Taxonomy

& Systematics
TAXONOMY
vs.SYSTEMATICS
Taxonomy
The science of arranging and classifying
living organisms into groups called taxa.
Systematics
The study of the diversification of life
forms, both past and present, and their
relationships among other organism
through time.
Taxonomic Key
A simple tool used to identify a specific object.
Dichotomous Key
/ Greek /

dicho tom
“in split” or “two” “to cut”

Couplet – pair of statements

3
DOMAIN
SYST
How Biological Life Is Classified
Carl Woese
Archaea - 1977

Three Domain System

- 1990
The Current System
Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) structure
 3 DOMAINS

Bacteria Archaea Eukarya

ARCHAEAN DOMAIN
 Single-celled organisms
 Genes = bacteria & eukaryotes
 Prokaryotic organisms, No membrane-bound
nucleus, internal cell organelles
 Same size and similar in shape with bacteria
 Binary fission
ARCHAEAN DOMAIN
 Differ from bacteria; Cell wall composition
 Differ from bacteria & Eukarya in membrane
composition and rRNA type.
 Extremes organisms
ARCHAEA
3 MAIN PHYLA

 Crenarchaeota
– great temperature extremes (hyperthermophiles) and
in extremely hot and acidic environments
(thermoacidophiles).
ARCHAEA
3 MAIN PHYLA

 Euryarcheota
-methanogens
-Produce methane
-Oxygen free environment
ARCHAEA
3 MAIN
PHYLA

 Korarchaeota
-Hot springs, hydrothermal vents and obsidian pools.
BACTERIA DOMAIN
 Pathogenic and capable of
causing diseases.
 Human Microbiota – vital
functions
 Unique cell walls composition
and rRNA type.
BACTERIA
5 MAIN CATEGORIES

 Proteobacteria
– Largest group of bacteria
- E. Coli, Salmonella,
Helibacter pylori and Vibrio.
BACTERIA
5 MAIN CATEGORIES

 Cyanobacteria
– capable of photosynthesis
- blue-green algae
BACTERIA
5 MAIN CATEGORIES

 Firmicutes
– gram-positive bacteria
- Clostridium, Bacillus and mycoplasmas
BACTERIA
5 MAIN CATEGORIES

 Chlamydiae
– parasitic bacteria
- Chlamydia trachomatis,
Chlamydophilia pneumoniae
BACTERIA
5 MAIN CATEGORIES

 Spirochetes
– corkscrew-shaped bacteria
-Borrelia burgdorferi,
Treponema pallidum
EUKARYA DOMAIN
 Eukaryotes (membrane-bound nucleus)

KINGDOMS:
- Protista
- Fungi
- Plantae
- Animalia
 6 KINGDOMS OF LIFE
 Archaebacteria Domain:
 Eubacteria Organisms:
 Protista Cell Type:
 Fungi Metabolism:
 Plantae Nutrient acquisition:
 Animalia
Reproduction:
BIOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
and Some Basic Rules
Binomial Nomenclature
The formal naming system for living things that all scientists use. It
gives every species a two-part scientific name.

Homo sapiens
Binomial Nomenclature
The formal naming system for living things that all scientists use. It
gives every species a two-part scientific name.

Homo sapiens
genus
Binomial Nomenclature
The formal naming system for living things that all scientists use. It
gives every species a two-part scientific name.

Homo sapiens
species epithet
Carl Linne
1735 ; Systema naturae

Carolus Linnaeus
Father of Modern Taxonomy
 The following nomenclature codes govern the naming of species, as follows:

 Algae, Fungi and Plants – International Code of Nomenclature for

algae, fungi and plants (ICN)

 Animals – International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)

 Bacteria – International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB)

 Cultivated Plants – International Code of Nomenclature for

Cultivated Plants (ICNCP)

 Viruses – International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)

 Some of the major rules in nomenclature, as guided by ICBN and ICZN, are the following:

