Section 18-1: Finding Order in Diversity
Jan 18, 2016
Section 18-1: Finding Order in Diversity
Need to describe and name each species to understand and study diversity
Use scientific names to ensure talking abut the same animal
Common names translate, vary Ex. Felis concolor commonly known as
cougar, puma, panther, mountain lion
18th century Europeans used Latin or Greek names to describe species based on traits
Did not work – not standardized 1730s: Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus
developed a two-word naming system called binomial nomenclature
Scientific name usually Latin, written in italics
First word capitalized, second lowercase
Polar bear is Ursus maritimus.
First part of the name is the genus, which is a group of similar species
Second part of unique to each species and is often a description of the organism’s habitat or of an important trait
Biologists try to organize/classify living and fossil species into larger groups that have biological meaning
Groups called taxa (singular: taxon) The science of naming and grouping
organisms is called systematics
Hierarchy Organisms grouped by anatomical
similarities and differences Linnaeus had four levels, which
expanded to seven taxa
Species, Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum, Kingdom
Members of a species determine which organisms belong to that species
Ranks above species are determined by researchers who decide
Linnaeus grouped organisms into larger taxa according to overall similarities and differences
Example: adult barnacles and limpets live attached to rocks, have similar-looking shells
Adult crabs don’t look anything like them, and would probably be in a different group
Wrong! Modern classification schemes look beyond
overall similarities and differences and group organisms based on evolutionary relationships