Lecture-2

Classification of Living Things

Md. Fakruddin, PhD (Fddn)

Assistant Professor
Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology
School of Health & Life Sciences
North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Office- SAC825
Tel: +8801304206807
Email: md.fakruddin@northsouth.edu

Biology BIO103
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Learning objectives

1. What is classification
2. The genus and species concept
3. Main classification groups (Taxa)
4. Phylogenetic system

Biology BIO103
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 Classification of Living Things
q Over two million (2,000,000) different kinds of organisms exists

q 1.5 million (1,500,000) different kinds have been identified

q It has been estimated that for each kind of organism now alive, another
400 kinds once lived but have since become extinct.

q One billion (1,000,000,000) different kinds of living things may have

existed on the earth at one time or another.

q Problems
– How can we keep track of such a bewildering number of organisms?
– How can we even name the organisms now alive when no known language has two million words in
it?

What is Classification?
– Supermarket manager
– Stamp collectors

– Word listings in a dictionary

• The grouping of similar things for a
specific purpose is called
classification

• Early Biological Classification

• Modern Biological Classification

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 Early Biological Classification
• How Earliest Humans classify living things
– Plant Vs Animals or Edible Vs Poisonous Plants or Harmful Vs Harmless
animals
• 300 BC, Aristotle’s Classification System
– Only about 1000 kinds of organisms were known
– This classification system
survived almost 2000 years

By the beginning of the 18th century, over 10,000 kinds of organisms were known and
Aristotle’s system was unable to classify them all.
A new system was obviously needed.

Modern Biological Classification

• Taxonomy: Taxonomy is the science that deals with the
classification of organisms.
• The Contribution of Carolus Linnaeus
– Diversity: the number of kinds of living things.
• Linnaeus grouped organisms according
to their structural similarities

– Organisms with very similar structural features were considered

to be the same species

• Thus all modern-day humans belong to one species, all house cats
belong to one species, and all sugar maple trees belong to one
species.

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 Linnaean System
• We use a system today that was originally created by Carl Linnaeus.
• Linnaeus- (1707-1778) A botanist who created a classification system
of organisms based on their physical similarities with each other.
• Originally, Linnaeus only had two Kingdoms, or major categories-
Plant and Animal.

• Kingdom
– Phylum
• Class
– Order
» Family
» Genus
» Species

Binomial nomenclature

• After classifying, Linnaeus decided to name all the organism.

•Every organism’s name is consist of

two wordsà Binomial Nomenclature

•He decided to write all names in Latin.

•Example: Common name: Human

•Scientific name:
Homo sapiens (Italic if printed)
Homo sapiens (separate underlines if
handwritten)

Common name: Cat

Scientific name: Felis domesticus

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 Genus and species concept

Homo sapiens

Genus Species

o Group of species that are similar. o Organisms that are

structurally very similar.
o Plural is ‘genera’.
o Plural is also ‘species’
oExample: Maple trees are from
genus Acer. So, o Interbreed under natural
condition to produce fertile
oSugar maple: Acer saccharum
offspring (children) .
oSilver maple: Acer saccharinum
o Example:
oRed maple: Acer rubrum
Red maple: Acer rubrum
etc.

Why Use Scientific Names?

• Common names can be confusing or misleading

– Felis concolor is called a cougar, mountain lion, puma,
panther, painter, and many names

– Domestic cow is
– “la vache” in French,
– ‘die Kuh” in German,
– “la vaca” in Spanish, and
– “gOrU” in Bengali
• Scientific Name: Bos taurus

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 Main classification groups(taxa)
There are seven main taxa or classification groups.

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Main classification groups(taxa)

Taxon Human Gorilla

Kingdom Animalia Animalia
Phylum or Chordata Chordata
Division
Class Mammalia Mammalia
Order Primates Primates
Family Homonidae Pongidae
Genus Homo Gorilla
Species sapiens gorilla

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 Modern Basis for Classification
• Homologous Structure
– show the same basic pattern,
the same general relationship
to other parts, and the same
pattern of development.
• Similar Biochemistry
– closely related organisms form
similar chemical compounds in
their body. They use this belief
to help classify organisms
• Genetic Similarity
– the greater the similarity of
DNA among organisms, the
more closely they may be
related.

