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Published byDenis Hodges Modified over 9 years ago
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Classification of Living Things Taxonomy
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Definition: –The branch of biology that deals with the classification and naming of living things
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Early Attempts at Classification Aristotle –animals –based groupings on habitats air-dwellers, land-dwellers, water-dwellers Theophrastus –plants –groupings on stem structure herbs (soft stems), shrubs (several woody stems), trees (one woody stem) Exploration & Microscopes made these two methods obsolete!
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Early Attempts at Classification John Ray –advanced classification via plant studies –first to use term species Carolus Linnaeus –father of modern taxonomy –developed hierarchy of classification based upon structural similarities –methods are still in use today
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Classification Categories Animal Taxonomy –Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Plant Taxonomy –Division replaces Phylum
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Binomial Nomenclature Definition: a system for naming organisms based upon two words Naming of organisms used to be extremely confusing –many organisms had multiple, multiple names Linnaeus “streamlines” by giving each organism a Genus and species name –i.e., Homo sapiens Eliminates the confusion of so-called “common naming”
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Modern Taxonomy Theory of Evolution serves as the basis for modern taxonomic methods –Species: group of like individuals who can breed with each other and produce fertile offspring species separated for periods of time become different species base upon mutations Phylogeny –evolutionary history of a species or a group of organisms –similar to a family tree
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Human Phylogenic Tree
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Another Human Phylogenic Tree
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What Things Do We Use to Classify? Structural Information –skeletal, leaves, etc. Biochemical Information –DNA, RNA, protein structure, etc. Cytological Information –cell structure, chromosome number, etc. Embryological Information –structure in early stages of develpment Behavior Information –mating calls in crickets, etc.
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What are the Kingdoms? “Old School” (Kingdoms) –Monera –Protista –Fungi –Plantae –Animalia “New School” (Domains) –Archaebacteria –Eubacteria –Eukaryote Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia
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Archaebacteria Live in hostile environments Most in oxygen-free environments Unicellular & prokaryotic Examples –Methanogens –Halophiles –Thermoacidophiles
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Eubacteria Make up the majority of modern bacteria Most are unicellular –chains or colonies Prokaryotic Most heterotrophic Disease-causing Cyanobacteria
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Protista Most are unicellular –some colonial and multicellular Eukaryotic Heterotrophic are protozoa Phototrophic are algae
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Fungi Includes molds, yeasts, mushrooms, etc. Function as either parasites or decomposers of dead matter Most multicellular, some unicellular Eukaryotic Have cell walls but of different chemical structure than plants (chitin v. cellulose) Cannot photosynthesize Eat like flies!
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Various Fungi
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Plantae Include mosses, ferns, liverworts, and seed plants All have cell walls as part of cell structure Most all are photosynthetic
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Animalia More species in this kingdom than all others All are multicellular with a higher level of organization
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Animal Phyla Porifera Cnidaria Platyhelminthes Nematoda Annelida Mollusca Arthropoda Echinodermata Chordata
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Porifera Includes the sponges
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Cnidaria Includes two body forms,: –polyp –medussa
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Platyhelminthes Flatworms
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Nematoda The Roundworms
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Annelida Segmented worms
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Mollusca Mollusks –clams, snails slugs
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Arthropoda Segmented bodies, exoskeletons –crustaceans –centipedes –millipedes –spiders –insects
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Echinodermata Starfish Sea urchins and cucumbers Sand dollars
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Chordata Spinal cord
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