Classifying Living Things: Exploring the Role of

Structural, Developmental Characteristics, and DNA

Sequences in Classifying Living Things"
Objective:
EXPLAIN HOW THE STRUCTURAL AND
DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND
RELATEDNESS OF DNA SEQUENCES ARE
USED IN CLASSIFYING LIVING THINGS
Structural and developmental characteristics as well as
DNA sequence relatedness are important factors used in
classifying living things. This is because these features
reflect the evolutionary relationships and common
ancestry between different organisms.
embryoni
c
develop
ment.
These
traits can
be used
to
determin
e
evolution
ary
relations
Structu
ral
Charac
refers to the physical attributes, features,
teristic
or properties of an object, organism, or
s
system. These characteristics describe the
form, composition, arrangement, or
organization of the elements that make up
the structure.
Two ways in classifying living things using
1.)
structural
Morph characteristics:
ology
2.)
Compa
rative
Anato
my
 MORPHOLOGY
Morphology refers to the
study of the form, structure,
and appearance of
organisms, including their
internal and external
characteristics.
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY
is a subfield of anatomy that focuses on the comparison of
anatomical structures across different species. It involves
examining the similarities and differences in the anatomical
features of various organisms to gain insights into their
evolutionary relationships and adaptations.
It can be compared into two:
Homologous Structures & Analogous Structures
Homologous structure
-pairs of different organisms that are similar
in structure but serve different functions.
Analogous Structure
-are feature of different species that are
similar in the function but not necessarily in
structure.
Develo
pment
al
Charac
refer to the processes and changes that
occur during the growth and maturation of
teristic
an organism from its embryonic stage to its
s
adult form.
In classifying living things using
developmental characteristics we can use
COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGY
 Comparative Embryology
-is the branch of embryology that compares and contrast
embryos of different species, showing how organisms
are related.
Embryonic development
 THE DNA IS
MADE UP OF
FOUR
NUCLEOTIDES
WHICH ARE:

They are used to identify similarities and differences between organisms

DEVELOPMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS
OF DNA EXAMPLE:
SEQUENCES

This is where scientist can

identify
similarities and differnces in
the genes responsible for these
developmental characteristics

Chimpanzee & Gorilla

Phylogenetic analysis

-provides an in-depth understanding of how species evolve through genetic

changes.
Phylogenetic tree
-is a diagram that depicts the lines of evolutionary descent of different species,
organisms, or genes from a common ancestor
Phylogenetic tree
PHYLOGENETIC
TREE SHOWING
LIZARDS AND
SNAKES
RELATIONSHIPS
 Relatedness of DNA

DNA sequences may be used to compare different creatures and determine

how closely related they are. The likelihood of two species being closely
related increases with how similar their DNA sequences are. Taxonomy is a
system for classifying and studying the variety of life on Earth.
 WHAT IS TAXONOMY?

Is the science of naming, describing and classifying organisms and

includes all plants, animals and microorganisms of the world.
 Importance of Taxonomy

1.
It helps us categorize organisms so we can more easily
communicate biological information.

Taxonomy uses hierarchical classification as a way to help scientists

2. understand and organize the diversity of life on our planet. Hierarchical

classification basically means that we classify groups within larger groups.
 -lowest level of taxonomic hierarchy

-Group of similar speciest

-Includes various genera that shares

few similarities

-constitues one ore more similar families

-most general rank

-more specific than the kingdom

-Highest level of classification

 TAXONOMIC HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF
THE ANIMALS WITHIN THE MOLLUSCA SHARE THE
FEATURE OF BEING SOFT BODIED

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OPISTHOBRANCHIA NUDIBRANCHIA SLUG

SLUGS

DOTIDAE
DONE!
THANK YOU!