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Classifying the Diversity of Living Organisms. What is classification?. Classification is the grouping of organisms according to characteristics Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms based on physical characteristics, genetics and biochemical information
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What is classification? • Classification is the grouping of organisms according to characteristics • Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms based on physical characteristics, genetics and biochemical information • Our taxonomic system was developed by Carolus Linneaus in the 1700’s
Classifying Species • All organisms are slotted into eight nested levels of taxonomic categories known as ranks • Domain • Kingdom • Phylum • Class • Order • Family • Genus • species (Remember: King Philip Came Over From Germany Swimming)
Binomial Nomenclature • Each organism has a two part scientific name • The first name is the genus which is always capitalized • The second name is the species which is always lowercase • Names are in Latin because it was the language of scholars.
What is a scientific name? • Each species has a unique scientific name but many organisms have a variety of common names • Scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined • For example Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens