Download History of Classification

History of Classification
Early Taxonomists
•2000 years ago,
Aristotle was the first
taxonomist
•Aristotle divided
organisms into plants &
animals
•He subdivided them
by their habitat --land, sea, or air
dwellers
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Aristotle’s Great Chain of being
• Aristotle thought that
all matter was
organized in a
hierarchy.
• He put inanimate
things like rocks at
the bottom, and
things like people at
the top
Man
Realm of Being
Woman
Animals
Plants
Realm of
Becoming
Minerals
Non Being
Early Taxonomists
• With the discovery of new continents
containing new plants and animals,
collecting animals and plants became
popular as a hobby, leading to many
different classification systems
• This created a need for a universal
system of classification
Early Taxonomists
• John Ray, a
botanist, was
first to divide
groups into
subgroups using
multiple
characteristics
• This resulted in
groups containing
individuals that
were very similar
to each other
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Early Taxonomists
• Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
• He is the first to use consistent naming
for each species
• His names were very long descriptions in
Latin telling everything about the plant
• Plantango foliis ovato-lanceolatus
puesbentibus, spica cylindrical, scapo
tereti
• Plantain with pubescent ovate-lanceolate
leaves, a cylindric spike and terete scape
Carolus Linnaeus
1707 – 1778
• 18th century
taxonomist
• Classified
organisms by
their structure
• Classified using
3 kingdoms
with 5 ranks
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Carolus Linnaeus
• Called the “Father of
Taxonomy”
• Developed the modern
system of naming known as
binomial nomenclature
• Two-word name (Genus &
species)
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Modern Systems
• With Darwin’s theory of natural
selection, scientists shifted the focus
of classification from structural
similarity to evolutionary relatedness.
• So organisms were placed in groups
together because they are related, not
because they look alike.
Our classification is still changing
• Monera= Archaebacteria and Eubacteria
• 3 domains= Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota
• Scientists are still learning more and changing
our classification as they go.