SCIENCE 8
organisms. The scientific name of a
ORGANIZING THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE
THE CONCEPT OF SPECIES
A species is a group of naturally
interbreeding populations; that is, they
only interbreed with their own kind.
TYPOLOGICAL SPECIES CONCEPT
Organisms belonging to the same species
are thought to be distinctly similar in
appearance.
EVOLUTION – organisms can change over
time in a process.
BIOLOGICAL SPECIES CONCEPT
Invokes that organism belong to the same
species if they are capable of
interbreeding with one another to form a
fertile offspring.
PHYLOGENETIC SPECIES CONCEPT
Considers a species as a group of
organisms that come from a common
ancestor.
SPECIES GENETIC CONCEPT
Is a concept proposed by most geneticists,
who consider genetic similarity as the
basis for belonging to the same species.
HOW ORGANISMS ARE CLASSIFIED
BIOSYSTEMATICS is the science that deals
with the diversity and relationships
between and among life-forms. One
branch of biosystematics is taxonomy,
which is the science of classifying
organisms.
CAROLUS LINNAEUS – a Swedish botanist,
laid the foundation for the modern
classification system, which is based on
the binomial system. In the binomial
system, scientific names are used to name  Kingdom Protista is composed of Genus: Zea
microscopic eukaryotes, mostly Species: mays
species is composed of the genus and the unicellular organism such as Scientific name: Zea Mays Linnaeus
specific epithet. The scientific name must Amoeba and Paramecium .
be underlined or italicized. Also, the  Kingdom Fungi covers all Housefly
genus name must always start with a unicellular and multicellular fungi. Kingdom: Animalia
capital letter. Examples include yeasts and Phylum: Anthropoda
mushrooms. Class: Insecta
THE EVOLUTION OF THE KINGDOM  Kingdom Plantae includes all Order: Diptera
CONCEPT photosynthetic multicellular Family: Muscidae
The science taxonomy is dynamic. organisms. Genus: Musca
From the time of Aristotle (fourth century  Kingdom Animalia is composed of Species:Domestica
bc) to the time of Carolus Linnaes (mid- all the heterotrophic (dependent Scientific name: Musca domestica
seventeen century ad), only two major on other organisms for Linnaeus
groups of organisms are recognized: food),multicellular animals.
plants and animals. Many biologists recognize the three Amoeba
The three kingdom system was domains – Bacteria, Archaea, and Kingdom: Protista
proposed in 1866 by Ernest Haeckel a Eukarya. Division: Amoebozoa
German zoologist, who added the third Class: Lobosa
kingdom called Protista. In 1938, Herbert LEVELS OF CLASSIFICATION Order: Amoebida
Copeland, an American biologist, The most general category of Family: Entamoebidae
proposed the four-kingdom classification classification is the domain, followed by Genus: Entamoeba
system. His system recognized plants, the kingdom. Each related group within a Species: histolytica
fungi, animals and Protista. kingdom comprises the phylum (pl.phyla). Scientific name: Entamoeba histolytica
Robert Whittaker, an American biologist, in plants, this is equivalent to a division. Schaudinn
devised the five kingdom system, which Each group within a phylum is a class.
separated prokaryotes and unicellular Within a class, a group is called an order. Bread Mold
eukaryotes into monerans and Protista. A group within an order is recognized as a Kingdom: Fungi
Carl Woese, an American microbiologist, family. Within a family, each group is a Division: Zygomycota
created the six-kingdm system (1977), in genus, (pl. genera); a genus is composed Class: Zygomecetes
which Kingdom Monera was divided into of one or more species. A species is Order: Mucorales
Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. In 1993, defined as a group of related organisms or Family: Mucoraceae
two more kingdoms – Kingdom Archezoa populations that can interbreed. Genus: Rhizopus
and Kingdom Chromista – were Species: stolonifera
proposedby British zoologist Thomas Corn Scientific name: Rhizopus stolonifera
Cavalier- Smith. Kingdom: plantae Vuill
The six-kingdoms are Archaebacteria, Division: Liliophyta
Eubacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Class: Liliopsida
Animalia. Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae