Taxonomy

Outcomes:

- Identify reasons for classifying living things
- Describe the science of taxonomy

Classification Keys

A person who classifies living things is called a taxonomist. Taxonomists classify things into groups that have similar builds or structures and similar jobs or functions.

Sometimes classification keys are used to identify organisms by traits that are visible, however scientists today now look at how closely members of groups are related.

phylogeny- study of how living things and extinct organisms are related to one another

Linnaeus Classification

Animal classification is how animals are sorted into groups based on common characteristics.

The groups are arranged from general characteristics (e.g. whether an organism is single celled or multicellular) to specific (e.g. whether a duck can dive or not).

In the 1730's Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedist botanist developed a two word naming system called binomial nomenclature- first part of name is genus with the second part of the name referring to species.

Linnaeus also developed a classification system which included seven hierarchical taxa:

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