1. Names should be written in Latin.

2. Genus; Capitalized : Species; lower case letter
3. Because words are Latinized, they should always be italicized.
4. When scientific names are written by hand, each separate word
should be underlined.
5. The first name to be validly and effectively published get the
priority.
6. All taxa must have an author when describe. (Homo sapiens L.)
***
Life on Earth is incredibly diverse.
Categories of Classification
TAXON
A group of one or more populations of an organisms
seen to form a unit.
THREE FACETS:

Name of the taxon

Rank of the Taxon

Content of the Taxon

 SPECIES
A group of living organisms consisting of similar
individuals capable of exchanging genes or
interbreeding. 
CONCEPT
S OF
SPECIES
CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Pattern-Based
Definitions
 CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Pattern-Based Definitions

1. The Darwinian Concept (Darwin, 1859)

“Arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals closely resembling each other, and
that it does not essentially differ from the term variety, which is given to less distinct and more
fluctuating forms.”

2. Morphological/Phenetic Species Concept

“The smallest group that are consistently and persistent distinct and distinguishable by ordinary means.”
(Cronquist, 1978)
 CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Pattern-Based Definitions

3. Phylogenetic Species Concept

“An irreducible(basal) cluster of organisms, diagnosably distinct from other such clusters, and within
which there is a parental pattern of ancestry and descent.” (Cracraft, 1989)

4. Genotype Cluster Species Concept

Species are genotypic cluster that can overlap without fusing with its sibling.
CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Processed-Based
Definitions
 CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Process-Based Definitions

1. Biological Species Concept (Mayr, 1942)

“Group of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated
from other such groups.”

2. Mate Recognition Species Concept (Peter, 1985)

“Set of organisms that can recognize one another as potential mates: They have a shared mate
recognition system.”
 CONCEPTS OF SPECIES
Process-Based Definitions

3. Cohesion Species Concept (Templeton, 1989)

“The most inclusive group of organisms having the potential for genetic and/or demographic
exchangeability.”

4. Genic Species Concept (Wu, 2001)

“Groups that are differentially adapted and, upon contact, are not able to share
genes controlling these adaptive characters by direct exchanges
or through intermediate hybrid populations.”
Modes of Speciation
Allopatric
Speciation
The evolution of
reproductive barriers
between populations
that are geographically
separated.
A. Peripatric Speciation
Involves new species that developed from reproductive isolation in small marginal
populations of a species that are prevented from exchanging genes with the main
population.

B. Parapatric Speciation
Involves the origin of new species over the former range of the ancestral species.
 Sympatric
Speciation
The formation of two or more
descendants species from a single
ancestral species all occupying
the same geographic location.
***
 Reconstructing
PHYLOGENIES
 PHYLOGENY
A history of the evolutionary descent of
extant or extinct taxa from ancestral groups.
 Ancestral Species

PRIMITIVE
Characters
DERIVED
Characters
(Plesiomorphy) (Apomorphy)

Symplesiomorphy Synapomorphy
- a shared primitive character - a shared derived character
between two or more taxa. between two or more taxa.
HOMOLOGOUS vs. ANALOGOUS
Characters
If the similarity between two characters in two When two species have a similar characteristic
separate taxa is attributable to their presence in a because of convergent evolution.
common ancestor.
 Cladistic
THE

System
 Phylogenetics or
Phylogenetic Systematics

The science that focuses on the

evolutionary relationships of a group
species.
Cladistics
The method that group organisms based on their shared derived characters.

Cladogram
 One way metamorphosi
Tissues Coelom Jointed legs multicellular
digestive tract s

Earthworm 1 1 1 0 1 0

Roundworm 1 1 0 0 1 0

Sponge 0 0 0 0 1 1

Butterfly 1 1 1 1 1 0

Flatworm 1 0 0 0 1 0

Spider 1 1 1 1 1 0
 Vertebral column Four walking
Hinged jaws Amnion Hair
(backbone) legs

Lancelot 0 0 0 0 0

Lamprey 1 0 0 0 0

Bass 1 I 0 0 0

Frog 1 I 1 0 0

Turtle 1 1 1 1 0

Leopard 1 1 1 1 1