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Classification

Classification. Why Classify?. To study the great diversity of organisms, biologists must give each organism a name. Biologists must also attempt to organize living things into groups that have biological meaning. Assigning Scientific Names. History

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Classification

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  1. Classification

  2. Why Classify? • To study the great diversity of organisms, biologists must give each organism a name. • Biologists must also attempt to organize living things into groups that have biological meaning.

  3. Assigning Scientific Names • History • 18th century scientists recognized problem with naming organisms by their common names • cougar, puma, panther, mountain lion • UK: buzzard hawk, US: buzzard vulture

  4. Why all the weird names? • 18th century scientists understood Latin and Greek

  5. Early efforts at naming organisms • 1st attempts at naming organisms often described physical characteristics • PROBLEMS • some names were 20 words long • Different scientists described different characteristics

  6. Binomial Nomenclature • (Carolus Linnaeus ~ Swedish botanist) • Two word naming system • 1st word is capitalized, 2nd is lowercased and italicized • 1st part GENUS / 2nd part special character or location

  7. Linnaeus’s System of Classification • Taxonomy taxonomic levels or taxon (taxa: plural) • Seven levels: • Kingdom • Phylum • Class • Order • Family • Genus • Species

  8. Kingdom ~ King • Phylum ~ Phillip • Class ~ Came • Order ~ Over • Family ~ For • Genus ~ Great • Species ~ Soup

  9. Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) • Genus: Ursus  group of closely related species • Contains 5 other kinds of bear including Ursus maritimus. • 2nd part: arctos / maritimus  is unique to species within genus (important trait or indication of where the organism lives ~ maritimus: sea) • Giant Panda differs enough to be placed in its own genus • Ailuropoda

  10. Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) • Genera that share many characteristics, such as Ursus & Ailuropoda, are grouped into families ~ (Ursidae) • These bears together with 6 other families of meat-eating animals, (dogs: canidae and cats: felidae are in order Carnivora. • Carnivora is grouped into class mammalian (worm-blooded, body hair, milk) which also includes order primates (humans, apes, monkeys, prosimians) • Class mammalian is grouped with birds (aves), reptiles, amphibians, and all fish into a phylum: Chordata.

  11. Taxonomy

  12. Linnaeus only named two kingdoms (plants & animals)

  13. Modern Evolutionary Classification • Problems with traditional classification • Dolphins fish or mammals • Barnacle, limpet, crab • Because of convergent evolution, sometimes organisms that are very different evolve similar body structures

  14. Evolutionary Classification • Darwin’s theory of evolution changed the entire way that biologist thought about classification • scientists began to understand that organisms share certain traits because of their evolutionary history • Biologists group organisms into categories that represent lines of evolutionary descent, not just physical similarities.

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