ClassificationOnce there

was a man named Aristotle…

He was a very smart man who like orderly things

(sometimes scientists are like that.)

The world, however, was not orderly. All these random living things…it was a mess!

So…he decided to do something about it.

He grouped living things into Plants…

Or Animals.

Then, he had a stroke of genius. He got even more specific and grouped all plants into…

Trees,

Shrubs

And herbs.

Animals were split into

Animals of the air…

Water,

Or Land.

Notice any problems?

What about frogs,

both land and water?

Enter Carolus Linneaus, 2000 years later.

He liked things orderly, also. Invented the modern classification system

He wrote a book and decided to group living things in a different way. He grouped living things based on their STRUCTURAL SIMILARITIES.

He grouped similar groups into larger groups, until he had seven groupings.

The Seven Taxons(Groupings):

Kingdom PhylumClass Order Family GenusSpecies

Classification of Humans

Kingdom: animalPhylum: chordateClass: mammalOrder: primateFamily: hominidGenus: HomoSpecies: sapien

Taxonomy(Systematics) – science of grouping and naming things

Scientists classify organisms and assign each organism a universally accepted name

Why? By using a scientific name, scientists can be sure everyone is discussing the same organism

Lepus arcticus

Linneaus’ smallest grouping was called the species-reproduce with each other.

How specific does it go?

Genus- a group of similar species

He grouped similar species into a larger grouping called genus.

Binomial Nomenclature

GENUS + SPECIES = Scientific name!Examples:

Homo sapienAcer rubrumDrosophilia melanogasterFelis concolorFelis domesticus

Today’s Modern Kingdoms

Prokaryotes- simple cells

1. Eubacteria- “normal” bacteria found everywhere

2. Archaebacteria- unusual bacteria found in hot springs, brine pools and mud

Eukaryotes- complex cells with nucleii

3. Fungus- mold, mushrooms, etc. decomposers

4. Protists- microscopic “left over” group

5. Plants- make food6. Animals- consumers

of food

1 2

Cladogram (Phylogenetic tree)- diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms.

Classification