Name Class Date

Classification

Unity and Diversity of Life

Q: What is the goal of biologists who classify living things?

WHAT I KNOW WHAT I LEARNED

SAMPLE ANSWER: Scientists SAMPLE ANSWER:Scientists
18.1 Why do classify organisms so that classify organisms in order to
scientists classify they will know all the kinds of study and understand their
organisms? life that are found on Earth. diversity.

SAMPLE ANSWER: Organisms SAMPLE ANSWER: The goal of

are classified by their systematics is to group

18.2 How
do evolutionary evolutionary relationships. species into larger
relationships affect categories that have
the way scientists biological meaning.
classify organisms?

SAMPLE ANSWER: Organisms are SAMPLE ANSWER:The six-kingdom

classified into kingdoms, system of classification
18.3 What are
phyla, classes, orders, and includes the kingdoms
the major groups
so on. Eubacteria, Archaebacteria,
within which all
“Protista,” Fungi, Plantae,
organisms are
currently classified? and Animalia.

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18.1 Finding Order in Diversity

Lesson Objectives
Describe the goals of binomial nomenclature and systematics.
Identify the taxa in the classification system devised by Linnaeus.

Lesson Summary
Assigning Scientific Names To study Earth’s great diversity of organisms, biologists
must give each organism a name. Biologists also must organize living things into groups in
a logical way. Therefore, biologists need a classification system. The science of naming and
grouping organisms is called systematics.

In the 1730s, Carolus Linnaeus developed a naming system, called binomial nomenclature.
In binomial nomenclature, each species is assigned a two-part scientific name:
▶ The first part of the name refers to the genus, or a group of similar species.
▶ The second part of the name is unique to each species.

Linnaean Classification System Linnaeus’s system of classification has seven different

levels. From smallest to largest, the levels are species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and
kingdom. Each of the ranking levels is called a taxon.
▶ Just as a genus is a group of similar species, a family is a group of similar genera.
▶ An order is a group of similar families.
▶ A class is a group of similar orders.
▶ A phylum is a group of similar classes.
▶ A kingdom is a group of similar phyla.

Assigning Scientific Names

1. Complete the graphic organizer.

A useful scientific
name must have two
characteristics:

Each name must refer to only one Everyone must use the same name.
species.

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For Questions 2–3, write the letter of the correct answer on the line at the left.
C 2. What is the science of naming and grouping organisms called?
A. genetics
B. speciation
C. systematics
D. linnaeanology
B 3. Modern systematists try to group organisms based on
A. size.
B. evolutionary relationships.
C. ecological niche.
D. physical appearance.
4. Why is it confusing to refer to organisms by common names?
Common names vary among languages and even among regions within a single
country. Also, different species may share a single common name.

5. What is binomial nomenclature?

the two-word naming system developed by Linnaeus

6. What genus does the grizzly bear, Ursus arctos, belong to?
The genus is Ursus.

7. What is the correct way to write scientific names in the binomial nomenclature system?
The genus starts with a capital letter and the species is lowercased. Both words
are written in italics.

Linnaean Classification System

For Questions 8–10, complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.

8. The goal of systematics is to organize living things into groups, called taxa ,
that have biological meaning.
9. The largest taxonomic category in the Linnaean system of classification is the
kingdom , while the smallest is the species .
10. Similar classes are grouped into a(n) phylum , and similar orders are grouped into
a(n) class .

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11. Fill in the name of each missing taxonomic category in the chart
below.

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

12. How does Linnaeus’s system of classification help establish the unity of life?
The system classifies organisms based on overall similarities and differences to one
another. Organisms in the same genus share many similarities. Organisms in the
same kingdom may have many differences, but they still have common traits with one
another.

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18.2 Modern Evolutionary Classification

Lesson Objectives
Explain the difference between evolutionary classification and Linnaean classification.
Describe how to make and interpret a cladogram.
Explain the use of DNA sequences in classification.

Lesson Summary
Evolutionary Classification The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms
is called phylogeny. Classification based on evolutionary relationships is called phylogenetic
systematics, or evolutionary classification.
▶ Evolutionary classification places organisms into higher taxa whose members are more
closely related to one another than they are to members of any other group. The larger the
taxon, the further back in time all of its members shared a common ancestor.
▶ In this system, organisms are placed into groups called clades. A clade is a group of
species that includes a single common ancestor and all descendants of that ancestor. A
clade must be a monophyletic group. A monophyletic group must include all species
that are descended from a common ancestor, and cannot include any species that are not
descended from that common ancestor.

