Subtopics:1.2, 1.

3 Classification
Why do we classify
organisms?
 What does classification mean?
• Classification means grouping things
How do we classify organisms?
Concept and • When we classify organisms we group
them according to how similar their
use of a features are, for example zebras are horse
classification shaped, striped mammals.
system What is the definition of a species?
• A species is a group of organisms sharing
similar features that can interbreed and
produce fertile offspring.
 Why do we classify organisms?
• There are millions of different animals and plants and to make
it easier to identify them, we place them into different groups
• Organisms are placed into groups according to similar
characteristics
• The process of classifying organisms is called taxonomy
• The groups into which the organisms are classified are called
taxa
• There is a hierarchy of taxa: the largest group is called
domain, the smallest is species
• A species can be defined as: a group of similar organisms that
can interbreed to give fertile offspring (know this definition)
• Example: A horse and donkey are similar enough to interbreed
to produce a mule, but the mule is infertile
• So, would you place a donkey and a horse in the same species?
Taxa (sing. taxon)

Hierarchy:
• Domain – the largest group that share key features
Until recently scientists did not support the idea that life could be split into
three domains, and only supported life being split into five kingdoms.
• Kingdom – second largest group that share key features. A kingdom is
divided into subgroups called:
• Phylum (pl. phyla) - Each phylum can be subdivided into subgroups
called:
• Class - Each class is subdivided into:
• Order - Each order can be divided into:
• Family - Each family can be subdivided into:
• Genus (pl. genera) – Each genus contains different but organisms that
share many common characteristics and these are:
• Species
(Dear King Phillip Called Out For Great Scientists
OR… make your own mnemonic )
 Three Domains of Life
• All living organisms can be split into one of the three domains.
1. Eubacteria
2. Archaea
3. Eukaryotes
• Eubacteria and Archaea are prokaryotes.
• ‘Pre-nucleus’ aka lacks nucleus, instead the DNA and RNA is free in the cytoplasm.
• Different enough in cell membrane composition, nucleic acids content, cell walls etc. to justify two
domains.

• Eukaryotes (Eukarya) all have nuclei (‘after nucleus’)

1. Protists
2. Plants
3. Animals
4. Fungi
Six Kingdoms
Bacteria and Archaea are both a domain and a kingdom
 • When we refer to an animal, plant or other organism, we
Binomial use both their genus and species’ Latin name. This is the
binomial system (scientific name)
system • Plants and animals are called different names in different
parts of the world and country
• So, to avoid confusion, biologists use a standard
international system – the binomial system.
• The names of the genus and species are written in
italics.
• The Genus name uses a capital letter; the species
uses the lower case
• Examples: Homo sapiens (human), Escherichia coli (a
common bacteria), Canis familiaris (dog)
Phylum: Tardigrada
Example species names:
Macrobiotus sapiens
“water bear”
“moss piglet”
bjørnedyr
 Classification of humans

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens

No need to memorize details of this

Example of classification: Orangutan
Orangutan: Pongo albelii (Sumatran orangutan) or Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean
orangutan)

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Pongo
Pongo albelii Pongo pygmaeus
Species: albelii
pygmaeus
• Orangutans belong to the kingdom Animalia
• They are heterotrophs
• Lack cell walls
• Are motile at some stage of their life cycle
• They belong to the phylum Chordata
• They possess a Notochord
• They have a tail
• Complete digestive system
• Bilateral symmetry
• They belong to the class Mammalia Taxonomic classification can rely on
• They are warm-blooded (homeotherms) common (physical) characteristics
• Possess hair
• Have mammary glands for females to produce milk for their young
• Four-chambered heart
No need to memorize details
• They belong to the order of Primates
• Presence of tibia and fibula in the shank
• Ulna and radius in the forearm
• Clavicle
• Five-digit feet
• They belong to the family Hominidae (humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans)
• Exhibit an opposable thumb and big toe (except humans)
• Elimination of a tail
• Large braincase
• Flattened nails at the end of the phalanges
• They belong to the genus Pongo
Difficulties in classifying organisms
• It is not always easy to decide on the classification of an organism
• One has to look at the right features to get a good classification
• For example, duck-billed platypus:
• Has a beak
Like birds
• Has webbed feet
• Lays eggs
However:
• Has fur
• Produces milk from mammary glands
• Mammal-specific feature
• The bird-like features are adaptations to the environment and is the oldest
group of mammals
The value of classification
• 1. Using the binomial system helps in
conservation. If one species of zebra such as the Mountain zebra Equus zebra
Equus zebra is more threatened than the other
species Equus quagga, greater efforts are made to
conserve the Equus zebra species to prevent its
extinction.
• 2. Also helps to prevent confusion – makes it more
accurate in one’s description of zebra they saw in
the wild

