Classification of Living Things

1. Classification of Living Things

2. But is it alive? • Does it reproduce? • Does it feed? • Does it move? • Does it excrete? • Can it sense or respond? • Does it respire? • Does it grow?

3. Some other things “life” is marked by: • Living things are made of cells • Based on a genetic code in the RNA or DNA • Maintain an internal balance (homeostasis)

4. The Diversity of Life • How many species of organisms are on earth? but first.… What is a species?

5. Species • All individuals of a certain kind who are able to interbreed • Horses with horses, dogs with dogs, etc. • Same number of chromosomes with similar shaped chromosomes

6. Species:Donkey x Horse • Results in: a mule • Therefore, are donkeys and horses the same species? • but.... Mules are sterile...

7. How many species on Earth? Surprisingly, we have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than how many species there are on Earth. Estimates of global species diversity have varied from 2 million to 100 million species, with a best estimate of somewhere near 10 million. Only 1.4 million have actually been named. The problems stemming from the limits of current knowledge of species diversity are compounded by the lack of a central database or list of the world's species.

8. How to organize all this? • In 1700’s Linnaeus developed a hierarchical classification system • He developed a system for naming organisms known as binomial nomenclature Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) also known as Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus, is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today.

9. Levels of organization • As we did our sorting of organism pictures, so biologists do the same with all living things. • In terms of actual living things, we can use the following ladder to keep track of them all.

11. How can we organize living things in terms of types of organisms? • Linnaeus called the biggest grouping a KINGDOM • Then the succeeding levels into smaller and smaller groups went as follows:

12. Classification • Originally, Linnaeus divided all organisms into 2 Kingdoms: • Plants & Animals • Then he subdivided each kingdom into progressively narrower groups: • Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, & species

13. Classification System Each and every species can now be classified by this system: • Kingdom • Phylum • Class • Order • Family • Genus • Species Kings Play Canucks Over Five Game Series

14. Using all these names can be overwhelming! • Linnaeus used only the last two in the hierarchy… KINGDOM PHYLUM CLASS ORDER FAMILY GENUS SPECIES

15. Binomial nomenclature • In binomial system, every species discovered would have a two-part name ie. Ursus arctos Ursus = genus artos = species name bear group specific: grizzly Note: all names italicized or underlined Genus name always capitalized, species name is not

18. Taxonomic Classification • Kingdom-largest category. Includes all organisms that have one ore more common features. • The five common kingdoms: • Monera • Protists • Fungi • Plants • Animals Microorganisms-organisms that can only be seen with a microscope.

19. Five Kingdoms

23. Monera (bacteria and cyanobacteria) • Single celled, microscopic prokaryotic organisms. • Play vital role as decomposers, breaking down tissue of dead organisms into simpler compounds that serve as nutrients for bacteria and are eventually reused as nutrients by plants. • Although bacteria can cause diseases in humans, not all bacteria are bad.

24. Monerans are Prokaryotic Cells • Bacteria cells • Surrounded by a membrane but have no distinct nucleus or other internal parts enclosed by membranes.

25. Protists (protista) • Mostly single celled eukaryotic organisms. • Some cause human diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness. • Protists include: diatoms, dinoflagellates, amoebas, golden brown and yellow-green algae, and protozoans.

26. Fungi • Mostly many celled eukaryotic organisms. • Many are decomposers. • Some kill various plants and cause loss of crop and trees. • Fungi include: mushrooms, molds, mildews, and yeasts.

27. Plants (plantae) • Mostly many celled eukaryotic organisms. • Have • Cell Walls of cellulose • Central water vacuole • Chloroplasts

28. Animals (animalia) • Many celled, eukaryotic organisms. • Two types: • Vertebrates-animals with backbones and a brain protected by skull bones (ex: fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) • Invertebrates-have no spine (ex: sponges, jellyfish, worms, arthropods (insects, shrimp, spiders), mollusks (snails, clams, octopuses), echinoderms (sea urchins and sea stars)

29. The Kingdoms of Life Linnaeus created 2 Kingdoms We have seen the Five Kingdom System Today it is common to use 6 Kingdoms

30. The 6 Kingdoms of Life Animals Plants Fungi Protists Bacteria Archaea Bacteria (ancient bacteria)

32. More recently a newer classification system has been developed

35. How can scientists do the classification? • Look at physical features of organisms (Morphology) • Look at their genetic make-up (DNA or RNA)