How to classify living organisms?

"The science of placing organisms into categories on the basis of their observable features is called classification. The features can be inherited by successive generations of the species and show variation. The offspring are often different from one another and from their parents. This is important in adaptation to the environment and in the process of evolution. The study of the organisms would be impossible without an ordered way of classifying them which proves important for life conservation and the understanding of evolutionary relationships.

People who study classification, taxonomists, place organisms into groups by asking questions about their characteristics, e.g. “Is the organism made up of many different cells? “, “Is the organism a heterothroph (getting food from animals or plants)? “, etc. A series of such questions is called a classification key traditionally based on morphology and anatomy.

There are five large groups called kingdoms:

PLANTS (eukaryotes)
FUNGI (eukaryotes like yeast and moulds)
ANIMALS (eukaryotes)
PROTISTS (eukaryotes that usually have only one cell with a nucleus)
PROKARYOTES / MONERA (bacteria)

OBSERVABLE - able to be noticed

FEATURES = CHARACTERISTICS

CLASSIFICATION

VARIATION - something that is slightly different from its usual form

THE OFFSPRING (pl) - the babies of an animal or a human

LIFE CONSERVATION - the protection of living organisms

TAXONOMISTS - people who study classification

A HETEROTROPH - a living thing that gets its food from other plants or animals

A CLASSIFICATION KEY - a set of questions about the characteristics of living things

A EUKARYOTE - an organism whose cells have a nucleus and other organelles enclosed within membranes

YEAST [U]- a type of fungus that is used in making alcoholic drinks such as beer and wine, and for making bread swell and become light

MOULD [U]- a soft, green or grey growth that develops on old food or on objectst hat have been left for too long in warm, wet air

A PROKARYOTE - a unicellular organism that lacks a nucleus, mitochondria or any other membrane-bound organelles

The Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus gave organisms known to science a two-part name based entirely on the body structure of organisms paving the way for a binomial system of nomenclature.

In 1980 Carl Woese proposed that living organisms can be classified into three superkingdoms or domains: ARCHAEA, BACTERIA, EUKARYOTA based on each group’s specific rRNA and biochemical differences. As Linnaeus knew nothing about DNA profile, nowadays scientists can compare DNA profiles of different species.

Keys can be used within a kingdom to place any species into further groups: phylum, class, order, family, genus, species > creating a hierarchy of classification. On moving down the hierarchy of groups, ther are more similarities and fewer differences betweeen the members.

TO PAVE THE WAY FOR STH - to make it possible for someone to follow

BINOMIAL - two-term

NOMENCLATURE - a system for naming things

ARCHAEA - prokaryotes other than bacteria

DOMAIN = SUPERKINGDOM

KINGDOM

PHYLUM

CLASS

ORDER

FAMILY

GENUS

SPECIES