Diversity Of Life

Characteristics of Living Things

• Living things are made of cells.

• Living things obtain and use energy.

• Living things grow and develop.

• Living things reproduce.

• Living things respond to their environment.

• Living things adapt to their environment.

TAXONOMYThe Science of

Classifying Organisms

Why do we need to classify?

When you have a lot of information, it is best to organize and group items so that you can find them easier or easily see their relationship to other items

….this is why we CLASSIFY

Even websites must  organize their products

Scientists also need a way to *NAME* organisms

• The “common names” used by people  can sometimes be misleading or confusing

• In order to communicate effectively, biologists need a CONSISTENT naming protocol.

*Check out these slides of confusing names…..

Photo CreditsSea Lion: Bill LimAnt Lion: AmphioxusLion: law_keven

Sea Lion?

Antlion?

Lion?

Which one of these is NOT actually a bear? Photo Credits

Panda: Chi KingKoala: BelgianchocolateBlack Bear: SparkyLeigh

What kind of organism is it?

Photo Credit: Audringje; flickr

Sea Horse

What kind of organism is it?

Sea Monkey

What kind of organism is it?

Spider Monkey

Consider this………..

Grey wolves can be white, black and any shade of gray.

Are all “Grey Wolves” gray?

Are all “Black Bears” black?

Black bears can also be brown or gray

Which is more venomous – a water moccasin or a cottonmouth?

A cottonmouth and a water moccasin are the same animal – the names vary by region.

Naming and Organizing are part of the same process

• The system was developed by Carolus Linnaeus who used Greek and Latin names for organisms

• He also created a system where we place all organisms into a few *large* groups - KINGDOMS - and then those groups are further divided into smaller groups

Grouping

• Domain• Kingdom• Phylum• Class• Order• Family• Genus• Species

Each group gets smaller and more specific – just think of the way you file things on your computer into folders and subfolders

To help you remember the list

DEAR KING PHILIP CAME OVER FOR GREAT SOUP

Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

HumansKingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Primate

Family Hominidae

Genus Homo

Species sapiens

The scientific name is always the genus + species

Humans = Homo sapiens

Photo by atomicshark

Lion Tiger Pintail Duck

Kingdom Animalia Animalia Animalia

Phylum Chordata Chordata Chordata

Class Mammalia Mammalia Aves

Order Carnivora Carnivora Anseriformes

Family Felidae Felidae Anatidae

Genus Panthera Panthera Anas

Species Leo Tigris acouta

What are the scientific names of each of these organisms? Which two are most closely related?

Naming Organisms

• The system of naming is called BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE - which means it is a 2-name system.

• A common naming system allows relationships to be seen between organisms

More on Naming..

• Scientific names must either be underlined or italicized

• The genus is always capitalized, the species is lowercase

• Can be abbreviated. Ex. P. leo and P. tigris

What is a species?

Defined as organisms that can interbreed with on another, and produce fertile offspringe

Check for Understanding1.  Fill in the blanks: _____, Kingdom,  _____,  Class, Order,  _____,  Genus,  _____2.  Which two groups are used for an organism's scientific name? 3.  Which of the following pairs is MOST closely related?             Acer rubrum  &  Acer  saccharum            Acer rubrum  &  Chenopodium rubrum 4. The system we use for naming is called  ____________ nomenclature.5.  The science of classification is called ________________

Three Domain System    

Domain Eukarya - includes organisms composed of eukaryotic cells (plants, animals, fungi, protists)

Domain Bacteria - includes only prokaryotic cells, Kingdom Eubacteria (true bacteria)

Domain Archaea - includes only prokaryotic cells, Kingdom Archaebacteria (ancient bacteria)

The Kingdoms

• There are currently 6 kingdoms – all life can be placed into one of those 6.

• Classification into a kingdom is based on observable criteriao Number of cellso How it obtains energyo Type of cell

Review Questions

• Why do scientists classify organisms?

• What are the names of the successively smaller divisions of the classification system designed by Linneaus?

• Which two divisions do we use for scientific naming?

• How many Domains are there?

• Which types of cells will you find in each Domain?

• How many Kingdoms are there?

Dichotomous Keys

Dichotomous Key

• Dichotomous key means – dividing sharply in two distinct groups

• Scientists use this method to sort organisms by like traits

• This system allows us to recognize relatedness

Martin SallyRobert

Elizabeth Mary-lou Gregory

Example Questions

• Is the person a man?

• Does the person have brown hair?

• Does the person wear glasses?

• Does the person have blond hair?

• Does the person have blue eyes?

• Dichotomous Keys can be either a flow chart, or a table of questions.

Reading a Dichotomous Key

• Start at the top of the table, or the flow chart

• Answer the questions about the selected organism until you reach a name

• Repeat with successive organisms as required

Using the key provided, identify each of the following fish

Make your Own Dichotomous Key

• Proceed to the lab

• There are flowers placed around the lab with common names

• Create your own key that can be used to identify each of these flowers