DEBATE ON
CLASSIFICATION
NEED FOR CLASSIFICATION
•To understand how all living things are interconnected
•Organization helps biologists see how all life fits together
•It allows to identify, group and properly name organisms via a standardized system
leaving little or no scope for confusion
•This classification can be based on similarities found in the organisms’ DNA/RNA,
Adaptations, and/or Embryonic development.
PHENETICS
•Phenetics is also known as numerical taxonomy
•Was proposed by Sokal and Skeath in the 1950s
•Attempts to classify organisms based on overall similarity, typically in morphology,
without regard for their evolutionary relationships
•Phenetic methods revolutionized taxonomy by introducing computer-based
numerical algorithms.
•How phenetic classification works:
o Many different characteristics of a group of organisms are measured
oThese measurements are then used to calculate similarity coefficients between all
pairs of organisms
oThe similarity coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 1 indicates absolute
identity, and 0 indicates absolute dissimilarity
oFinally, the similarity coefficients are used to develop a classification system.
DISADVANTAGES OF
PHENETICS
•It tends to classify unrelated organisms together
•Does not distinguish between analogous and homologous features
•Pheneticists have responded that they ignore the distinction between analogous and
homologous features because analogous features are usually numerically over-
whelmed by the larger number of homologous features
•Most evolutionary biologists would consider this response questionable, at best.
CLADISTICS
•It was first proposed in the 1950s by Will Hennig, a German entomologist
•Cladistics classifies organisms based on the order in which different evolutionary
lines branch off from one another
•Many other scientists have made Hennig's method more practicable by developing
various cladistic numerical algorithms
•In a cladistics classification system, a single category, known as a clade, contains the
most recent common ancestor of all organisms descended from that ancestor.
•Determines the evolutionary branching order on the basis of shared derived
characteristics
•Does not use shared primitive characteristics as a basis for classification
•Not based on the amount of evolutionary change after the branching off of an
evolutionary line
•For example, although chimps and orangutans appear more similar to one another
than either does to humans, cladistic classification places humans and chimps
together since they share a more recent common ancestor than chimps and
orangutans.
EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
•The method used by the early evolutionary taxonomists
•Also called classical taxonomy
•Evolutionary taxonomy can be considered a mixture of phenetics and cladistics
•It classifies organisms partly according to their evolutionary branching pattern and
partly according to the overall morphological similarity.
DISADVANTAGES OF
EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
•Requires a highly arbitrary judgment about how much information to consider for
overall similarity and how much information about branching pattern to use
•This makes the judgement extremely subjective and it may differ from taxonomist to
taxonomist
•Thus evolutionary taxonomy is a very poor method of classification, albeit one that
survives in the hands of certain older taxonomists.
FIVE KINGDOM SYSTEM
•The Five Kingdoms were introduced by L. Margulis and K. V. Schwartz
•All organisms are classified into one of five kingdoms:
oMonera
o Protista
oFungi
o Plantae
oAnimalia.
•Does not segregate organisms according to their evolutionary ancestry.
SIX KINGDOM SYSTEM
•More recently, a six kingdom model has been widely, although not universally,
accepted
•In this system, the former kingdom Monera is divided into two kingdoms:
Eubacteria and Archaebacteria
• The eubacteria are more common species of bacteria
•The Archaebacteria are believed to be the most primitive organisms found on earth.
CLADISTICS VS PHENETICS
CLADISTICS PHENETICS
oInterested in such questions as: how oPhenetics is the study of relationships
many branches there are among a group among a group of organisms on the
of organisms; which branch connects to basis of the degree of similarity between
which other branch; and what is the them, be that similarity molecular,
branching sequence. phenotypic, or anatomical.
oCladistic classification is based on oPhenetic classification is based on
evolutionary relationships. morphology.
CLADISTICS VS
EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
CLADISTICS EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
oCladistic classification is based on oEvolutionary taxonomy uses both
evolutionary relationships between morphology as well as evolutionary
different organisms. relationships to classify organisms.
oConsidered to be a pretty logical oVery subjective method of classification
method of classification and is the most
oIt is widely regarded to be an outdated
popular method today.
and poor method and is used by very
few taxonomists today.
PHENETICS VS
EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
PHENETICS EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY
oUses morphology as a basis for oUses a mixture of phonetic and
classification. cladistics ideas as a basis for
classification.
oEven though it isn’t used by too many
taxonomists anymore, it is preferred oIt is hardly used anymore because of
over evolutionary taxonomy as in how subjective it is and how
phonetics there is still a degree of classification can change with the
standardisation that evolutionary judgements of different taxonomists,
taxonomy lacks. which leaves a lot of scope for
confusion and ambiguity.
THANK YOU.