Classification How we group things
Why do we classify living things? We have about 1.5 million NAMED & classified species. There may be over 30 million species on Earth!! We organize so we can communicate, share information & find information.
Taxonomy …branch of biology for naming & grouping of organisms Can be grouped according to: 1) their characteristics 2) their evolutionary history
History of taxonomy Aristotle – had 2 groups, plants & animals Linnaeus – developed a Hierarchy of levels, according to morphology (physical appearance)
Problems with using morphology to classify Some things may look different but still be a member of the same species. Injuries or other events may alter the physical appearance Some things look alike but are not related (dolphins & fish)
Hierarchy of taxonomy Acronym: King Phillip Came Over For Grape Soda
Humans are: Kingdom- Animalia Phylum- Chordata Class- Mammalia Order- Primates Family- Homidae Genus- Homo Species- sapiens
Binomial Nomenclature …is the ”2 part scientific name” of an organism RULES 1) 1st word = genus name, always capitalize 1st letter 2) 2nd word = species name, all lower case 3) Both are italicized or underlined 4) Written in Latin Example: Felis domesticus is a house cat.
EXAMPLES Home sapien = humans Felis leo = lion
Phylogeny ..classifying organisms according to their evolutionary history. Uses systematics.
How does systematics work? Use evidence from many sources: 1) fossils 2) morphology (physical appearance) 3) embryological development 4) chromosomes & DNA
Characteristics of each…. The 6 Kingdoms Characteristics of each….
Kingdom Archaebacteria Prokaryotes Single celled Has a cell wall (no peptidoglycan) Some autotrophs & heterotrophs Live in extreme environments EX: halophiles, thermoacidophiles, methanogens
Kingdom Eubacteria Prokaryotes Single celled Has cell wall with peptidoglycan Some autotrophs & heterotrophs EX: E. coli, S. pyogenes (causes strep throat), C. tetani (causes tetanus)
Kingdom Protista Eukaryotes Mostly single celled, some multicelled Cell walls (some) Autotrophs & heterotrophs EX: Amoeba, paramecium, some algae Some are free-living and some are parasitic!
Kingdom Fungi Eukaryotes Multicelled (except for yeast!) Cell wall with chitin Heterotrophs EX: mushrooms, some molds, yeast Some are parasitic!
Kingdom Plantae Eukaryotes Multicelled Cell wall with cellulose Autotrophic EX: oak trees, rose, ferns
Kingdom Animalia Eukaryotes Multicelled No cell walls Heterotrophic EX: insects, sponges, humans, frogs, etc…