Living Things

Classifying Organisms
• Why do scientists classify?
• Because there are a tremendous number of
different organisms, scientists needed to find
an organized way of studying all of them.
– Classification – is the process of grouping
things based on similarities
• Biologists use classification to organize living things
into groups so that the organisms are easier to study.
Living Things

– Taxonomy – the
scientific study of how
living things are
classified
• Scientists learn more
about an organism once it
is classified.
– Ex: If an organism is
classified as a bird,
scientists know it has
feathers, wings, and a
beak.
Living Things

The naming system of Linnaeus

• Carolus Linnaeus – (1750’s)
Swedish scientist that devised
a system of naming
organisms that is still in use
today
– Binomial nomenclature – or
scientific name is the naming
system used by Linnaeus,
means “two names”
Living Things

The naming system of Linnaeus

– Genus – the first word in an organism’ s scientific
name
• Contains similar closely related organisms
• Ex: pumas, marbled cats, house cats all belong to
the genus Felis
– Species – a group of similar organisms that can mate
with one another and produce fertile offspring.
• Second word of an organism’s scientific name
• Ex: humans belong to the genus and species:
Homo sapiens
Living Things

Using Binomial Nomenclature

– A complete scientific name is usually written

in italics. Sometimes the names will be
underlined.
– The first word of the scientific name (the
genus name) is always capitalized. While the
second name (the species name) is always
lower case
Canis lupus
Living Things

– All scientific names come from the Latin language.

Three reasons for this:
• Latin is a dead language; therefore meanings of words will
not change.
• By using Latin scientists do not favor one country over
another.
• Latin is a descriptive language.
– Organisms also have “common names.” However, in
different areas they may be called different names,
which is confusing.
• Ex: The ground hog; also known as the woodchuck and
whistlepig has only one scientific name, Marmota monax.
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Levels of Classification
• As you move down the levels of classification, the
number of organisms decreases. The organisms at
lower levels share more characteristics with each other.
Living Things

Levels of Classification
– The groupings include (from largest to
smallest)
• Domain “Did King Phil Come
• Kingdom Over From Great Spain?”
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Many hundreds of years
before Linnaeus, a Greek
scholar named Aristotle
developed a classification
system for animals. Aristotle
first divided animals into
those he considered to have
blood and those he did not.
This graph shows Aristotle’s
classification system for
“animals with blood.”
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Reading Graphs:
• Into how many
groups were these
animals classified?

3
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Interpreting Data:
• Which group made
up the largest
percentage of
animals?
Animals that fly
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Calculating:
What percentage
of these animals
either fly or swim?

78%
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Inferring:
In Aristotle’s
classification, where
would a cow be
classified? A whale?

Cow- animals that walk,

run, or crawl; whale-
animals that swim.
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Aristotle and Classification

• Predicting:
Would Aristotle’s
classification system
be used today?
Explain.
Possible answer: This system
includes only three categories,
so it may not be very useful
today. It also does not match
that of modern scientists, who
use characteristics other than
movement to classify animals.
For example, frogs and lions
belong to very different groups.
Living Things

Taxonomic Keys
– Scientists have helped the average person learn
more about organisms by creating field guides and
taxonomic keys.
• Field guild - gives drawings of various
organisms along with a written description of
their characteristics and habitat.

• Taxonomic Key – consists of a series of paired

statements that describe the physical
characteristics of different organisms
– Are useful tools for determining the identity of
organisms
Living Things - Classifying Organisms

Taxonomic Keys
• Taxonomic keys are useful tools for determining the
identity of organisms.