Classification and Cladistics
Classification and Cladistics
A3.2
Classification
and Cladistics
Theme: Unity and Diversity
organisms
Classification of Organisms:
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the
science of classifying
organisms into groups.
Traditional taxonomy
classifies organisms
into groups, known as
taxa, based on
observable physical
traits.
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Classification of Organisms:
Taxonomy
Classification is needed because of the immense
diversity of species.
There are estimated to be around 8.7 million
different species on Earth.
Once an organism is classified, this facilitates a
broad range of further studies.
If you know the characteristics of known mammals
(Class Mammalia), then you know the common
characteristics of all mammals, including all
undiscovered mammals. Class Mammalia
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From
A3.2.2: Difficulties classifying the IB
organisms into the traditional
hierarchy of taxa
The traditional hierarchy of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus
and species does not always correspond to patterns of divergence
generated by evolution.
Nature of Science: A fixed ranking of taxa (kingdom, phylum and so on)
is arbitrary because it does not reflect the gradation of variation.
Cladistics offers an alternative approach to classification using unranked
clades.
This is an example of the paradigm shift that sometimes occurs in
scientific theories.
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Traditional Taxonomy
A taxon is a group of any rank
such as species, order or
kingdom.
Taxa are traditionally
organised from the broadest
taxon, domain, to the most
specific taxon, species.
Traditional classification,
developed by Linnaeus,
placed organisms into taxa
based on observable physical
Classification of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
traits.
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Hierarchy of Taxa
corresponding to evolutionary
relationships
The ideal classification follows evolutionary relationships, so all the
members of a taxonomic group have evolved from a common ancestor.
Characteristics of organisms within such a group can be predicted
because they are shared within a clade.
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Evolution
Evolution is the
change in the
heritable
characteristics of
populations of a
species over time.
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Cladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying organisms
into groups called clades, based on shared
traits.
A clade is a group of organisms (or viruses)
that have all evolved from a common
ancestor. Characteristics of organisms can be
predicted according to the clades that they are
classified into.
Clades can be organised into cladograms,
which are tree diagrams that show the most
Cladogram of the great apes
probably divergence between species.
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From
A3.2.4: Clades as groups of the IB
The most objective evidence for placing organisms in the same clade
comes from base sequences of genes or amino acid sequences of
proteins.
Morphological traits can be used to assign organisms to clades.
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Clades
Molecular Clock
Differences in the
base sequence of DNA
(and therefore
proteins) are the
result of mutations.
Mutations accumulate
gradually over long
periods of time at a
constant rate, so they
can be used as
molecular clocks.
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Molecular Clock
Molecular clocks are based on the gradual accumulation of sequence
differences, due to mutations, over time.
Molecular clocks can be used to estimate when clades diverged from a
common ancestor
Read the linked article on molecular clocks.
Cladograms
Constructing Cladograms
Cladograms can be
constructed by
grouping organisms
according to shared
characteristics.
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Constructing Cladograms
Comparing base sequences of genes or amino
acid sequences in proteins is the preferred
method of constructing cladograms, as the data
is objective.
Nucleotide sequences or amino acid sequences
are compared to determine the number of
differences in the gene/protein between species.
The fewer differences in the sequence, the more
closely related two species are.
Amniota Cladogram
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Clades on a Cladogram
A clade is a group of
organisms which have evolved
from a common ancestor.
A branch on a cladogram that
includes a single common
ancestor, a node, and all of its
descendants represents a
clade.
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Cladogram Definitions
Terminal Branch - is an
endpoint of a cladogram
representing one group.
Example: Birds
Analysing Cladograms
Canine Cladogram
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Analysing Cladograms
Mammals Cladogram
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Primate Cladogram
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Scrophularia nodosa
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