1. Classification: Sorting It All Out

2. Classification Putting things into orderly groups based on similar characteristics

3. Why do biologists classify organisms? To help make sense and order of the many kinds of living things in the world

4. Who founded modern taxonomy? Carolus Linnaeus

5. What is taxonomy? The science of describing, classifying, and naming living things.

6. What system of classification is used today? An eight level system based on shared characteristics

7. What does a branching diagram show? Similarities and differences among organisms

8. What does a branching diagram look like? ORGANISMS CHARACTERISTICS TIMELINE

9. What are the eight levels of classification?

10. Why do scientists use scientific names? To be clear and precise when they refer to a living thing A scientific name remains the same for a specific kind of organism

11. What are the two parts of a scientific name? Genus, species –Example: Tyrannosaurus rex

12. What is a dichotomous key? An identification aid that uses sequential pairs of descriptive statements. By working through the statements in the key order, a person can identify an organism.

13. What is it?

14. How do dichotomous keys help scientists? By matching an organisms characteristics to the descriptive statements, a scientist can identify an unknown organism. For example, your walking through the forest and you don’t know if the vine is poison ivy. Using a dichotomous key, you can match the characteristics and identify the plant.