Topic 2 1 Introduction to Classification Classification There

Topic 2. 1 Introduction to Classification

Classification There are over 1. 7 million different types of living things or organisms How can we put all of these into specific groups?

Classification Imagine walking into a supermarket and instead of placing items in labelled isles the items are placed randomly around the store Think about how you would find your favourite breakfast cereal?

Classification makes the identification of living organisms easier It is the process of putting things into groups Organisms are sorted into groups according to features they have in common

Classification shows evolutionary links between different organisms. Some organisms look very different but are closely related, others look very similar but come from very different groups.

Choose an animal from the previous pictures In pairs you have 5 questions each to ask about the other’s animal. You must reply with a yes or no answer. Can you guess what animal they thought of? Run out of questions? Try these: Does it lay eggs? Does it live in water? Does it have 4 legs? Does it have scales? Does it have a horn? Does it have fur? Does it have visible ears? Can it fly? Is it an Herbivore/omnivore/Carnivore? (Does it eat plants/mixture of plants and animals/just animals)

Introducing Keys Scientists who specialise in grouping and naming living things are known as taxonomists and the science of grouping and naming things is called Taxonomy Keys are tools that can be used to identify unknown organisms The name of the key that we will be using to identify unknown organisms is called a dichotomous key

Dichotomous keys Dichotomous means split into two parts A method used by scientists to classify organisms. Made up of a series of yes/no questions. 1) 2) Does it have six legs? If YES go to question 2 If No go to question 3 Does it Fly? If YES go to question 4 If No go to question 6

Dichotomous keys There are two types of Dichotomous keys There are different names for the two types shown below but they are the same thing: Flow chart key / branching key / linked key Nested key / table key / written key

Flow chart keys Work out the correct name for each person shown A: B: C: D: E: Herman Ken Eugene Louisa Jane

Nested keys Smilus piratus Smilus toothyus Smilus traditionalis Smilus mutatus Smilus saddus Smilus dramaticus Smilus suprisus Smilus winkus

Given the group of objects seen below, develop a dichotomous key that will identify each item.