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General Biology

TAXONOMY HISTORY (CAROLUS LINNAEUS)

Why Classify?  (1707-1778)

 To study the diversity of life,  Classified organisms by their
biologists use a classification structure
system to name organisms and  Created the system of naming we
group them in a logical manner use today
Taxonomy is defined as…  His classification system
 Discipline of classifying includes 7 levels
organisms and assigning each  In taxonomy, a group or level of
organism a universally accepted organization is called a
name. taxonomic category or taxon
Nomenclature= naming tool  To avoid confusion, Carolus
 Nomenclature only follows Linnaeus devised a naming
taxonomy system based on physical
characteristics (structures)
WHY COMMON NAMES DON’T WORK
 Common names vary among Binomial Nomenclature
languages  “Bi” means 2
o Example: United Kingdom-  “nomial” means naming
Buzzard refers to a hawk  Nomenclature means “the system
o United States- Buzzard refers to of naming”
a vulture  Defined: In binomial
nomenclature, each species is
assigned a two-part scientific
name.
Example of Binomial Nomenclature
 Polar Bear is Ursus maritimus
Ursus: genus
 Ursus contains 5 other kinds of
HISTORY (ARISTOTLE) bears
 2000 years ago, Aristotle (384- Maritimus: species
BC-322 BC) was the first  The Latin word, maritimus, refers
taxonomist to the sea.
 Aristotle divided organisms into  Polar bears often live on pack ice
plants & animals that floats in the sea.
 He subdivided them by their DEFINITION TO KNOW
habitat--- land, sea, or air
dwellers. Genus
 Early scientists used common  Is a group of closely related
names to identify organism species
 Examples of common name:
 Seahorse, starfish,
sealionjellyfish
Species
 Group of similar organisms that
can breed and produce fertile
offspring
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Kingdom Order
 Largest taxonomic group  Carnivora (meat-eating animals)
consisting of closely related Class
phyla  Mammalia (warm-blooded, hair,
Phylum & milk)
 Group of closely related classes Phylum
Class  Chordata (vertebrates)
 Group of similar orders Kingdom
Order  Animalia (there are 5 kingdoms)
 Group of similar families How to remember
Family  King Phillip Came Over For
 Group of genera (genus) that Green Salad
share many characteristics  Kingdom Phylum Class Order
Genus Family Genesus Species
 Group of closely related species
that share common RULES
Species
 Group of organisms that can Uniqueness
interbreed to produce fertile  Every name has to be unique
offspring Universality
 The level of classification that  Zoologists have adopted, by
contains organisms most closely international agreement, a single
related is species. language to be used on a
 The level of classification that worldwide basis. All animals are
contains organisms least closely given a generic (common name)
related is kingdom and specific name in Latin
Here We Go… Polar Bear (scientific name)
Kingdom These names are in italics or are
 Animalia underline (i.e. Homo sapiens or Homo
Phylum sapiens)
 Chordata  Genus and species are used in
Class the organism’s name
 Mammalia  This system of using 2 names to
Order identifying an organism is called
 Carnivora binomial nomenclature
Family  The binomial name is also known
 Ursidae as the scientific name
Genus
 Ursus
Species
 Maritimus
What they mean
Species
 Maritimus (lives in marine
environment)
Genus
 Ursus (kind of bear)
Family
 Ursidae (larger category of bears)
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A Problem with Traditional
Classification
 Traditional classification systems
relied on body structure
comparisons only
 Due to convergent evolution,
organisms that are quite
different from each other evolve
similar body structures
Convergent Evolution
Genus species  Process by which unrelated
 If these three species belong to organisms independently evolves
the same genus, they are similarities when adapting to
descended from a common similar environments
ancestor E.g. the crab, the barnacle, & the limpet
 The barnacle and the limpet have
similarily shaped shells & look
alike
 The crab has a very different
body form
 Based on anatomy, the barnacle
& limpet could be classifies
together and the crab in a
WHICH TWO ARE MORE CLOSELY RELATED? different group

Linnaeus vs. Modern Classification

Linnaeus
 2 kingdoms
 Based on physical similarities
 Uses only biologits observations
and knowledge of organisms
Modern
 5 kingdoms
 Based on physical similarities
and genetic similarities
 Uses observations, knowledge of
organisms, molecular clocks,and
other genetic techniques
Modern Classification
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Five Kingdom System: Older systems,
lumps all prokaryotic species into one
kingdom: Monera
o Animal
o Plant
o Protist
o Fungi
o Monera
WHERE DO VIRUSES GO?
Viruses
 Are particles of nucleic acid,
protein, and in some cases lipids
that can reproduce ONLY by
infecting living cells
 Viruses are made of a core of
either DNA or RNA surrounded
by a protein coat
 Viruses are not considered alive
because they don’t have ALL the
characteristics of life. Dichotomous Keys
Example: They can’t reproduce  In the field, bilogists use
independently dichotomous keys to identify
These are T4 Bacteriophage organisms
 A bacteriophage is a virus which  Dichotomous key- A chart that
infects bacteria identifies organisms based on
Evolutionary Classification their characteristics. Its used by
 Biologists now group organisms excluding organisms based on
into categories that represent their observable features
lines of revolutionary descent, Phylogeny
not just physical similarities  Is the presumed evolutionary
 Is the strategy of grouping history of an organism
organisms together based on  The phylogeny of related
their evolutionary history. organisms can be illustrated
using a phylogenetic tree
CLASSIFICATION USING CLADOGRAMS
Cladogram
 A diagram that shows the
evolutionary relationships among
a group of organisms

 all life forms are related by

common ancestry and descent.
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The construction of phylogenied  On avergae 5- to 10 fold
provides explanations of the higher in mitochondrial than
diversity seen in the natural in nucleur genes. Thus shorter
world segmentrs distinguish among
 phylogenies can be based on
species, and because shorter,
morphological data,
less expensively
physiological data, molecular
data or all three. Today,
phylogenies are usually
constructed using DNA sequence
data
 In molecular physlogenies,
characters are typically
nucleotide positions in a gene
sequence, and each position can
possess four Character States:
A,C,G, or T Barcodes affirm the unity of the
Mitochondrial DNA are used species Homo sapiens
Four properties make mitochondrial  Comparison show we differ
genomes especially suitable for from one another by only 1 or
identifying species:
2 nucleotides out of 648,
Copy number
while we differ from
 There are 100-10,000 more
copiesof mitochondrial than chipanzees at 60 locations
nuclear DNA per cell, making and gorillas at 70 locations
recovery, especially from small
or partially degraded samples,
easier and cheaper.
Relatively few differences within
species in most cases
 Small intraspecific and large
interspecific differences signal
distinct genetic boundaries
between most species,
enabling precise identification
with a barcode
Introns, which are non-coding
regions interpersed between
coding regions of a gene, are
absent from mitochondrial DNA of
most animal species, making
amplification straightforward.
 Nuclear genes are often
interrupted by introns,
making amplification difficult
or unpredictable
Greater differences among species