Download Biology 11 – Ecology Lesson 1 Taxonomy Worksheet

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Taxonomy – Use pages 318 -325 in your text to answer the following questions
1) Why do we need to classify organisms?
- So that scientists all over the world know exactly which organism is being discussed
2) What is binomial nomenclature?
- A 2 part scientific name, based on Latin meaning, First name is the genus, the second name is
the species. Species names are often descriptive
3) What did Carolus Linnaeus look at to classify organisms?
- Common structures and characteristics
4) With what we know today, why might using this technique not always group organism
correctly?
- Analogous structures, similar structures, but very different animals
5) What are the 7 taxa from broadest to most specific?
- Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
6) Why have some organisms changed which taxa they belong to?
- Scientists can sometimes not agree on the boundaries of taxa
7) What are two other ways that scientists group organisms together? Describe what is compared
and how it can be used to group related organisms together.
- Evolutionary relationships (homologous structures, scientists look into homologous structures
of organisms and embryonic relationships)
- Biochemical relationships (DNA structure and mutation, scientists assume the organisms with
the most similar DNA make-up are the most related)
8) Which method do you think scientists should use and why? Could a combination of multiple
methods be possible?
- Any choice, as long as it is supported
- May use a combination, but what happens if the strategies have differing results, what do
scientists follow?