Classification of Living Things
What is classification? Classification: putting things into orderly groups based on similar characteristics.
Ways we classify things Supermarket aisles Libraries Classes Teams/sports Members of a family Roads Cities Money Living Things
What about all the living things on the planet.. So how many different forms of life are there? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? It is very difficult to imagine how many species of plants, animals and other creatures there are on the planet. Consider the swallowtail butterfly. It is just one of many butterflies, and butterflies are only one type of insect...
In the world today... There are about 600 species of swallowtail butterfly But this is only one group of butterflies
There are about 16,000 species of butterfly But we haven't included the moths! There are about 165,000 species of butterfly and moth But this is only one group of insects
There are about 1,000,000 species of known insects But insects are only one type of arthropod
There are about 1,075,000 species of arthropod But arthropods are only one type of animal
There are about 1,500,000 species of animal But animals are only one type of living thing
There are about 70,000 species of fungi There are about 400,000 species of plant And there are at least 140,000 species of 'protist'
But there are more types of living thing... Scientists cannot begin to imagine how many bacteria there are!
When you consider how many living things there on the planet, you can begin to understand the importance of classification. Classification helps scientists organize the diversity of life on Earth.
Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and classifying organisms. Taxonomists give a unique scientific name to each species they know about whether it s alive today or extinct. The scientific name comes from one of two dead languages Latin or ancient Greek. Why use a dead language?
Consider this
Devil Cat
Ghost Cat
Mountain Lion
Screaming Cat
Puma
Florida Panther
Cougar
There are at least 50 common names for the animal shown on the previous 7 slides. Common names vary according to region. Soooo why use a scientific name?
Classification- the process of grouping things based on their similarities. Taxonomy is useful because once an organism is classified a scientist knows a lot about that organism. Biologists use the classification system to organize living things into groups so that the organisms are easier to study. Biologists aren't the only scientists who classify. Geologists classify, sometimes even we classify things
Binomial Nomenclature Domain Eubacteria Developed by Carolus Linnaeus Two-name system Genus and species named using Latin or Greek words
The modern system of classification has 8 levels:
Helpful way to remember the 8 levels Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed Or make up your own D K P C O F G S
Rules used to write scientific names Homo sapiens 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 Scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined
Living Things Domain Eubacteria Domain Archaebacteria Domain Eukarya Kingdom Eubacteria Kingdom Archaebacteria Kingdom Fungi Kingdom Animalia Kingdom Plantae Kingdom Protista
Kingdom Eubacteria Unicellular (1 cell) Prokaryotic (no nucleus) Includes all true bacteria Lives in and on almost everything Kingdom Archaebacteria Unicellular (1 cell) Prokaryotic (no nucleus) Lives in extreme environments
Kingdom Fungi multi-cellular (more than l cell) Eukaryotic (nucleus) Break down material outside the body and then absorb it. Kingdom Animalia Multi-cellular (many cells) Eukaryotic (nucleus) Consume other organisms for food.
Kingdom Plantae multi-cellular (more than l cell) Eukaryotic (nucleus) Use the sun energy to make their own food. Kingdom Protista Multi-cellular or unicellular Eukaryotic (nucleus) Mostly live in water Don t fit into other kingdoms