Plains zebra Equus quagga

 The value of classification
• 3. Since organisms are classified using a hierarchy of taxa,
classification is useful to understand the evolutionary
relationships between organisms
• Organisms within a taxon are more closely related than
they are with organisms belonging to a different taxon
• Organisms belonging to the same genus have a
“common ancestor”
• The Sumatran and Bornean orangutan became separate
species more recently than for example an orangutan
and lemur, which belong to a different family of
primates
• 4. Classifying organisms also makes it possible to predict
characteristics of organisms that belong to the same group
e.g. Shape of leaf, number of legs, skin structure, skeleton
Notice the genus Homo includes several extinct species preceding the
current day “human”
Orangutan versus Human

Domain: Eukarya Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom: Animalia Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae Family: Hominidae
Genus: Pongo Genus: Homo
Species: albelii Species: sapiens
ARTIFICIAL VERSUS
NATURAL
CLASSIFICATION
Methods of classification Morphology

1. Artificial system (“Unnatural” system)

• This system does not group organisms on the
basis of shared ancestry, but groups them
according to physical characteristics
• This is an old system where past scientists used
physical characteristics to group organisms Anatomy
together
• These characteristics could be:
• Morphological – what an organism’s body,
structure, limbs look like
• Anatomical – the study of the body
structure /bone structure
Methods of classification
1. Artificial system (“Unnatural” system)
• This works well when organisms share
similar features because they evolved
from a shared ancestor (common
ancestor)
• This system fails when organisms share
common features because they have
adapted to a similar habitats and way of
life
• For example organisms with wings
include bats, insects, birds – putting
them together would be wrong as they
do not share a common ancestor
Methods of classification
2. Natural system
• This system groups organisms according to their common ancestors
• For example: bats, horses, whales are all grouped in the class of
mammals – they share many common characteristics and have
evolved from a ‘common ancestor’
• Requires help of genetics

(Last Universal Common Ancestor)

 Determining common
ancestry
• To know how far apart or close different organisms are, DNA
analysis and protein analysis is carried out
• Offspring inherit copies of their parent’s DNA, however during
copying (i.e. cell division), changes in the DNA may happen.
• Genetic/DNA changes can accumulate over time
• The more different the DNA is between two organisms, the
less related they are which means that their common ancestor
diverged a longer time ago
• In some cases the morphological and anatomical differences
matches the DNA differences, but sometimes not
• DNA and protein analysis are more accurate for classification
than using the artificial system
DNA evidence shows humans are “related” to
chimpanzees.
• Evolutionary trends
(patterns) can be uncovered
using DNA
• Study the DNA of humans
compared to
Neanderthals/fossil records
• Find similarities and
differences
• The more similar the DNA
are, the more likely the
organisms are related
Nowadays, genetic counsellors try to determine if a
person’s genes can predict if they will develop a certain
disease (i.e. breast cancer)
Which system is the best to use?
• The natural system looking for common
ancestry is the best and most accurate
because it uses genetic tools
• The artificial system relies on similarities
in what the body looks like and can fail
when organisms look similar to others due
to adaptations that have occurred due to
where they live.
Which system is the best to use?
Example: Platypus
• Webbed feet and lays eggs
• The artificial system would
perhaps in the past have classified
the platypus as a bird
• The natural system classifies the
platypus as a mammal

Both systems have their uses, why

should we not solely rely on one?
Complete worksheet B1.2a
Morphology and anatomy and
worksheet B 1.2b DNA relationships
Know the definitions too