1. WHY CLASSIFY?

2. Taxonomy is the science of grouping and naming organisms. Classification the grouping of information or objects based on similarities.

3. We only know about a fraction of the organisms that exist or have existed on Earth. Taxonomists give a unique scientific name to each species they know about whether it’s alivetoday or extinct. The scientific name comes from one of two “dead” languages – Latin or ancient Greek.

4. What is classification? w Classification is the grouping of living organisms according to similar structures and functions.

5. Devil Cat

6. Ghost Cat

7. Mountain Lion

8. Florida Panther

9. Cougar

10. Puma

11. Screaming Cat

12. There are at least 50 common names for the animal shown on the previous 7 slides. Common names vary according to region. Soooo……why use a scientific name?

13. Early classification systems w Aristotle grouped animals according to the way they moved

14. The modern classification system : w Kingdom w Phylum w Class w Order w Family w Genus w Species Developed by Carolus Linnaeus Consists of 7 levels :

17. Helpful way to remember the 7 levels w King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda. w King Philip Came Over For Green Skittles.

18. Binomial Nomenclature w Developed by Carolus Linnaeus w Two-name system: First name is the organism’s genus Second name is the organism’s species

19. What rules are used to write scientific names? w The first letter of the genus is ALWAYS capitalized w The first letter of the species is NEVER capitalized w Scientific names of organisms are always italicized or underlined

20. 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

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