Taxonomy Taxonomy is the branch of biology that

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the branch of biology that names groups of organisms according to their characteristics and evolutionary history. n Before classification common names were used and these names varied from location to location. n

Linnaeus System n n Carolus Linnaeus devised a system of grouping organism into categories. Linnaeus primary focused on an organisms form and structure (morphology)

Levels of Classification Kingdom n Phylum/division n Class n Order n Family n Genus n Species As you move closer to species organisms become more similar. n

Nomenclature In the Linnaeus system an organism name has two parts. n The first part is the genus and the second part is the species identifier. n Example “homo sapiens” Genus= “homo” Species identifier = “sapiens” n

Taxonomy Today we classify organisms based on morphology, chromosomal similarities, and DNA and behavioral similarities. n We can now organize organisms using a phylogenetic tree which is a family tree using evolutionary relationships. n

Cladistics A new way of classification is called cladistics. n Cladistics uses shared derived characters to classify organisms. n

6 Kingdom System For many years a five kingdom system was used. n A sixth kingdom was added because of differences between bacteria. n

6 Kingdom System