Finding Order in Diversity Notes Finding Order in Diversity Chapter 18 Section 1
Why Classify?
Why do we classify organisms? Organize into biologically meaningful groups Show relationships Give universally accepted scientific names Eliminate confusion!
How Do We Name Organisms? In 1735, a Swedish botanist developed a system of naming organisms What was this system called? Binomial nomenclature What does this stand for? 2 name naming Who was this Swed? Carolus Linnaeus
Linnaeus
The Fundamentals of Binomial Nomenclature Each organism given a two part name. The first word is its Genus group Second word is descriptive and is its species name Use Latin to compose the names. Why? Latin is a dead language. Scientific names are written in English characters world-wide. Scientific names are always italicized or underlined with Genus name capitalized
Binomial Nomenclature – Some Examples Homo sapien = Human Chemistry Teacher = Chemis nerdus
Felis domesticus Cat
Canis familiaris dog
Acer rubrum Red Maple
Taraxacum officionale dandelion
Taxonomy The science of naming organisms and assigning them to groups. Taxa (Taxon) = The assigned groups Linnaeus began grouping by morphology (form and structure)
The Taxa What is the smallest group with the most similarities among members? species And a group of similar species is called? Genus
Examples Panthera leo = lion Panthera tigris = tiger Felis domesticus = Cat Felis concolor = Mountain lion Genus = Panthera Genus = Felis
Continuing with the Taxa Groups of similar Genera form a: Family Felidae = cat family and includes Genera Panthera, Felis, Acinonyx and other cat Genera
Continuing with the Taxa Several similar Families form an Order Carnivora is the Order containing Families: Felidae, Ursidae, Canidae, etc.
Continuing with the Taxa Orders are grouped into… Classes Mammalia formed from orders Carnivora, Primates, Rodentia, etc.
Continuing with the Taxa Many classes are grouped together into Phyla Chordata includes the classes Mammalia, Reptilia, Aves & Osteichthyes, etc.
Continuing with the Taxa Many Phyla together form a… Kingdom Kingdom Animalia includes Phyla Chordata, Arthropoda, Annelida, Porifera & Echinodermata, etc.
Putting it in perspective The Kingdom is the largest group with the least number of common characteristics among its members. The species is the smallest group with the most number of common characteristics.
The Taxa of…?