1. Taxonomy

2. Taxonomy: An Introduction
Taxonomy is the classification of organisms in an ordered system that takes into account natural relationships.
The taxonomic system was founded by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in the 1700s
It is the way of classifying or organizing organisms based on their evolutionary relationships
Widely accepted by the scientific community
**keep in mind, taxonomy is human-made

3. The 8 Taxa (sing. Taxon)
A taxon is a category or group in which we classify organisms.
All organisms can be classified or organized based on 8 levels of taxa
Taxonomy is hierarchical and proceeds from very broad categories down to very specific categories
(This diagram shows “life” at the highest level. “Life” is not considered to be a taxon)

4. Memorizing the Taxa Use this handy mnemonic! :D
King Philip Came Over For Good Scotch!

5. Taxon Level 1: Domain Broadest taxon
There are 3 domains: Eukarya, Bacteria, Archaea
Organisms belonging to the Eukarya domain all have eukaryotic cells
Bacteria and Archaea consist of organisms with prokaryotic cells.
Biochemical and RNA markers differentiate Bacteria and Archaea

6. Taxon Level 2: Kingdom There are 6 main kingdoms: Bacteria Archaea
Animalia
Plantae
Fungi
Protista

8. Taxon Level 3: Phylum
You will be learning about a number of different phyla (plural of phylum) for the rest of the year!
Some of the phyla you’ll discuss: (don’t write these down)
Porifera, Cnidaria, Nematoda, Arthropoda, Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Mollusca, Echinodermata, and Chordata!

9. Taxon Levels 4-6 Class, Order, Family
As you descend to the lower taxa, the criteria for belonging to a certain taxon becomes more specific.

10. Taxon Levels 7-8: Genus and Species
Multiple species can belong to a genus
Example: In the Panthera genus, the species lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard exist.
Species is the most specific taxon, and only one type of organism belongs to a species.
Example: A tiger is classified as
genus: Panthera
species: tigris

11. Example: Humans

13. Binomial Nomenclature
Roughly translates to: Two Name System of Naming Things
It is a formal system of naming living things by combining two names to give each species a unique scientific name.
The scientific name consists of the genus name and the species name.
The genus name is always capitalized
The species name is always in lowercase
Both parts of the name are always italicized (if writing by hand, underlined)
Scientific names generally have Latin roots

14. Examples

15. Taxonomy Check-In Quiz

16. What is the correct way of writing the scientific name for a housecat?
Felis domestica
Felis Domestica
felis domestica

17. Which taxon will include the most organisms?
Family
Order
Kingdom
Class

18. What are the three domains?
Eukarya, Protista, Archaea
Bacteria, Eukarya, Archaea
Bacteria, Archaea, Animalia
Eukarya, Plantae, Bacteria

19. Which is not a kingdom?
Archaea
Cnidaria
Plantae
Fungi

20. If two organisms are in the same family, they must be in the order.
True
False

21. If two organisms are in the same phylum, they must be in the same class.
True
False