Classification of Living Things
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Transcript Classification of Living Things
Classification of Living Things
Why do we classify things?
Supermarket aisles
Libraries
Classes
Teams/sports
Members of a family
Roads
Cities
Money
What is classification?
Classification: putting things into orderly groups
based on similar characteristics
Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and
classifying organisms according to their
characteristics and evolutionary history
Early classification
Aristotle grouped everything into
simple groups such as animals or plants
He then grouped animals according to if they had
blood or didn’t have blood, and if they had live young
or laid eggs, and so on…
Modern Classification System
Developed by Carolus
Linnaeus
Swedish Biologist 1700’s
Grouped organisms into
hierarchical categories
Starts broad and ends
specific
Modern Taxonomy
The Evidence used to classify into taxon groups
1) Embryology
2) Chromosomes / DNA
3) Biochemistry
4) Physiology
5) Evolution
6) Behavior
The modern system of classification has 8
levels:
Domain
Order
Kingdom
Family
Phylum
Genus
Class
Species
Helpful way to remember the 8 levels
Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed
Or…make up your own…
DKPCOFGS
Scientific Names:
Binomial Nomenclature
An organism’s genus is always written first; the
organism’s species is always written second
The genus is Capitalized; the species is
written in lower case
Homo sapiens
Representing Evolutionary Relationships:
Phylogenetic Tree:
-
Family tree showing evolutionary history
- shows relationships thought to exist between groups or
organisms
Representing Evolutionary Relationships:
Cladogram:
-
Uses shared derived traits
-
Derived traits indicate divergence from a common
ancestor