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Understanding Living Things Classification

Classification systems help organize living things into groups based on similarities. Early systems grouped things broadly, but modern taxonomy uses evidence from areas like DNA and evolution to classify into eight levels - domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The binomial nomenclature system of genus and species names allows precise identification using scientific names. Identification keys provide step-by-step questions about physical characteristics to determine an organism's classification.

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Camille Sison-Almirol
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26 views13 pages

Understanding Living Things Classification

Classification systems help organize living things into groups based on similarities. Early systems grouped things broadly, but modern taxonomy uses evidence from areas like DNA and evolution to classify into eight levels - domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The binomial nomenclature system of genus and species names allows precise identification using scientific names. Identification keys provide step-by-step questions about physical characteristics to determine an organism's classification.

Uploaded by

Camille Sison-Almirol
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Classification of Living Things

Why do we classify things?

 Supermarket aisles
 Libraries
 Classes
 Teams/sports
 Members of a family
 Roads
 Cities
 Money
What is classification?

 Classification: putting things into orderly groups based on


similar characteristics

 Taxonomy: the science of describing, naming, and


classifying organisms
Early classification

 Aristotle grouped everything into


simple groups such as animals or plants

 He then grouped animals according to if they had blood or


didn’t have blood, and if they had live young or laid eggs,
and so on…
Binomial Nomenclature

 Developed by Carolus Linnaeus

 Swedish Biologist 1700’s

 Two-name system

 Genus and species named using


Latin or Greek words
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
Modern Taxonomy

The Evidence used to classify into taxon groups

   1) Embryology
   2) Chromosomes / DNA
   3) Biochemistry
   4) Physiology
   5) Evolution
   6) Behavior
The modern system of classification has 8
levels:

Domain Order
Kingdom Family
Phylum Genus
Class Species
Helpful way to remember the 8 levels

 Dumb kids playing catch on freeways get squashed

 Or…make up your own…

 DKPCOFGS
Using the Classification System

Field guides help identify organisms.


-they highlight differences between similar organisms (like
trees)

Taxonomic Key (Dichotomous Key)


-paired statements that describe the physical characteristics of
different organisms
Taxonomic Key
 1a Fruits occur singly ................................................. Go to 3
 1b Fruits occur in clusters of two or more ................ Go to 2

 2a Fruits are round ................................................... Grapes


 2b Fruits are elongate ............................................... Bananas

 3a Thick skin that separates easily from flesh .........Oranges


 3b Thin skin that adheres to flesh .............................. Go to 4

 4a More than one seed per fruit ............................ Apples


 4b One seed per fruit ............................................ Go to 5

 5a Skin covered with fuzz.................... Peaches


 5b Skin smooth, without fuzz........................... Plums

What steps would you use to identify an apple?

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