1. The Science of Classifying Organisms
Taxonomy
The Science of Classifying Organisms

2. The Need for a System
For many years, scientists and other naturalists used common names to describe organisms
confusing because there were either multiple organisms with the same common name (e.g. “rose”), or a single organism with many common names (e.g. Chinook, Spring, King, Tyee salmon).
*Check out these slides …..

3. What would you call this animal?
Cougar, Puma, Mountain Lion, Panther, Wild cat, Catamount, Florida Panther, American Lion, Deer Tiger, Brown Tiger, Night Screamer
Central and S America, western USA and Canada with remnant population in Florida

4. Sea Lion? Antlion? Lion? Photo Credits Sea Lion: Bill Lim
Ant Lion: Amphioxus Lion: law_keven
Sea Lion?
Antlion?
Lion?

5. Which one of these is NOT actually a bear?
Photo Credits
Panda: Chi King
Koala: Belgianchocolate
Black Bear: SparkyLeigh

6. Consider this……….. Are all “Grey Wolves” gray?
Are all “Black Bears” black?
Grey wolves can be white, black and any shade of gray.
Black bears can also be brown or gray

7. Linnaeus to the Rescue
After trying other systems, scientists settled on a system developed by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus.
This system was called Binomial Nomenclature which means “two-name naming”.

8. Binomial Nomenclature
Each organism gets its own two-part scientific name – usually derived from Latin.
E.g. “cougar” = Puma concolor
The first word is called the genus and the second word is called the species.
The first letter of the genus is always capitalized.
The first letter of the species is always lower case
The name is either italicized or underlined.

9. The Genus Genus refers to a group of closely related species
Puma jagouaroundi
Puma concolor

10. Panthera onca
Panthera tigris
Panthera leo
Puma concolor

11. Binomial Nomenclature Structure
Binomial nomenclature gives information about the natural relationships of organisms
It shows exactly where an organism sits in the vast complexity of life
Today, use genetic analysis for classifying organisms

12. Naming and Organizing are part of the same process
Linnaeus also created a system where we place all organisms into a few *large* groups - KINGDOMS - and then those groups are further divided into smaller groups

13. Grouping Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
Each group gets smaller and more specific – just think of the way you file things on your computer into folders and subfolders

16. Seven Levels of Classification
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Felidae
Panthera
tigris
Narrower
Broader

17. To help you remember the list
Kids Play Catch Over Farmer Grey`s Stable
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

20. The Kingdoms
There are currently 5 kingdoms – all organisms can be placed into one of those 5
Classification into a kingdom is based on certain criteria
Cell type
Number of cells
Nutrition

21. Kingdom Monera Prokaryotic (do not have a nucleus) Unicellular
Autotrophic (produces own energy) or Heterotrophic (obtains energy from food consumed)
Eubacteria = common bacteria (E. coli, Salmonella)
Archaebacteria = “ancient bacteria”, exist in extreme environments

22. Kingdom Protista Eukaryotic (have a nucleus) Most are unicellular
Can be autotrophic or heterotrophic
Most live in water
Include animal-like (heterotrophs) and plant-like (autotrophs
Examples: Ameba, paramecium, euglena, algae
Photo of Ameba by PROYECTO AGUA **/** WATER PROJECT
Catch-all group for eukaryotes which don’t fit into other categories

24. Kingdom Fungae Eukaryotic (have a nucleus) Multicellular (most)
Heterotrophic (mainly decomposers)
Cell walls have chitin
Lack motility
Photos by nutmeg66

25. Kingdom Animalia Eukaryotic (have a nucleus) Multicellular
Photo by Tambako the Jaguar
Eukaryotic (have a nucleus)
Multicellular
Heterotrophic (must consume food)
Motile (some only in certain stages of life)
Lack cell walls
Ex: birds, insects, worms, mammals, reptiles, humans
Photo by Eduardo Amorim

26. Kingdom Plantae Eukaryotic (cells have nucleus) Multicellular
Autotrophic (can make own food; photosynthesis)
Cell walls have cellulose
Photo by hira3