1. Classifying Living Things

2. Why Do We Classify?
Allows us to keep track of the 3 to 10 million different living things on Earth
Classification: The systematic grouping of organisms into categories on the basis of evolutionary relationships or physical appearance
The Science of classifying is called “Taxonomy”
People have been classifying for nearly 2,000 years

3. Scientific Naming Carolus Linnaeus
Developed systems for naming species and organizing them into groups
Named over 4000 plants & animals
Used appearance to group species
“Father of Taxonomy”
Used binomial nomenclature

4. What is Binomial Nomenclature?
“Binomial” = two-name
“Nomenclature” = naming system
Language: Latin
Ex: common house cat – Felis domesticus
Mountain lion, puma, cougar – Felis concolor
Bobcat – Felis rufus
Genus species
Always capitalized always lower-case
Both are always italicized
Genus and species are the most specific levels of organization

5. There are 8 levels of classification that describe a species
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Eukarya
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Ursidae
Ursus
maritimus
Eukarya
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Primate
Hominidae
Homo
sapiens
Eukarya
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Canidae
Canis
familiaris
The more levels of organization that two organisms share, the more closely related the two organisms are!

6. Three Domain System
Recently, scientists have added a group above Kingdom.  Three groups, called DOMAINS, contain each of the six kingdoms.
Domain Eukarya - includes organisms composed of eukaryotic cells (plants, animals, fungi, protists)
Domain Bacteria - includes all prokaryotic cells, Kingdom Eubacteria
Domain Archaea - includes only "ancient" bacteria, Archaebacteria

7. The Kingdoms
There are currently 6 kingdoms – all organisms can be placed into one of those 6.
Classification into a kingdom is based on certain criteria
Number of cells
How it obtains energy
Type of cell

8. Kingdom Animalia Multicellular Heterotrophic (must consume food)
Eukaryotic (cells have a nucleus)
Examples: birds, insects, worms, mammals, reptiles, humans

9. Kingdom Plantae Multicellular
Autotrophic (can make own food; photosynthesis)
Eukaryotic (cells have nucleus)

10. Kingdom Fungae Multicellular (most) Heterotrophic (mainly decomposers)
Eukaryotic
ex. mushrooms,
yeast

11. Kingdom Protista Most are unicellular
Can be heterotrophic or autotrophic
Eukaryotes (all have nucleus)
Examples: Ameba, paramecium, euglena, algae
Most live in water

12. Kingdom Eubacteria & Kingdom Archaebacteria
Unicellular
Can be autotrophic or heterotrophic
Prokaryotes (do not have a nucleus)
Eubacteria = common bacteria (E. coli, Salmonella)
Archaebacteria = “ancient bacteria”, exist in extreme environments