Why Classify???
Scientists classify organisms in order to
organise the great diversity of organisms into
manageable groups to aid study
Classification systems have two features:
A universally accepted name for each organism
(so all scientists all over the world know they
are talking about the same thing)
A placement of organisms into groups that
have a real biological meaning
Organisms in the same group share
important traits or characteristics.
The System of Carolus Linnaeus
Developed by Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish
botanist
It is called: binomial nomenclature
Details:
Gives each organism a two part name
The first part tells the genus of the organism
The second part tells the species – often a
Latin description of some important
characteristic
Example of Binomial nomenclature
Acer rubrum Acer palmatum
Acer – the genus name Acer- maple
for all maples Palmatum – latin for
Rubrum : latin word for hand
red
Notation:
Capitalize the genus name, but not the
species
The name must be written in italics
Orcinus orca
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
The Classification System of
Linnaeus
After naming organisms he grouped them
according to shared body features.
Organisms that shared important
characteristics were classified as the same
group.
Taxa = groups
Taxonomy = the science of naming organisms
and assigning them into species
Details:
The smallest taxon is species: a group of
organisms that share similar characteristics
and that can breed with one another
If two species share many features, but are
clearly separate biological units, they
classified as different species within the same
genus
eg. Felis domesticus
Eg. Felis concolor
Family
A family is a larger taxon than a genus
For example the genera Felis and Panthera
belong to Felidae (cats)
Felidae Panthera tigris Felidae Felis lynx
Order
The next larger taxon is called Order
For example cats (felidae) and dogs
(Canidae) belong to Carnivora (meat eater)
Class, Phyla, Kingdom
Orders are grouped into Classes (Mammalia)
Classes are grouped into Phyla (Chordata)
Phyla are grouped into Kingdom (Animalia)
Kingdom
Phylla (Phylum)
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
(King Phillip Cuts Open Five Green Snakes)
Create a dichotomous key
based on the following emojis
Use the dichotomous key to
identify the following birds
Dichotomous key can also be
made like this…
In groups of 5-6 use the whiteboards to create a
dichotomous key on the different shoes each group
member is wearing. Making sure to have questions listed
and ensure each shoe is classified as it’s own “species”
Five Kingdom System
Plantae
Animalia
Monera
All monerans are
prokaryotes
Characteristics:
Lack nuclei
Lack mitochondria
Lack chloroplasts
Reproduce by
binary fission
Escherichia coli
Protista
All protists are single
celled eukaryotic
organisms
Characteristics:
Has nucleus
Have organelles – which
can include chloroplasts
Kingdom Protista is
divided into three groups
Animal-like
Plant-like
Fungi-like
Animal – like
(unicellullar, find food
from the environment,
move to find food Giardia
source)
Plant – like
(unicellular, make their
own food
(photosynthetic) Diatoms
Fungi – like
(find food from the
environment,
reproduce my
producing spores,
have cell walls) Slime mold
Fungi
Have cell walls but
don’t contain cellulose
Fungi are
heterotrophs who do
not carry out
photosynthesis.
Do not carry out
photosynthesis
Have many nuclei but
not in separate cells
Plantae
All plants:
Are Multicellular
Have cell walls
containing cellulose
Autotrophic: Able to
carry out
photosynthesis
using chlorophyll
Animalia
All animals are:
Multicellular
Heterotrophic (can
not make its own
food and obtains
energy from food it
eats)
Lack cell walls
Taxonomy Today
Why things have changed?
Only the taxon species has a clear biological identity
Members share a common gene pool because they
interbreed
The organisms themselves decide who belongs and
who doesn’t to their species
All other taxa are “constructed” by biologists
They try to use biologically important
characteristics, but… different biologists have
different opinions
Some species have been moved into different taxa
(and others will be in the future)
Taxonomy and Evolutionary
Relationships
A. Evolutionary theory states: that living
species have evolved from earlier species.
B. Thus, taxonomists group organisms in ways
that show evolutionary relationships.
• By identifying and studying homologous
structures in:
• Adult organisms
• Developing embryos and in
• Well preserved fossils.
C. Species with homologous structures are
classified together.
D. Species with analogous structures are put in
different groups.
Biochemical Taxonomy
Taxonomists use molecular similarities to
classify organisms
Biochemical similarities
All organisms (except some viruses) use DNA to carry
genetic information
Organisms may be different but their genes and the
proteins that they make are very similar
The sequence of the cytochrome c protein (used in
the electron transport chain) is carried by all
organisms, but differs slightly between species
These differences have been caused by mutations
that occur after the ancestors of the living species
diverged
To help us classify organisms into groups,
taxonomists can compare:
Nucleotide sequences in DNA and RNA
Amino acid sequences of proteins
