jimtrue.com : school : BSC2011L : Lab 01: Taxonomy, Systematics & Phylogeny

Posted by Jim True on August 25, 2004 9:23 AM. Last Updated October 22, 2006 9:23 PM

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Lab 01: Taxonomy, Systematics & Phylogeny

Objectives

1. To understand the science of classification as a way of organizing the diversity of life.
2. To understand how the taxonomic hierarchy reflects the evolutionary history of living things.
3. To know the basic seven step taxonomic hierarchy (Kingdom, Phylum, Order, Class, Family, Genus, Species).
4. To know how and why binomial nomenclature provides each type of living thing with a unique identification.
5. To know the names of the six kingdoms of living things and representatives: Eubacteria - bacteria; Archaea - bacteria; Fungi - fungi; Plantae - plants; Protista - Protozoans; Animalia (everything else)

Terms to Know

• taxonomy: the science of classifying or categorizing living organisms in some organized fashion.
• systematics: the organization of a classification scheme in such a fashion that it reflects the evolutionary history of organisms.
• phylogeny: evolutionary history of organisms.
• diversity: number of different TYPES of living things.
• abundance: total number of any one TYPE of organism
• taxonomic hierarchy: step-wise hierarchal organization of an organisms taxonomic lineage/categorization. It shows the exact organization from kingdom at the top to species at the bottom and also indicates the relative distance of various organisms with respect to one another in geologic time.
• taxon (taxa): a taxonomic group or hierarchy, eg Mammalia, Chordata, etc.
• binomial nomenclature: a two word description for a single species consisting of the genus and specific epithet (species)
• biological species concept: a species is defined as a population of similar organisms that under natural conditions are capable of interbreeding only with one another and producing fertile offspring.
• dichotomous key: a set of steps, consisting of two branches at each taxonomic/characterist level that is used in taxonomic classification to identify an unknown species.

Disclaimer: These are MY notes taken from classroom lectures while I'm in the classroom. While I'm perfectly happy to share my notes with my classmates and I know I take very good notes, you should still make every effort to attend the class and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. I will not transcribe everything the instructor says in the classroom, and I will NEVER post pre-exam reviews. My notes will not replace the value of actually attending class and taking your own class notes.I also cannot attest to their accuracy, other than they are what was provided in the lecture; you should not reference my notes as "expert opionion" by any means, and if you notice an error or omission, please do me the favor of e-mailing me with the correction and I will re-post my notes. End of Disclaimer.