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Linnaeus vs. Modern Classification

• Linnaeus • Modern
– 2 Kingdoms – 5 or 6 kingdoms
– Based on physical – Based on physical
similarities similarities AND
– Uses only biologists genetic similarities
observations and – Uses observations,
knowledge of knowledge of
organisms organisms, molecular
clocks, and other
genetic techniques

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 Modern Classification
• Five Kingdom System: Older system, lumps all
prokaryotic species into one kingdom: Monera

Animal Plant Protist Fungi Monera

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Classification
Kingdom

Monera
Bacteria and Blue-green algae
(Prokaryotes)

Protoctista Amoeba, Paramecium

Fungi Moulds, Mushrooms, Yeast

Algae, ferns and mosses,

Plants
conifers and flowering plants
Jellyfish, worms, arthropods, molluscs,
Animals echinoderms, fish, amphibia, reptiles,
birds and mammals.

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 Phylogenetic System
•Carl R Woeseà completely new approach in classification.

•Used rRNA sequences which are very conserved.

•Based on Evolution: Genetic materials (rRNA) were

examined and used in revealing evolutionary relationships.

•Organisms are classified into three major DOMAINS

1. Eukarya
2. Bacteria
3. Archaea

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 The Big Picture

3 Domain, 6 Kingdom

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Summary of Various classification system

Classification System Kingdom
2- Kingdom System 1. Plantae
2. Animalia
3- Kingdom System 1. Plantae
2. Animalia
3. Protista
4- Kingdom System 1. Plantae
2. Animalia
3. Protista
4. Monera
5- Kingdom System 1. Plantae
2. Animalia
3. Fungi
4. Protista
5. Monera
6- Phylogenetic system 1. Archaea
2. Bacteria
3. Eukarya

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 Bacteria – the Most Abundant Organisms

Bacteria (Staphylococcus Mycoplasma Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium

aureus; yellow spheres) E. Coli bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
hyopneumoniae
adhering to nasal cilia.

There are more bacteria in your mouth than there have been people living
since the dawn of humans.

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Archaea

The Archaea are one of two groups of prokaryotic organisms,

organisms with no nuclear membrane. (Bacteria are the other group.)

Archaea are
believed to be the
earliest form of life
on Earth. Although
both archaea and
ARCHAEA
bacteria are simple
life-forms, archaea
are very different
from bacteria.

Archaea do not require sunlight for photosynthesis, as plants do,

and they do not need oxygen. Archaea absorb CO2, N2, or H2S
and give off methane gas as a waste product.
Archaea are best known for living in extremely hostile environments
(very hot, very acid, or very salty), but they can also be found in less
extreme conditions.
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 A Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vent – Prime Habitat for Archaean Extremophiles

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Hot springs in Yellowstone Park–“Hot” Spots for Archaean

Extremophiles

Prismatic Pool, Yellowstone Park Searching for Archaea in

Yellowstone’s Obsidian Pool

Archaea in Yellowstone

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 The Domain Eukarya is divided into 4 Kingdoms:
Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

Classifying Critters activity

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PROTISTS
• Protists are eukaryotes because they all
have a nucleus.
• Most have mitochondria.
• Many have chloroplasts with which they
carry on photosynthesis.
• Many are unicellular and all groups (with
one exception) contain some unicellular
members.

A better name for Protists would be

"Eukaryotes that are neither Animals,
Fungi, nor Plants".

Protists

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 FUNGI

Fungi sometimes look like plants, but they’re not!

Fungi can’t do photosynthesis, because they don’t have chloroplasts;

they get their nutrients from the organic material they live in.
v Decomposers, like mushrooms, feed on dead organic material.
v Some fungi feed on living organisms, such as plants, animals
and even other fungi. This causes diseases and infections in these
organisms (like athlete’s foot and ringworm in humans).
v Some fungi live as symbiotic partners with algae. The result:
lichen (pronounced “like-n”).
Other differences from plants:
• fungi don’t have roots, they have a mycelium.
• fungi’s cell walls are made of chitin, not cellulose.

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PLANTS

No vascular system Vascular system

Mosses,
Liverworts,
Hornworts
Seedless Plants Seed Plants
(reproduce by spores) (reproduce by seeds)
Ferns, Horsetails,
Club Mosses

Gymnosperms Angiosperms
(“naked seeds”) (flowers, seeds
enclosed in fruit)
Conifers
Cycads Flowering Plants
Gingkoes
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 ANIMALS

Invertebrates Vertebrates
(no backbone) (backbone)

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Classification
Kingdom

Viruses are not

considered to
be living, so are
not included in
this
classification
scheme.

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 Meet your human taxonomy

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Meet your human taxonomy

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 Meet your human taxonomy

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Meet your human taxonomy

-Homo habilis (have long hands)-H. rudolfensis -H. ergaster (African upright
man) -H. erectus (upright man) -H. heidelbergensis -H. rhodesiensis –
H. neanderthalensis -H. sapiens

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 Meet your human taxonomy

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Any Questions?

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