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Taxonomy
Why Classify?
 Organizes living things into groups
 Gives us a universal way to name organisms
 Helps in identifying new species or known species
 Shows how closely organisms are related
 Prevents misconceptions: ex: jellyfish and starfish
are not actually fish.
What is Taxonomy?
 Taxonomy is the study of classifying
organisms.
 Taxonomy: names and groups
organisms according to their
characteristics and evolutionary
history
History of Taxonomy
 Aristotle was the first person to
classify organisms in writing.
 He divided things into:
 Animals: Lived in air, water or on land
 Plants: differentiated by stems
 Early classification caused problems:
 They used common names which are different
around the world
 Also used long names with descriptive terms
called polynomial names.
History Cont.
 In the 1700’s in Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus
fixed these problems.
 Linnaeus created binomial nomenclature which is
still used today.
 Binomial Nomenclature means two names
 Every Organism is given a scientific name based on its
Genus and Species
 But what are genus and species?
 They are each 1 part of the 8 levels of classification.
8 Levels of Classification
1. Domain Domain is the largest and least specific level
2. Kingdom
3. Phylum
4. Class
5. Order
6. Family
*These levels of classification are based on an
organisms evolutionary chain how it has
evolved over time
**Two organisms with the same genus are more
closely related than those with the same kingdom
7. Genus
8. Species
Species is the smallest and most specific level
 Dignified Kings Play Chess on Fuzzy Green Sofas
Naming
 The name of an organism depends on its levels of
classification. Domain is often ignored.
 Names are in Latin- it is universal in all languages
 Ex: Humans
 Brain Pop
Writing Names
 Scientific Names are always written as:
 Genus species
 The first letter of Genus is always CAPITALIZED
 species is written in all lowercase letters
 The entire name is either italicized or underlined
 Ex: Human Name Homo sapien or Homo
sapien
More Examples
Euclea delphinii
Common Name: spiny oak slug
Odobenus rosmarus
Common Name: Walrus
The Three Domains
1. Eubacteria- these are seen as spheres rods and spirals
(most bacteria)—no nucleus
2. Archaebacteria- found in harsh environments. Thought
to be the first organisms on earth.—no nucleus
3. Eukarya- made up of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Protists
Plants
Fungi
Animals
Domains are divided into
Six Kingdoms
1. Eubacteria- same as domain– have no nucleus
2. Archaebacteria- same as domain—have no nucleus
3. Protista- have a nucleus
4. Plantae—photosynthesize, have cell wall
5. Fungi—take up nutrients from dead organisms
6. Animalia—multi-cellular, eat food to get nutrients
 Brain Pop