The nature of classification (02) Flashcards
What does classification mean?
What are some everyday examples and biological examples?
grouping together into
various categories based
on some set of criteria
everday examples:
- Washrooms
- Food groups
- Music genres
Biological categorizations
(CATEGORIES producers, consumers, herbiovres, carnivors, omivores, etc)
Why do we categorize things?
1) convenience (easy to find what we are looking for)
2) Sources of info (How a item is classified tells you how we identity if [ie: desserts are sweet])
3) Tool for communication, helps us stay organized.
Before classification you must be able to identify the object, why is identification important?
-> Indivduals of the same species can be different
- Genetically different/genetic variability
- Organismsm amy evolve seperately because they are located in different environments
-> Males of a species can look different from emales of a specieies (Male mate attraction)
-> Evolution = species changes over time
-> Apperances of a species changes as species grows
Therefore just because 2 oragnisms look different does not mean they are different species, and it is IMPORTANT TO IDENTIFY, what is what.
What is biological classification?
-> Sorting living things based on how they are alike, based on physical similarities (apparences) or from evolutionary relationships (their common ancestorys)
-Biological classification is logical, and structured, therefore organismsm are not randommly grouped.
(Why? It helps scientists understand an organismsm, similiarties, differences, and origins)
Ways to Classify: Organismsm biologically
*Phylogenetic, Morphological, Biological
What is phylogenic classification?
How a species genetic information have evolved and changed over time.
-in reference to reference to evolutionary relationships and ancestory
What is morphological classification?
Physical appearance
- i.e., color, size, and
shape
what is the biological way of classifying specieies?
-> An organismsm abiliity to reproduce and create viable offspring.
-> Classfiying which oragnismsm belong to which specieies.
What is taxonomy?
- Science of identifying and
classifying all organisms (Living or non-living)
Provides a general classification fto organize everything - The grouping and naming
of organisms - Biologists who study this
are called taxonomists
Taxa (plural) the groups/categories that are used in biological classification
Taxon is a specific categoy.
Issues with classifications? How do you classifiy things?
Category is the label/name: the descriptions is what organisms must fit under.
–> Must be extremely specific.
Ie:
* Things that swim
* Things that fly
* Things that crawl
* Things that walk on four legs
(Exampes of descriptions under classficiation)
what was the issue with the early classification system (Why do we classfy the things we do today, and why do we follow a specific method for classifcation)
Problem that names and
classification was variable as
species were given names in every
language
–> No agreed upon critria
- Common names not always helpful
(ex. Robin - different bird in Europe
vs North America)
GOAL of modern classification: devolpe a universal scientific name for organismsms
Who is carl linnaeus and how is he related to taxonomy/classification?
Linnaeus introduced a consistent
way of grouping species (“father of
taxonomy”)
Designed our current taxonomic system
* Based on shared characteristics:
anatomical/structural/morphological features to classify living organisms
A way to group organismsm due to the similarities of their atribuites to self, and not external facotors (such as the environment around them)
- Each species has a unique name: binomial (two word) system
- Genus and species epithet name are in Latin
This way of naming helped assign a specieies a specific name (not every indvidual organismsm)
Speciies epithet is a specific name/a specific given to a specieies, under a taxon its known as just “species”
How does bionomial nomenclature work?
First part of the scientific name is the Genus
(capitalized)
- Second part of the name is the species (lower case)
- If typed it is put in Italics but if it is written by hand,
both parts of the name are underlined separately. - eg typed: Castor canadensis
- eg handwritten: CASTOR canadensis
What is a genus?
- A taxonomic level consisting of a group of similar
species
(Very specific) - Animals in the Canis group include dogs, wolves,
and coyotes
What is a species?
Animals that can mate and produce fertile
offspring
What are the 3 advantages of bionomial nomenclature?
*Universal communication tool
*Unique for every living organism
*Shows relationship between related organisms
–> Different from everyday wording .
