Classification Systems Classification is just a fancy word for organization. So this chapter is equivalent to Biology cleaning its room!
A Vast Science Biology, the study of life, is no simple science. Scientists have currently identified more than 2.5 million DIFFERENT kinds of organisms Another 20 million are estimated to actually exist, despite not being identified as of yet So how do we organize such a vast number of organisms?
Logical Order To work with the diversity of life, we need a system of biological classification that names and orders organisms in a logical manner. To do so first we must have a system of naming each individual organism Second we have to order the organisms into groups that have real biological meaning
Carolus Linnaeus Swedish Botanist named Carolus Linnaeus Linnaeus used a similar system to categorize plants that he worked with This system uses 2 names to identify each organism so it is called Binomial Nomenclature Ie: Homo sapien It also uses Latin as its base language. Latin is a dead language, limiting it s slang and multimeanings
Carolus Linnaeus
Binomial Nomenclature This nomenclature uses descriptive words to identify each organism However, since these words are all in Latin, often times they appear unfamiliar Spilogate putorius is the name for the spotted skunk and means smelly, spotted weasel.
Binomial Nomenclature **Also note: The Genus (first word) is always capitalized and the species (second word) is always lower case The genus and species also must be either underlined or written in italics (For class, always underline it) IE: Ursus arctos
Taxonomy There are 7 taxonomic levels of Linnaean taxonomy: Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus species
Taxonomy We currently group organisms according to how closely they are related. Originally this was based on how closely related they looked With current technology we can use DNA relationships to group organisms As technology advances so advances our accuracy considering taxonomic relationships
Taxonomy
6 Kingdoms Because they are the largest and broadest level of classification, there exist only 6 Kingdoms. They are: Eubacteria Archaebacteria Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia
Eubacteria This Kingdom is made up of all prokaryotes (NO NUCLEUS) The Eubacteria are the more common bacteria that we know today.
Eubacteria
Archaebacteria The Kingdom Archaebacteria is also an entirely prokaryotic kingdom (NO NUCLEUS) It is composed of ancient forms of bacteria (some that still exist) and extremeophiles Extremeophiles are organisms that can live in extreme environments IE: Halophiles live in the dead sea and salt flats Thermophiles can live in boiling water
Archaebacteria
Protista The Kingdom Protista is composed of the unicellular Eukaryotes. The Protists have amazing diversity and are divided into three subcategories: Plant-like Protists Animal-like Protists Fungus-like Protists **These subcategories are not taxonomic because they are grouped by organism characteristics, not evolutionary relationship
Protista
Fungi This Eukaryotic Kingdom build cell walls that are not made of cellulose like plants Also, these cell walls often do not completely encircle the fungal cell This causes the fungal cells to often times be multinucleated Members of this kingdom are Heterotrophic (they need to eat to survive) Range in size from microscopic to larger than a basketball
Fungi
Plantae Members of this Kingdom are multicellular Eukaryotes that contain cell walls They are all autotrophic (make their own food) Some can also be heterotrophic
Plantae
Animalia All members of this kingdom are heterotrophic Eukaryotes with cell membranes Contains incredible diversity All animals are classified here All are multicellular
Animalia