Classification of Living Things

1. Classification of Living Things Taxonomy: Organizing the Diversity of Life

2. What’s in a name? ENGLISH: dog FRENCH: chein JAPANESE: inu HINDI: kutta GUJARATI: kutto SOLALI: eey ZULU: inja GERMAN: hund And hundreds more!!!

3. What’s in a name? A species can even have several different names within the same language. My Personal Favorite is Mountain Screamer PUMA Panther Mountain Lion Cougar

4. What’s in a name? • Very different species can also have very similar names. None of these creatures are actually fish!!!

5. Cosby Buffalo Nye Gates Clinton Murray What’s in a name? • If an animal is known by so many different names, how would anyone know if they were talking about the same thing? Bill

6. TAXONOMY • Taxonomy is the science of naming organisms and assigning them to these groups. • Taxa (sl. taxon) = “groups”

7. TAXONOMY: A History • There are an estimated 30- 100 million organisms on the planet, but biologists have only accounted for ~ 1.75 million. • Since early in history, people have tried to name and organize species. ~ = approximately

8. TAXONOMY: A History Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Identified ~1000 species & grouped them according to kingdoms — Plantae and Animalia • Identified them based on their “complexity” • He called this scala naturae or “ladder of nature”

9. TAXONOMY: A History • THEN, grouped animals according to habitat (land, air, water) How can you see this classification system being a problem?

10. TAXONOMY: A History St. Augustine (3rd century CE) • classified animals as being useful, harmful, or superfluous (useless). • Middle Ages—herbalists classified plants according to what they produced (i.e. fruit, vegetables, wood) How can you see this classification system as being useful at the time?

11. TAXONOMY: A History • In the 1400’s – 1500’s, European explorers returned from their journeys with new species that no Europeans have ever seen before.

12. TAXONOMY: A History John Ray (mid- 17th century) • set out to catalogue all organisms in the world. • was the first to use the term species • classified over 19 000 species of birds, fish & four-footed animals

13. TAXONOMY Horse & Donkey = different species Species – Organisms that can interbreed and produce a fertile offspring.

14. TAXONOMY: A History • Carl Linnaeus • Swedish naturalist • 18th century • devised a system based on an organism’s physical and structural features • the more features organisms have in common, the closer their relationship • The conventions that we use to name species today is largely based on Linnaeus’ system (Linnaean classification system)

15. TAXONOMY • Linnaeus developed the system of binomial nomenclature • Binomial nomenclature: organisms are given two-part scientific names • derived from Latin words • name may be based on characteristics of the organism or named after the individual who discovered it. • Or…

16. TAXONOMY • In 2004, a new species of monkey was discovered in Bolivia. • The scientists who discovered it decided to sell the naming rights to the highest bidder. • The winner was…

17. TAXONOMY Common name: GoldenPalace.com monkey Scientific name: Callicebus aureipalatii (aureipalatii means “of the golden palace”)

18. TAXONOMY Genus + species species always lowercase Genus Always Capital Examples: 1) Canas latrans (coyote) 2) Felis domestica (house cat) 3) Canis familiaris (domestic dog) 4) Homo sapiens (humans) * scientific name should be either italicized or underlined

19. TAXONOMY Organisms are classified using 7 taxa, from most general to most specific. KINGDOM PHYLUM CLASS ORDER FAMILY GENUS SPECIES KING PHILIP CAME OVER FOR GOOD SOUP A Trick to remembering this:

21. TAXONOMY • Every organism belongs to 1 of six Kingdoms. • Organisms with similar characteristics are grouped together (e.g. locomotion, feeding patterns, structure, and way of life). • Allows biologists to examine how organisms are related to one another

22. The Six Kingdoms • Animalia • Plantae • Protista • Fungi • Eubacteria • Archaeabacteria

23. This phylogenetic tree shows relationships between the 6 kingdoms

24. TAXONOMY WB: Pg. B-5

25. Animalia 25

26. Animalia • Eukaryotes – have nucleus • Habitat: land, water, air • obtain food from the surrounding environment. • most have methods of locomotion. • e.g. fish, mammals, and insects.

27. Plantae 27

28. Plantae • Eukaryotes – have nucleus • make their own food (photosynthesis). • usually are stationary • Habitat: land & water • e.g. trees and flowering plants.

29. Protista 29

30. Protista • are neither plants nor animals. • have characteristics of both plants and animals. • Eukaryotes – have nucleus • obtain food from the surrounding environment. • most have methods of locomotion. • Habitat: most often water • e.g. Amoeba and Euglena

31. Fungi 31

32. Fungi • do not carry out photosynthesis. • absorb materials into their bodies. • Eukaryotes – have nucleus • Habitat: most often on land and other species • usually are stationary. • E.g. mushrooms and molds.

33. Eubacteria 33

34. Eubacteria • consist of very small simple cells. • prokaryotes - lack a nucleus and other organelles. • able to flourish in a wide range of environments (land, water, air) • most have methods of locomotion. • Rely on surrounding environment • e.g. E. coli

35. Archaeabacteria 35

36. Archaeabacteria • are bacteria that live in extreme environments (e.g. volcanic springs, salt lakes etc…) • consist of very small simple cells. • prokaryotes – lack nucleus • Rely on surrounding environment • most have methods of locomotion. • e.g. pyrodictium.

37. Biologists recognize 2 cell types: • Prokaryotic cells • Eukaryotic cells

38. Prokaryotes • Very small (1-10 µM) • DNA circular • Nucleus absent • Membrane bound organelles absent • Genome consists of a single chromosome • Asexual reproduction common • Rarely multicellular • Many are anaerobic

39. Eukaryotes • Large (100-1000µ) • Nucleus present • Membrane bound organelles present • Genome consists of a several chromosomes • Sexual reproduction common • Mostly multicellular • Most are aerobic

40. Classify the following organisms by Kingdom: 40

41. Taxa cont’d • The next division after Kingdom is Phylum (sometimes referred to as Division), for example Chordata • Class is a division of phylum, for example Mammalia • Order is a division of class, for example Primate • Family is a division of order, for example Hominidae (of which we are the only living specimen) • Genus is a division of family, for example Homo • Species is a division of genus, for example sapiens (species is always written in lower case)