The Six Kingdoms

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variation of life on Earth. As you can see from the pictures, the living things on Earth are very diverse - from the bacteria growing on your eyelids to gorillas in Africa.

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Taxon In order to study such diverse life forms, biologists use a method of classification called taxonomy.  Recall the work of Carolus Linnaeus.  Linnaeus is known as the father of modern taxonomy and laid the foundations for binomial nomenclature. Linnaeus’s scheme divided organisms up into taxa (singular taxon) or taxonomic units based upon how similar they were to each other.   Using a system of taxonomy allows biologists to organize, classify, and compare organisms. Taxonomy classifies organisms based upon their similarities. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html

Taxonomy Let’s look at the modern system of taxonomy from the top down.

Lessons of Classification Bacteria and Archaea used to be grouped together in one kingdom called Monera. Each Kingdom is further divided into Phylum → Class → Order → Family → Genus → Species.  Species is the most specialized level of classification with the most diversity at this level.  When referring to a particular species, a dichotomous name is used that includes the genus name and the species name. For examples, humans are called Homo sapiens.  Homo is the genus name and sapiens is the species name.

Taxonomy “Tip” A good way to remember the levels of taxonomy is through the use of a mnemonic. A mnemonic uses the first letters of what you need to remember in a memorable phrase. In this case, a mnemonic for remembering the system of taxonomy could be: “King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti” representing Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species.

How to Classify Taxonomy comes from the Greek word ‘taxis’ which means to order or rank.  In this system, each species is using two parts: the name of the genus to which it is assigned the "specific name" which identifies the particular species within the genus. Latin names are assigned to both the genus and species and both words are written in italics.  Classification is used to identify organisms and make our meaning as clear as possible. 

If you said that you were chased by a shark, to a biologist or naturalist that is like saying you were chased by a primate. There are 34 families of sharks. Different types of sharks would be further classified by their morphology – both their external and internal features.

Principles of Classification http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/animal_2.htm Let’s look at how humans are classified to understand how taxonomy places organisms in increasingly specific levels.

Taxon Unit Taxon Name Key Features Kingdom Animalia Organisms that can move from one place to another. Phylum Chordata Have a notochord at some point in life cycle. The notochord is like a stiff rod that acts as the axis of the organism. Subphylum Vertebrata The notochord specializes into a spinal chord covered by bony vertebrae. Class Mammalia Glands (milk and sweat glands), hair. Order Primata Five fingers, Opposable thumb, orbits etc. Family Hominidae Large braincase. Genus Homo Bipedal, use of tools, culture and language. Species Sapiens Size of brain and dental patterns

Protists, Bacteria, Fungi The organisms from these Kingdoms can be microscopic in size. They can be parasitic (live on a host organism) and infectious. What do you think makes them infectious?  Why do you think studying their similarities and differences is useful?

Reading Bacteria http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-bacteria.html Fungi http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungi.html Protists http://www.biologycorner.com/lesson-plans/phyla/kingdom-protista/

Homework Compare the six kingdoms of living things according to their anatomical and physiological characteristics. You can use the template on the website to help you organise your answers