Classification Flashcards
What is Systematics?
The science of classifying things is known as taxonomy (laws of order in Greek), “the science of the diversity of organisms”.
What is a named grouping of organisms called?
Taxon (plural taxa).
Who was the first to classify biological systems?
Aristotle, who recognized 550 kinds of animals.
How many recognized plants and animals were there by the 1700s?
6000 recognized plants and 4000 recognized animals.
Who developed the Linnaean Classification system?
Swedish Botanist Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus) - developed the system that forms the basis of our modern classification systems.
What is the fundamental part of the Linnaean Classification system?
The binomial method of naming species - every species has two name parts, consisting of the genus name and the trivial name.
What are species grouped into?
Genera.
What is the order of classification?
Kingdom, Phylum, Subphylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
What is Cladistics?
A complex subject used to produce classifications for organisms.
Are all characters treated as equal in value for Cladistics?
No, some characters are felt to be more important than others.
What are Synapomorphies?
Characteristics in Cladistics that are felt to be the only useful characters in determining evolutionary relationships. It is a character that is an evolutionary novelty that is then passed on to its descendants.
What are Characteristics called that are ancestral to Synapomorphies that do not change?
Plesiomorphic characteristics.
What two types of characteristics make up the classification of all organisms?
Plesiomorphic and Synapomorphies characteristics.
What is always italicized in Classification?
Genus and Species names.
What is never capitalized in Classification?
The second part of the species name.
