Classification & Taxonomy Mr. Young

Aristotle “The human mind, by nature, tends to classify all objects it comes in contact with”

What is Classification? Classification is a process of grouping similar ideas, information, or objects. For example: Think of when you enter a music store such as FYE or Sam Goody. All of the musical selections are first grouped by cd or tape, then grouped according to similar musical style, then further grouped by individual artist(s)

Taxonomy Taxonomy is the science of classification. The branch of biology that names and groups organisms according to their characteristics and evolutionary history

Early History of Classification Classification was a process developed over 2000 years ago, by a Greek philosopher named Aristotle. Aristotle’s system of classification was very simple, an organism was classified into a kingdom called a plant or a kingdom called an animal.

Aristotle’s System of Classification Aristotle grouped organisms by their physical traits first and then by their habitat. Physical Traits: what the organism looked like. Habitat: the place in which an organism lives.

Aristotle Grouped animals by where they lived: land, air, water

Problems Arise with Aristotle’s System of Classification Unfortunately, Aristotle’s system was not working for all organisms because there were too many exceptions. For instance: Frogs can live both on land and in water, therefore being classified by habitat did not work. As a result of the many exceptions and confusion, Aristotle’s system of classification was criticized.

A New Method of Classification By the middle of the 18th century, many different methods of classification were being used and scientists were beginning to become extremely confused. It was not until Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish physician and naturalist created a system of classification that was based upon an organisms body structure, shape, size, color, and methods for obtaining food and reproducing that the confusion was ended.

Carolus Linnaeus Organized organisms according to form and structure (morphology) System we use today

Levels of Organization Kingdom-2 kingdoms plant and animal (now we have 6) Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species – can reproduce fertile offspring Kids Play Cards On Funny Green Spaceships

Sub-Species Variations of species in different geographic areas or varieties Pit-bull, Boxer, German Sheppard, Dalmatian All are Dogs

Classification Examples Taxonomy House cat Mountain lion Domestic dog Human Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Specie Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Felidae Felis domesticus concolor Canidae Canis familiaris Primate Hominidae Homo sapiens

Linnaeus’s System: Binomial Nomenclature Linnaeus’s System was successful because he established binomial nomenclature: which gave a two word name to every organism.

Scientific Naming This two part name was called the organism’s scientific name. The first word of the name referred to the organisms Genus. The second word of the name referred to the organisms species. The genus always begins with a capital letter and the species is always lower case. Both the genus & species are always either written in italics or underlined.

Scientific Naming Canis familiaris Canis is the genus. familiaris is the species. Canis familiaris means domesticated dog, it is in Latin.

The Language of Linnaeus’s System… Linnaeus’s system of naming used Latin because when the system was designed, Latin was the language understood by nearly all of the educated people and was a universal language of the educated.

Scientific Name/Common Name Bovine - ……….. Canine - ………. Equine - ……… Feline - ……….. Homo – ……….. Panthera - ……….

5 Kingdom System Monera Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

6 Kingdom System ARCHAEBACTERIA EUBACTERIA PROTISTA FUNGI PLANTAE ANIMALIA