Classification basics Flashcards
What is classification?
The act of arranging organisms into groups based on their similarities and differences, making it easier for scientists to identify and study them
What is taxonomy?
- the study of classification.
- there are a few different classification systems in use, but they all involve placing organisms into groups in a taxonomic hierarchy
What are the 8 taxonomic groups that are used in classification?
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
-as you move down the hierarchy there are more groups at each level but fewer organisms in each group, and ends in a species
What is the 5 kingdom classification system?
- An older classification system
- The 5 kingdoms are: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protoctista and Prokaryote
For the kingdom Animalia, give examples and its key features of the organisms in this group
- e.g mammals, fish, birds, reptiles
- eukaryotic
- multicellular
- no cell walls
- heterotrophic
- have a nervous system
For the kingdom Plantae, give examples and its key features of the organisms in this group
- e.g mosses, ferns, flowering plants
- eukaryotic
- multicellular
- cellulose cell walls
- can photosynthesise
- contain chlorophyll
- autotrophic
For the kingdom Fungi, give examples and its key features of the organisms in this group
- e.g moulds, yeast, mushrooms
- eukaryotic
- chitin cell wall
- saprotrophic
- single or multicellular
For the kingdom Protoctista, give examples and its key features of the organisms in this group
- e.g algae
- eukaryotic
- usually live in water
- may be unicellular or multicellular
For the kingdom Prokaryotae, give examples and its key features of the organisms in this group
- e.g bacteria
- prokaryotic
- no nucleus or other membrane bound organelles
- unicellular
- peptidoglycan cell walls
- less then 5 micrometers
What is the binomial system?
- this is the naming system used for classification
- all organisms are given one internationally accepted scientific name in Latin that has 2 parts
What are the 2 parts of a species Latin name made up from? Give an example
- first part is the genus name, this has a capital letter (generic name)
- second part is the species name and has a lower case letter (specific name)
- must be wrote in italics or are underlined
- e.g humans are Homo sapiens
Explain why no two species will have the same generic and specific name
-closely related species from the same genus will share their generic name, but will identify as different species if they have different specific names
What is phylogeny?
-the study of the evolutionary history of groups of organisms, telling us who is related to whom and how closely related they are as all organisms have evolved from shared common ancestors.
What is a phylogenetic tree and how does it work?
- A tree which shows the relationship between members of a family.
- the first branch point represents a common ancestor of all of the organisms in the family, which is now extinct
- each of the following branch points represents another common ancestor from which a different group diverged
What is meant by cladistics?
When the classification system now takes into account phylogeny when arranging organisms into groups
