Questions and Answers
What is taxonomy?
The science of naming and classifying organisms.
Who based classification on whether an organism was a plant or an animal and its habitat?
Aristotle
Who is known as the Father of Taxonomy?
Carlous Linnaeus
What do taxa become as you go further along the classification hierarchy?
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What does the mnemonic 'Kings Play Chess On Fat Guys Stomachs' represent?
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What is binomial nomenclature?
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What is a cladogram?
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How are the seven levels of Linnaeus' classification system organized?
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Describe the trend in the levels of classification from kingdom to species.
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What is a taxon?
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What is a clade?
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What is the goal of cladistics?
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What does a cladogram represent?
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What is the best way to construct a cladogram?
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What do the nodes on the cladogram represent?
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What role does molecular evidence play in determining how closely two species are related?
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What is cladistics?
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What is a derived character?
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How are derived characters incorporated into a cladogram?
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What things should you keep in mind while making a cladogram?
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Are the individuals represented by the nodes currently alive?
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Study Notes
Taxonomy
- Science focused on naming and classifying organisms.
- Developed systems categorize organisms based on shared characteristics.
Historical Figures
- Aristotle: Classified organisms into plants and animals, also considered habitat.
- Carlous Linnaeus: Known as the Father of Taxonomy; created a hierarchical classification system based on morphology.
Classification System
- Taxa: Categories become more specific as one moves from broad to narrow classifications. Shared taxa indicate closer relationships between organisms.
- Linnaeus' system: Levels organized by physical similarities, transitioning from general categories (kingdom) to specific ones (species).
- Mnemonic: "Kings Play Chess On Fat Guys' Stomachs" corresponds to the levels: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
Naming Convention
- Binomial Nomenclature: Two-part naming system for scientific names, always in Latin. Underlined when handwritten and italicized when typed.
Cladistics and Cladograms
- Cladogram: Diagram representing evolutionary relationships among species.
- Clade: A group of species with a common ancestor.
- Goal of Cladistics: To arrange species according to their descent from a common ancestor, based on shared characteristics.
- Nodes represent the last common ancestor and its traits.
Constructing a Cladogram
- Steps include selecting organisms, designating an outgroup with one ancestral and one derived characteristic, and identifying derived characteristics for the ingroup.
- Derived characters help uncover evolutionary relationships and are shared among closely related species.
Molecular Evidence
- Molecular evidence (like DNA and protein sequences) informs the degree of relatedness among species.
- This evidence enhances cladistic analysis and classification accuracy.
Key Concepts
- Derived Character: Traits indicating evolutionary relationships that can be shared among some species but absent in others.
- Important considerations in cladogram construction include evolutionary changes and temporal factors.
- Nodes do not represent current living individuals; instead, they depict ancestral traits from earlier species.
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Description
Test your knowledge on the concepts of taxonomy and cladistics with these flashcards. Learn about key figures like Aristotle and Carlous Linnaeus, and understand the classifications of organisms. Perfect for students studying biology.