Classification of Living Things

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 1,000,000 species of known insects

But insects are only one type of arthropod

There are about

1,075,000 species of

arthropod

But arthropods are

only one type of

animal

There are about 1,500,000 species of animal

But animals are only one type of living thing

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.

Consider this…

Devil Cat

Ghost Cat

Mountain Lion

Screaming Cat

Puma

Florida Panther

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

The modern

system of

classification

has 8 levels:

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.

Kingdom Plantaemulti-cellular (more than l cell)

Eukaryotic (nucleus)

Use the sun energy to make their own food.

Kingdom Protista

Multi-cellular or unicellular

Eukaryotic (nucleus)

Mostly live in water

Don’t fit into other kingdoms