Organizing the Diversity of Life Classification Organizing the Diversity of Life

Classification The grouping of objects or information based on similarities

Taxonomy Branch of biology dealing with the identification, classification, and nomenclature of organisms.

How to Organize? Plants Animals Trees Land Shrubs Air Herbs Water Problem: Birds, bats, and insects were grouped together Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)

Classification based on physical and structural similarities Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) Created binomial nomenclature (2 word naming system) 1st word = Genus (genera if plural) = a group of similar species 2nd word = specific epithet = Species Scientific name = Genus + specific epithet e.g. Homo sapiens

Writing Species Names Rules for writing species names Latin is the language of scientific names (Latin is no longer spoken, so it does not change) Italicize in print and underline when hand written 1st letter of the genus is CAPITALIZED & 1st letter of specific epithet is lowercase

Writing Species Names Canis latrans = Coyote Canis lupus = Grey wolf

Cougar? Puma? Panther? Catamount? Mountain lion? Or…

Cougar? Puma? Panther? Catamount? Mountain lion? Or… Felis concolor?

Taxonomic Rankings Kingdom Kinky Phylum Phil Class Came Order Over Family For Genus Good Species Sex

All Living Organisms are grouped into... 3 DOMAINS EUBACTERIA  -   true bacteria ARCHAEA -   ancient prokaryotes        EUCARYA  -  modern eukaryotes

Species – organisms that look alike and successfully interbreed Genus – A group of similar species which that have similar features and are closely related Family – A group of similar genera Order – A group of similar families Class – A group of similar orders Phylum – A group of similar classes Kingdom – A group of similar phyla

Six Kingdoms Eubacteria · Prokaryotic · True bacteria · RNA is simple ·        Have true cell walls ·        Unicellular Archaebacteria ·        RNA more complex

Six Kingdoms Protista · Eukoryotic · Autotrophs and heterotrophs ·        Lacks organs systems ·        Lives in moist environments ·        Unicellular or multicellular Fungi ·        Eukaryotic ·        Heterotrophs ·        Absorbs nutrients from organic material in its environment

Six Kingdoms Plantae · Eukaryotic · Autotrophs · Multicellular ·        Photosynthetic Animalia ·        Heterotrophs

Evolutionary Classification To study history one must know in advance that one is attempting something fundamentally impossible, yet necessary and highly important. To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning. -Father Jacobus

Evolutionary Classification Phylogeny - evolutionary history of a group of organisms Cladistics – The study of evolutionary relationships between groups to construct their family tree Derived characters – Characteristics which appear in recent parts of a lineage but NOT in its older members (Evolutionary innovation)

Evolutionary Classification Most recent common ancestor --The ancestral organism from which a group of descendants arose.

Character -- Heritable trait possessed by an organism Clade -- a group of organisms which includes the most recent common ancestor and all of the descendants of that most recent common ancestor. Cladogram -- A diagram, resulting from a cladistic analysis, which depicts a hypothetical branching sequence of lineages leading to the taxa under consideration. Nodes --The points of branching within a cladogram.

ingroup -- In a cladistic analysis, the set of taxa which are hypothesized to be more closely related to each other than any are to the outgroup. Parsimony -- the simplest evolutionary hypothesis; it explains the data in the most economical way