What is classification?
Classification: putting things
into orderly groups based on
similar characteristics.
Ways we classify things
Supermarket aisles
Libraries
Classes
Teams/sports
Members of a family
Roads
Cities
Money
Living Things
What about all the living things on
the planet…..
So how many different forms of life are there?
Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?
It is very difficult to imagine how many species of plants,
animals and other creatures there are on the planet.
Consider the swallowtail butterfly. It is just one of many
butterflies, and butterflies are only one type of insect...
In the world today...
There are about 600 species of swallowtail butterfly
But this is only one group of butterflies
There are about 16,000 species of
butterfly
But we haven't included the moths!
There are about 165,000 species of butterfly and moth
But this is only one group of insects
There are about
70,000 species of
fungi
There are about
400,000 species of
plant
And there are at
least 140,000
species of 'protist'
But there are
more
types of
living thing...
Scientists
cannot begin
to imagine
how many
bacteria there
are!
When you consider how many living things there on the planet,
you can begin to understand the importance of classification.
Classification helps scientists organize the diversity of life on Earth.
Why use a dead language?
Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and classifying organisms.
•Taxonomists give a unique scientific name toeach species they know about whether it’s alivetoday or extinct.
• The scientific name comes from one of two“dead” languages – Latin or ancient Greek.
Cougar
•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?
Taxonomy is useful because once
an organism is classified a scientist
knows a lot about that organism.
Biologists use the classification
system to organize living things
into groups so that the organisms
are easier to study.
Biologists aren't the only scientists
who classify. Geologists classify,
sometimes even we classify things
Classification- the process of
grouping things based on their
similarities.
Binomial Nomenclature
Developed by Carolus
Linnaeus
Two-name system
Genus and species
named using Latin or
Greek words
Domain
Eubacteria
Helpful way to remember the 8 levels
Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed
Or…make up your own…
D K P C O F G S
Rules used to write scientific names
Homo sapiens An organism’s genus is always written first;
the organism’s species is always written
second
The genus is Capitalized; the species is
written in lower case
Scientific names of organisms are always
italicized or underlined
Living Things
Domain
Eubacteria
Domain
Archaebacteria
Domain
Eukarya
Kingdom
Eubacteria
Kingdom
Archaebacteria
Kingdom
Fungi
Kingdom
Animalia
Kingdom
Plantae
Kingdom
Protista
Kingdom EubacteriaUnicellular (1 cell)
Prokaryotic (no nucleus)
Includes all true bacteria
Lives in and on almost everything
Kingdom Archaebacteria
Unicellular (1 cell)
Prokaryotic (no nucleus)
Lives in extreme environments
Kingdom Fungimulti-cellular (more than l cell)
Eukaryotic (nucleus)
Break down material outside the body and
then absorb it.
Kingdom Animalia
Multi-cellular (many cells)
Eukaryotic (nucleus)
Consume other organisms for food.