Classification
of Life
Why do we need
to classify living
things?
Biologists group living
things to make it easier to
communicate information
while studying them to
understand their needs,
characteristics, and behavior.
How Do We Classify Living Things?
•
Biologists group living things based on
similarities in appearance and behavior.
•
A biologist named Carolus Linnaeus
started this naming system.
•
He classified organisms into Plants and
Animals. This was known as Linnaen
classification.
Linnaeus
(1707-1778)
Swedish botanist who
laid the foundation for
modern taxonomy
know as the father of
classification.
How Does this Work?
•
He also created binomial
nomenclature (two names) for
naming organisms.
•
all organisms are assigned a specific
two-word name based on the Latin
language.
•
•
What is the binomial nomenclature
for humans?
Homo sapien
Linnaeus
(1707-1778)
Swedish scientist who
laid the foundation for
modern taxonomy
Rules
 There are many important rules that must be
followed to keep all binomial names standardized:
 The entire 2-part name must be in Latin.
 The entire name must be written in italics (or
underlined when handwritten).
 The genus name is always written first.
 The genus name must be capitalized.
Advantages to Naming
System
 They are accepted by speakers of all languages
 Each name applies only to one species
 Each species has only one name.
 When observing these animals
what do you notice?
You will notice similarities
among animals that
belong to the same
family.
 But each animal is different from other family members.
 Evolution has resulted in a great diversity of living
organisms
 This diversity has led to the development of a
classification system:
 .
We call this naming system: Taxonomy
(from Ancient Greek: taxis = arrangement, nomia = method… “method of arrangement”)
Every known living organism on Earth is classified and
named by a set of rules. The names are called scientific
names, not common names. Common names are “dog” or
or “cat.” Scientists use the Latin based scientific naming
system: Binomial Nomenclature
Meet:
Canis familiarus
or as you know
him, dog…
Source: http://www.biology4kids.com
The naming system uses categories which become
more specific…
Taxonomic categories
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
King
Philip
Came
Over
For
Green
Soup
Most general
Most Specific
Here is an example of the scientific naming system…
Taxonomic categories
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Please,
just call
me
Bubba!
King
Philip
Came
Over
For
Green
Soup
Most general
Most Specific
History of the Kingdom Classification System
Linnaeus
1735[1]
Haeckel
1866
Chatton
1925[26][27]
Copeland
1938[28][29]
Whittaker
1969[7]
Finally,… (or is it?)
2 kingdoms
3 kingdoms
2 empires
4 kingdoms
5 kingdoms
6 kingdoms
Eubacteria and
Prokaryota (no
nucleus)
(not treated)
Monera
Monera
Archeobacteria
Protista (single-cell)
Protoctista
Protista
Protozoa
(Chromista)
Eukaryota
(nucleus)
Vegetabilia
Animalia
Plantae
Animalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_(biology)
Plantae
Animalia
Plantae
Plantae
Fungi
Fungi
Animalia
Animalia
The Six Kindgoms
General Classification of Animals
*Most of the time we can classify animals in this way.
(There are exceptions.)
*
*
*
*
*
Keep in Mind
 Living things are constantly being studied,
and sometimes we must change the
grouping system
Let’s try classifying
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/classifyinglife.html
Exit Ticket
 Who is known as the father of classification?
 What do we call the two word naming system that is
used by all scientists?
 What is the scientific name for humans?
 Name the six kingdoms.