1. Classification of Living Things

2. Why do we classify things?
Supermarket aisles
Libraries
Classes
Teams/sports
Members of a family
Roads
Cities
Money
Because it makes things EASIER !!

3. What is classification?
Classification: putting things into orderly groups based on similar characteristics
Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and classifying organisms
“tax” means to arrange, “onomy” is the study of
A person who does this is a TAXONOMIST

4. Early classification Aristotle grouped everything
into simple groups such as animals
or plants; 2000 yrs. ago
He then grouped animals according to if they had red blood or not, and then, if they had live young or laid eggs, then by where they lived (water, land, air)…

5. Binomial Nomenclature
Developed by
Carolus Linnaeus
Swedish Biologist 1700’s
Two-name system called binomial nomenclature
Genus and species named using Latin or Greek words
His system is what we still use today – pretty much…

6. Rules used to write scientific names
Homo sapiens
Homo refers “man walking upright”, and
sapiens means “wise”
An organism’s genus name is always written first and the species name is always written second
The genus is Capitalized; the species is
written in lower case
Scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined

7. Linnaeus
“the
FATHER OF
TAXOMOMY”

8. More examples of scientific names:
All cats (that do not roar) are Genus: Felis
Felis concolor Felis catus Felis pardalis
(puma) (regular housecat) (ocelot)
Note: lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards are in genus Panthera, they ROAR

10. Domain: Eukarya
Taxonomy of cats,
dogs, and bears
Oh my!

11. Modern Taxonomy The Evidence used to classify into taxon groups
  1) Embryology
  2) Chromosomes / DNA
  3) Biochemistry
  4) Physiology
  5) Evolution
  6) Behavior

12. Evolutionary Evidence // Similarities in body structure:
Similar structures that related organisms have inherited from
a common ancestor are called Homologous Structures
These similarities
are evidence that
these organisms
all evolved from
a common
ancestor.

13. EVOLUTIONARY EVIDENCE
Because we have similar structures, we share a common ancestor.
humerus
tibia &
fibula
phalanges

15. Three Domains BACTERIA no nucleus – regular bacteria
ARCHAE no nucleus – ancient primordial soup,
extreme environment (volcanos) bacteria
“archae” means ancient, archaeologist…..
EUKARYA yes nucleus – everything that is not bacteria

16. The modern system of classification has 8 levels:
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
The modern system of classification has 8 levels:
Order
Family
Genus
Species

17. Domain:
Eukarya
Taxonomy
Of Humans

18. Helpful way to remember the 8 levels
Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed
Or…make up your own…
D K P C O F G S

19. Using the Classification System
Field guides help identify organisms. -they highlight differences between similar organisms (like trees) Taxonomic Key (Dichotomous Key) -paired statements that describe the physical characteristics of different organisms - we have an activity……. 

20. Taxonomic Key What steps would you use to identify an apple?
1a Fruits occur singly Go to 3
1b Fruits occur in clusters of two or more Go to 2
2a Fruits are round Grapes
2b Fruits are elongate Bananas
3a Thick skin that separates easily from flesh Oranges
3b Thin skin that adheres to flesh Go to 4
4a More than one seed per fruit Apples
4b One seed per fruit Go to 5
5a Skin covered with fuzz Peaches
5b Skin smooth, without fuzz Plums
What steps would you use to identify an apple?