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Basic Concepts of Zoology

This document provides information on zoology and biological classification. It discusses that zoology is the study of animals and aims to explain the animal world through scientific principles. It applies to fields like agriculture. The document also covers the history of biological classification from Linnaeus introducing hierarchical taxa to modern phylogenetic classification based on genetic relationships. It describes the taxonomic categories from domain to species and provides examples of the systematic position of humans and other organisms.

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2K views17 pages

Basic Concepts of Zoology

This document provides information on zoology and biological classification. It discusses that zoology is the study of animals and aims to explain the animal world through scientific principles. It applies to fields like agriculture. The document also covers the history of biological classification from Linnaeus introducing hierarchical taxa to modern phylogenetic classification based on genetic relationships. It describes the taxonomic categories from domain to species and provides examples of the systematic position of humans and other organisms.

Uploaded by

seravanakumar
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Basics of Zoology

– Comparative studies of DNA and RNA brought in the necessity


of classifying living organisms into three Domains.
– The three domains are Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya.
– After the five kingdom classification, six kingdom
classification came into existence, accordingly the six
kingdoms are Bacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi,
Plantae, Animalia.
Nature, Scope and Meaning of Zoology

– Biology is the study of living organisms.


– The principal, heterogenous and divergent groups of biology are BOTANY, ZOOLOGY and
MICROBIOLOGY.
– Zoology or Animal science deals with the study of various aspects of animals. The aim of
zoology is to explain the animal world in terms of scientific principles.
– Zoology has its applications in other branches such as euphenics, eugenics, biotechnology,
bioenergetics, bioinformatics etc.,
– As an applied science it has tremendous scope in agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry,
diseases, veterinary science, apiculture, sericulture, pharmacology, animal breeding etc.,
Why to classify the organisms?

– Classification is defined as the process by which anything is grouped into convenient


categories based on some easily observable characters.
– TAXA can indicate categories at different levels (singular is TAXON).
– Based on certain special characteristics, we classified living organisms into different
taxa.
– Characterization, identification, nomenclature and classification
DOMAIN
KINGDOM
PHYLUM
CLASS
ORDER
FAMILY
GENUS
SPECIES
BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

– The living organisms exhibit a great deal of diversity due to


variations in their structure and function
– So far, over 1.25 million animal species have been identified and
described
– They show diversity in structure, habits, habitats and modes of life
– To understand the interrelationships among the diversified animal
groups, a systematic classification is necessary
HISTORY OF BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

– Carolus Linnaeus ( 1707 – 1788 ), Father of Taxonomy and


founder of Modern Systematics, introduced the system of
hierarchical classification
– In the 19th and 20th centuries numerical taxonomy and phylogenetic
classification emerged
CLASSIFICATION
PHYLOGENETIC (CLADISTIC) CLASSIFICATION

– It is an evolutionary classification based on how a common


ancestry was shared
– Cladistic classification summarizes the ‘genetic distance’ between
all species in the ‘phylogenetic tree’
– In cladistic classification characters such as analogous characters
and homologous characters are followed/ taken into consideration
– Ernst Haeckel introduced the method of representing phylogeny by
‘trees’ or branching diagrams
Analogous organs: these are the organs
which are functionally similar but
structurally dissimilar.
Eg: wings of a bird and wings of a
butterfly
Homologous organs: organs which are
structurally similar but functionally
dissimilar
Eg: hand of man and flipper of a whale
– Linnaeus was the first taxonomist to establish a definite hierarchy of
taxonomic categories called taxa like kingdom, class, order, genus
and species
– Haeckel (1888) introduced the taxon Phylum
– A species sometimes may have more subspecies, which show some
morphological variations (intra-specific variations)
– Taxonomic Categories: Nowadays the three Domain classification is
followed
– CARL WOESE and co-workers observed that many prokaryotes
previously classified under ‘Prokaryota/Monera’ are more closely
related to the ‘eukaryotes’ and classified them under a separate
domain the ARCHAEA
– This type of study is called ‘MOLECULAR SYSTEMATICS’
Systemic position of Human

1. Kingdom: All multicellular, non-saprobic, heterotrophs are included in the kingdom


Animalia/ Metazoa
2. Phylum: It includes one or more classes.
Eg: Phylum Chordata includes the classes Cyclostomata,
Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves and
Mammalia, along with the proto chordates
notochord, nerve chord, pharyngeal gill slits and post anal tail.
3. Class: It includes one or more related orders
Eg: The class Mammalia includes the orders Rodentia(rats),
Chiroptera(bats), Cetacea(whales),Carnivora(dogs),Primates(monkeys
and apes-gorilla, gibbon and man) etc.
4. Order: It includes an assemblage of one or more related families
Eg: The families Felidae and Canidae are included in the order
Carnivora along with Hyaenidae (hyenas), Ursidae (bears) etc
primates posses prehensile hands and legs.
5. Family: It includes one or more related genera and can be distinguished from the
other families by important characteristic differences. Family felidae includes the
genus of cat(Felis), genus of leopard(Panthera) etc.
Human beings belong to the family homonidae,
super family: hominoidea
sub family: homoninae
6. Genus: It is a group of related species, resembling one another in certain
characters e.g. Panthera leo(lion), Panthera tigris(tiger)
7. Species and Subspecies: Species is the basic unit of classification
in the hierarchical taxonomic system. Species is a group of similar
organisms sharing a ‘common gene pool’ and interbreeding freely,
producing ‘fertile’ offspring
Systemic position of human

Kingdom – Animalia
Phylum – Chordata
Class – Mammalia
Order – Primata
Family – Hominidae
Genus – Homo
Species - Sapiens
– Coconut tree
– Amoeba
– Parrot
– Mushroom
– Salmonella typhi

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