Topic 3 : Taxonomy

Question 1

what does the term “taxonomy” mean?

Answer 1

naming organisms and placing them into containers of classification

Question 2

what does the term “nomenclature” mean?

Answer 2

system of rules for naming things that’s generally agreed on

Question 3

why was common language not good enough for naming the species? (aka lead to creation of taxonomy)

Answer 3

• inconsistency in common language
• does not show real biological and evolutionary relationships
• based off of looks
• very generalized

Question 4

what is meant by the term “folk taxonomy”?

Answer 4

applying common names to taxonomy to capture biological relationships a bit more

Question 5

what did Carl Linnaeus do? when did he do this (in what context?)

Answer 5

• created Linnaean system of nomenclature (species grouped by similarity)
• before evolutionary studies (so a creationist context)

Question 6

what are some key features of the Linnaean system of nomenclature? (remaining features)

Answer 6

• hierarchical (goes broader to more specific)
• binomial nomenclature (genus and species names)

Question 7

what is the order of the hierarchal ranks used to classify species (on order from broad (inclusive) to specific (exclusive)

Answer 7

• domain
• kingdom
• phylum
• class
• order
• family
• genus
• species

Question 8

what is a taxon or a taxonomic unit?

Answer 8

• unit of classification in any of the ranks

Question 9

what are the key components of writing a species name using binomial nomenclature?

Answer 9

• first is genus name (capitalized first letter)
• second is species/specific name (no capitals)
• must be in italics or underlined

Question 10

what are the limitations of Linnaeus classification? (list two)

Answer 10

• in high-level ranks, groups & family lineages of organisms are not always comparable
• doesn’t depict evolutionary relationships