, saprotrophic

Fungi multicellular & eukaryotic Cell wall made of chitin (animal material) saprotrophic

Plantae multicellular & eukaryotic Cell wall made of cellulose Autotrophic

Animalia multicellular & eukaryotic Heterotrophic No wall cell (only cell membrane)

Activity Creepy Critters Classify the organisms In each ziplock bag Justify your classification system

To Discuss… What factors are most important when classifying organisms? What benefits come from classifying organisms? Did it make things easier when you had to classify the new species?

Your Exit Ticket Put your name on top of a lined sheet of paper Answer the following questions to show your learning of todays goals: What is taxonomy? What are the 7 taxa? What are the 6 kingdoms? Why is taxonomy important in the study of biology?