Taxonomy

The science of naming

organisms.
Aristotle

 Plant or animal?
 If an animal, does it
– Fly
– Swim
– Crawl
 Simple classifications
 Used common names
Carolus Linnaeus

 Described organisms with two word

names, instead of polynomials
 Developed binomial nomenclature
 First word = genus name
 Second word = species name
Why binomial nomenclature?

 Much easier than a 10+ word name

under old “polynomial system”
 Same name no matter where you go
 Less confusion
 Binomial = SCIENTIFIC NAME
Scientific Names You Need to
Know
 Homo sapiens
 Canis lupus
 Felis domesticus
 Pan pan
Taxonomic hierarchy

 Names organisms and their

relationships from very broad to very
specific
All organisms classified in a
hierarchy
 Kingdom (broadest)
 Phylum
 Class
 Order
 Family
 Genus
 Species (most specific)
Notes assignment:

 Look up the classification for humans

for all seven hierarchies and write them
below.
What is a species anyway?

 Biological species concept

– A group of actually or potentially breeding
natural groups that are reproductively
isolated from other groups.
» Ernst Mayr, 1924
 BSC’s problems
– Hybrids
• Sterile offspring of two different species
– Asexual organisms
How many are out there?

 Scientists currently estimate that

– There are 10 million species worldwide
– Over 5 million live in the tropics
– Most unnamed species are small or
microscopic
Why is taxonomy useful?

 Helps prevent confusion among

scientists
 Helps to show how organisms are
related
 Can be used to reconstruct
phylogenies – evolutionary histories –
of an organism or group
A note on cladograms

 Graph showing when different groups

diverged from a common ancestral line
 Points where they diverge are often
noted with a feature that was different
between ancestral group and a “new”
feature in the group that split off.
Bird Cladogram
The 6 kingdoms

 Prokaryotes (Used to be 1 kingdom,

Monera)
– Archaebacteria
– Eubacteria
 Eukaryotes
– Fungi
– Protista
– Animal
– Plantae
Overview of the 6 kingdoms

 Archaebacteria
– Unicellular
– Live in extreme environments
– Prokaryotic
 Eubacteria
– Unicellular
– Prokaryotic
– “Common bacteria”
Overview of the 6 kingdoms

 Protista
– Eukaryotic
– Unicellular or colonial
– Lots of different life styles
 Fungi
– Cell walls made of chitin
– Eukaryotic
– Multicellular
– External heterotrophs
Overview of the 6 kingdoms

 Plantae
– Eukaryotic & Multicellular
– Cell walls made of cellulose
– Autotrophic
 Animalia
– Eukaryotic & Multicellular
– No cell walls
– Internal heterotrophs