1. Classification of Living Things

2. Why do we classify things?
Supermarket aisles
Libraries
Classes
Teams/sports
Members of a family
Roads
Cities
Money

3. What is classification?
Classification: putting things into orderly groups based on similar characteristics
Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and classifying organisms

4. Early classification Aristotle grouped everything into
simple groups such as animals or plants
He then grouped animals according to if they had blood or didn’t have blood, and if they had live young or laid eggs, and so on…

5. Binomial Nomenclature
Developed by Carolus Linnaeus
Swedish Biologist 1700’s
Two-name system
Genus and species named using Latin or Greek words

6. Rules used to write scientific names
Homo sapiens
An organism’s genus is always written first; the organism’s species is always written second
The genus is Capitalized; the species is
written in lower case
Scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined

7. Modern Taxonomy The Evidence used to classify into taxon groups
  1) Embryology
  2) Chromosomes / DNA
  3) Biochemistry
  4) Physiology
  5) Evolution
  6) Behavior

9. The modern system of classification has 8 levels:
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class

10. Helpful way to remember the 8 levels
Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed
Or…make up your own…
D K P C O F G S

12. Why do we need to classify?
Imagine a store…..how do you know where to find the milk or the cereal? Are they in the same aisle? How is the store “organized”? Are all stores similar?
Imagine your computer or mp3 player…..are all of your songs and files in a single folder or do you have them grouped in some way?

13. ….this is why we CLASSIFY
When you have a lot of information, it is best to organize and group items so that you can find them easier or easily see their relationship to other items
….this is why we CLASSIFY
Even websites must  organize their products

14. Scientists also need a way to *NAME* organisms
The “common names” used by people  can sometimes be misleading or confusing
In order to communicate effectively, biologists need a CONSISTENT naming protocol.
*Check out these slides of confusing names…..

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

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

17. What kind of organism is it
What kind of organism is it?(invertebrate, mammal, insect, fish, reptile..)
Sea Monkey
Firefly
Ringworm
Jellyfish
Spider monkey
Crayfish
Sea Horse
Photo Credit: Audringje; flickr

18. Consider this……….. Are all “Grey Wolves” grey?
Are all “Black Bears” black?
Which is more venomous – a water moccasin or a cottonmouth?
Grey wolves can be white, black and any shade of gray.
Black bears can also be brown or gray
A cottonmouth and a water moccasin are the same animal – the names vary by region.

20. Humans The scientific name is always the genus + species
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Primate
Family
Hominidae
Genus
Homo
Species
sapiens
The scientific name is always the genus + species
Humans = Homo sapiens
Photo by atomicshark

21. What are the scientific names of each of these organisms?
Lion
Tiger
Pintail Duck
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Aves
Order
Carnivora
Anseriformes
Family
Felidae
Anatidae
Genus
Panthera
Anas
Species
Leo
Tigris
acouta
What are the scientific names of each of these organisms?

22. More on Naming..
The system of naming is called BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE - which means it is a 2-name system.
Scientific names must either be underlined or italicized
The genus is always capitalized, the species is lowercase
Can be abbreviated. Ex. F. leo and F. tigris

23. What is a species?
Defined as organisms that can interbreed with one another, and produce fertile offspring

24. When two organisms of different species interbreed, the offspring is called a HYBRID
Example:  ligers and mules

25. Check for Understanding
1.  Fill in the blanks:   ______________, Kingdom,  _____________,  Class, Order,  ________________,  Genus,  _______________
2.  Which two groups are used for an organism's scientific name? 
3.  Which of the following pairs is MOST closely related?
            Acer rubrum  &  Acer  saccharum
            Acer rubrum  &  Chenopodium rubrum
4. The system we use for naming is called  ____________ nomenclature.
5.  The science of classification is called ________________

26. The Kingdoms
There are currently 6 kingdoms

27. Classification into a kingdom is based on certain criteria
-Number of cells (unicellular or multicellular)
-How it obtains energy (heterotroph or autotroph)
-Type of cell (eukaryote or prokaryote)

28. Quick Vocabulary Lesson
1. Heterotroph _______________________________
2. Autotroph ________________________________
3. Unicellular ________________________________ 4. Multicellular ________________________________
Prokaryote ________________________________
Eukaryote _________________________________
Eukaryotes are organisms, including humans, whose cells have a well defined membrane bound nucleus (containing chromosomal DNA) and organelles. The division between prokaryotes and eukaryotes reflects the existence of two discrete levels of cellular organization.

29. 1. Heterotroph: Organism that is unable to make its own food and must consume other organisms
2. Autotroph: Organism that is capable of making its own food through photosynthesis
3. Unicellular: single-celled organism
4. Multicellular: organism made of two or more cells
5. Prokaryote ________________________________
6. Eukaryote _________________________________
Eukaryotes are organisms, including humans, whose cells have a well defined membrane bound nucleus (containing chromosomal DNA) and organelles. The division between prokaryotes and eukaryotes reflects the existence of two discrete levels of cellular organization.

30. Kingdom Animalia Multicellular Heterotrophic Eukaryotes Most can move
Photo by Tambako the Jaguar
Multicellular
Heterotrophic
Eukaryotes
Most can move
Examples: birds, insects, worms, mammals, reptiles, humans, anemones
Photo by Eduardo Amorim

31. Kingdom Plantae Multicellular Autotrophic Eukaryotes
Cannot move (due to cell walls)
Examples: flowers, trees, ferns,mosses

32. Kingdom Fungae Multicellular (most) Heterotrophic (mainly decomposers)
Eukaryotic
Examples: mushrooms, yeast, molds
Photos by nutmeg66

33. Kingdom Protista Most are unicellular
Can be heterotrophic or autotrophic
Eukaryotes (all have nucleus)
Examples: Ameba, paramecium, euglena, algae
Most live in water
Photo of Ameba by PROYECTO AGUA **/** WATER PROJECT

34. Kingdom Eubacteria & Kingdom Archaebacteria
Unicellular
Can be autotrophic or heterotrophic
Prokaryotes (do not have a nucleus)
Eubacteria = common bacteria (E. coli, Salmonella)
Archaebacteria = “ancient bacteria”, exist in extreme environments

35. Three Domain System    
Recently, scientists have added a group above Kingdom.  Three groups, called DOMAINS, contain each of the six kingdoms.
Domain Eukarya - includes organisms composed of eukaryotic cells (plants, animals, fungi, protists)
Domain Bacteria - includes all prokaryotic cells, Kingdom Eubacteria
Domain Archaea - includes only "ancient" bacteria, Archaebacteria

36. The Three Domains

37. Using the Classification System
Field guides help identify organisms. -they highlight differences between similar organisms (like trees) Taxonomic Key (Dichotomous Key) -paired statements that describe the physical characteristics of different organisms

38. What steps would you use to identify an apple?
Taxonomic Key
1a Fruits occur singly Go to 3
1b Fruits occur in clusters of two or more Go to 2
2a Fruits are round Grapes
2b Fruits are elongate Bananas
3a Thick skin that separates easily from flesh Oranges
3b Thin skin that adheres to flesh Go to 4
4a More than one seed per fruit Apples
4b One seed per fruit Go to 5
5a Skin covered with fuzz Peaches
5b Skin smooth, without fuzz Plums
What steps would you use to identify an apple?