(DIV) Classification and Taxonomy Lesson
Classification and Taxonomy Lesson
Let's say you take a walk in the woods near your home or a local park and you see the following mushrooms. Some mushrooms are poisonous while others are edible. Would you eat them? How would you determine whether they are or not?
No one should ever eat a mushroom that he or she finds in the woods without first carefully determining if it is harmless or deadly. Mushrooms in your local supermarket have been properly identified and are safe to consume or eat. Mushrooms are classified into to a group of living things called the Kingdom Fungi based on their common characteristics. Each of the mushrooms pictured below are further put into sub-groups based on their characteristics and assigned a species name. Knowing the species of mushroom would give us a starting point to determine if the mushroom is poisonous or not.
In case you are curious, the first two mushrooms are poisonous, while the third is the edible portabello mushroom.
Mushrooms belong to the Kingdom Fungi. No one should ever eat a mushroom that he or she finds in the woods without first carefully determining if it is harmless or deadly. Mushrooms in your local supermarket have been properly identified and are safe to consume or eat. A classification system is not only very useful but also important.
Aristotle was a Greek scholar who classified living things as either an animal or plant. Animals were further categorized based on where they spent most of their time; on land, in water, or flying in the sky. He also divided animals into two groups; animals with blood and animals without blood. Animals with blood, such as humans, birds, four legged animals, and reptiles had one thing in common by Aristotle's standard. These animals had red blood. We now know there are more detailed characteristics used to classify living things.
In the late 18th century, a Swedish scientist named Carolus Linnaeus developed the foundation of our modern classification system. Each species has its own Latin two word name. The two - word naming system is called binomial nomenclature. The scientific name for the common store brand or button like mushroom is Agaricus bisporus. The first word is the mushroom's genus and it is always capitalized. The second word identifies a certain species within the genus and it is not capitalized. The genus and species of an organism is printed in italics or underlined. Most people call animals by their common names. However, using scientific names helps reduce the amount of confusion among scientists when they are referring to the same organism
. The yellow jacket is the common name of wasps in North America. The yellow and black band pattern on a yellow jacket resembles the black and brown band patterns found on honeybees. Although honeybees and yellow jackets look very similar in body structure; they are not the same. A honey bee will die after it loses its stinger whereas a yellow jacket can sting an individual several times. The scientific name of a honey bee is Apis mellifera.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the study of science that classifies organisms based on their similarities. All living things can be classified into three domains. The three main domains of life are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryota. Living things can be further divided into categories by the Linnaeus classification system. It is a hierarchical taxonomic system.
It has been modified to contain the following levels:
The domain is the broadest and most diverse category. The similarities and characteristics that are shared between living things increase as they are classified into the smaller levels. The phylum is the second largest level of classification. A phylum contains more than one class with similar characteristics. Each phylum is divided into classes. A class contains orders with similar properties. An order contains families with similar characteristics. Organisms that have the same characteristics are assigned to the same genus. The lowest and smallest level in the taxonomic classification system is species. Each species represents a single type of organism such as humans. Members of the same species are capable of mating with one another and can produce fertile offspring like themselves.
Living things are further divided into six kingdoms. They are the Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Fungi, Archaebacteria, and Eubacteria.
The honeybee belongs to the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Insecta, Order Hymenoptera, Family Apidae, Genus Apis, and Species mellifera.
Complete the following activity to test your new knowledge about Diversity.
Classification of Living Things
In the following video segment of The Classification of Living Things, a routine castle tour turns enchanting when the classification expert King Philip shows up to teach two students a lesson in classification. Using examples from his castle, mnemonics for memorizing the 7 levels of classification, microscopic footage, and animation, King Philip makes sense of difficult concepts. From simple examples to an exploration of each of the five kingdoms, this tour provides an easy to remember strategy for understanding a complex subject. Be patient as you may have to wait a minute or two for the video to load.
Classification of Living Things - Part II
Watch the video clip below to learn more about classification. The video is approximately 7 minutes long. Pause the video if necessary for more time to take notes.
Watch the video below to learn more about taxonomy and the Tree of Life:
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