Cladograms A cladogram is a diagram that shows how species and higher taxa are related
to each other. A cladogram shows how evolutionary lines, or lineages, branched off from
common ancestors.
▶ In a cladogram, the place where the ancestral lineage splits is called a fork, or a node.
Nodes represent the point where new lineages last shared a common ancestor.
▶ The bottom of the diagram, or the root, represents the ancestor shared by all of the
organisms on the cladogram.
▶ Cladistic analysis relies on specific shared traits, or characters. A derived character is a
trait that arose in the most recent common ancestor of a particular lineage and was passed
to all of its descendants.

DNA in Classification All organisms have DNA. Because DNA is so similar across all
forms of life, this molecule can be compared in different species. In general, the more derived
genetic characters two species share, the more recently the species shared a common ancestor
and the more closely related they are.

Evolutionary Classification
1. How did Darwin’s theory of evolution change the way biologists thought about
classification categories?
Biologists now group organisms into categories that represent lines of evolutionary
descent, not just physical similarities.

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2. Describe the goal of phylogenetic systematics (evolutionary classification).

The goal of phylogenetic systematics is to group organisms together based on their
evolutionary history, not just their similarities and differences.

3. Which group of organisms would have the most recent common ancestor: the members
of a clade corresponding to a genus or the members of a clade corresponding to an order?
Explain your answer.
Members of a clade corresponding to a genus would have a more recent common
ancestor than members of a clade corresponding to an order. A genus is a smaller
taxon than an order. The larger a taxon is, the futher back in time its members
shared a common ancestor. This is true all the way up to the largest taxa.

4. Use the Venn diagram to compare and contrast the definitions of the Linnaean class
Reptilia and the clade Reptilia.

Class Reptilia Clade Reptilia

SAMPLE ANSWER:

hierarchical group
based on classification monophyletic group
Linnaeus’s system group based on
of classification common ancestors
Members are
does not include amniotes. includes birds
birds

For Questions 5–7, complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.

5. All species descended from a(n) common ancestor are part of a monophyletic group.
6. Phylogeny is the study of how living and extinct organisms are related to one
another.
7. A clade includes a common ancestor and all its descendants, living or extinct .

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Cladograms
For Questions 8–10, complete each statement by writing the correct word or words.
8. A diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms is called
a(n) cladogram .
9. The place where the ancestral lineage splits on a cladogram is called a fork, or a(n)
node .
10. Characteristics shared by members of a clade and only by members of that clade are
called derived characters .
11. Examine the cladogram below:
• Shade in the two organisms that belong to a clade that does not include the third
organism. Cross-hatch the organism that does not belong to the clade.
• Circle the point on the cladogram that shows the most recent common ancestor of the
crab and the barnacle.
• Mark an X on the point on the cladogram that shows the most recent common ancestor
of mollusks and crustaceans.
• Underline the characteristic that all three organisms have in common.

CLADOGRAM
Crustaceans Mollusk

(shaded) Crab (shaded) Barnacle Limpet (cross-hatched)

Molted
external skeleton

Segmentation
Tiny free-swimming larva

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DNA in Classification
12. Why can genes be considered derived characters?
Genes are passed on from generation to generation. Organisms share a number of
genes. Because all genes mutate over time, shared genes contain differences that can
be used as derived characters.

Use the figure below to answer Questions 13–15.

Raccoons Red pandas Giant pandas Bears

Common Ancestor

13. According to the figure, which species is most closely related to red pandas?
raccoons

14. Although giant pandas and raccoons share some distinct anatomical similarities, they
are in different clades. What type of evidence do you think was used to construct this
diagram?
DNA evidence

15. Biologists had previously classified giant pandas together with raccoons and red pandas.
What did DNA analysis reveal about giant pandas and bears?
Giant pandas and bears share a more recent common ancestor than giant pandas
and raccoons.

16. Both humans and yeasts have a gene that codes for a myosin protein. What does this
indicate about their ancestry?
Their similarities at the molecular level indicate that humans and yeasts share a
common ancestry.

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