Classification

Memorize this in 50 secs

• January• Car• Heart• Lungs• December• Van

• September• Moon• Bike• Star• Brain• Sun

WHY DO WE CLASSIFY ORGANISMS?

• We classify organisms in order to study the diversity of life.

• Biologist use a classification system to name the organism and group them into a logical manner.

In order to make their job easier, scientists classify living things into groups, based on how they are the same, and how they are different.

Taxonomy- is the branch of biology concerned with the grouping and naming of organisms.

• What is the name of the animals to the right?

A) Cats

B) Gatos

C) Katzen

D) Felis Catus

Taxonomy- is the branch of biology concerned with the grouping and naming of organisms.

• What is the name of the animals to the right?

A)CatsB)GatosC)KatzenD)Felis Catus

All of these names are correct, but D is the universal name of these animals.

What is Classification?

Classification arranges objects, ideas, or information

into groups by finding common

traits or characteristics.

The Science of Classification

Taxonomy: is the branch of biology concerned with the grouping and naming

of organisms.

Scientist who classify ororganize organisms (animals and plants)

are called taxonomists. Taxonomists study taxonomy.

The History of Organization

Aristotle 384-322 BCInterested in biological classification.

Patterns in nature.

Carl Linnaeus1707-1778 ACE

Father ofBiological

Classification!

Aristotle

• Developed the first system of classification.

• He classified all living things into plants and animals.

• Animals were grouped depending on where they lived. (On land, in air or in water)

• Later scientist became convinced that his system did not work because of organisms living in multiple habitats.

Carolus Linnaeus• Developed the system of

classification that is still used today.

• He selected physical characteristics that led to classification based on close relationships of organisms.

• He used characteristics such as bats having hair and feeding their young milk to classify the organisms.

• The system devised by Linnaeus gives each organism two names called Binomial Nomenclature.

Binomial Nomenclature

Two-word naming system– Genus

• Noun, Capitalized, Underlined or Italicized

– Specific epithet• Descriptive, Lower Case,

Underlined or Italicized

– Together they are the species name.

• Without the genus name, the specific epithet is meaningless

Common name: Robin

• Erithacus rubicula

• Turdus migratorus

Common name: Black and Polar Bear

Ursus americanus

Ursus maritimus

Engage Activity: Classification

• With the person sitting next to you, take a baggy and classify the items into 2 groups.

• Write down the characteristics for each group.

• Split those groups into 2 groups.• Write down the common characteristics for

those new groups.

Share - compare with the group next to you.

Are your groups: the same, similar or different?

Groups are also arranged in hierarchical order.

Hierarchical Classification

Memorize the Classification System Order

• Taxonomic categories– Kingdom (big) King– Phylum Philip– Class Came– Order Over– Family For– Genus Grape– Species (small) Soda

Engage Activity - Mnemonic

On a sheet of paper, create your own sentence to help you remember the order of

classification.

King Philip Come Over For Grape Soda

What are Dichotomous Keys?

• a method for determining the identity of something (like the name of a butterfly, a plant, a lichen, or a rock) by going through a series of choices that leads the user to the correct name of the item.

• Dichotomous means "divided in two parts".

Using a dichotomous keyAt each step of the process of using the key, the user is

given two choices; each alternative leads to another question until the item is identified.

1a. If the leaves are flat….go to question 4. 1b. If the leaves are needle-like….go to question 2.2a. Are the needles in a bunch? Go to question 52b. Are they spread along the branch?“…pine tree

Eventually, when enough questions have been answered, the identity of the tree is revealed.

Engage Activity –Create your own dichotomous key

Create a dichotomous key to identify 2 people in this classroom, using questions based on gender, hair length/color, glasses (or not), clothing color, etc.

1a. Is this person male? Go to question 2.

1b. Is this person female? Go to question 3.

New Discoveries

Questions

How can you answer these questions?

Why is Taxonomy Important?

Unknown species discovered.

New fossil Uncovered.

Exit Ticket

On a half sheet of paper and in your own words, what did I want to you to learn today (give at least 2 things)?

Don’t list the activities…tell me what was the point.