Systematics

Seeking Order Amidst Diversity

1.4 million

• That is about how many species there are known on Earth

• systematics, sometimes known as taxonomy, is science’s attempt to classify and organize 1.4 million different things

• Keeping these things organized helps with things such as museum management, field work, identifying new discoveries, genetics, etc.

Common Names

• Used on an everyday basis, common names can be confusing due to their inaccuracy

• Example, if I say to you, “Irish Moss.” What would you think of?

Maybe something like this?

Sorry, its this.

Yeah, its seaweed.

How about a tufted titmouse?

Maybe this guy?

NOPE!!!

Here he is. He’s in your backyard all the time. He likes sunflower seeds.

One more.

• Dolphin

• got that image in your head?

Okay, that works…but

This is a dolphin too. Mahi mahi anyone?

How Organisms are Classified

• Systematics is the science of reconstructing phylogeny (evolutionary history)

• A key part is taxonomy this is naming organisms and placing them into categories

• there are seven major categories, which I think you know: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species

• and the newer one, domain. This is really just whether an organism is a prokaryote or a eukaryote

Taxonomy

• Originated with ….

• wait for it…..

ARISTOTLE

what up

Carl von Linné

• He called himself…

• He called himself Carolus Linnaeus

• Jerkishnessity aside he did lay the groundwork for the modern classification system

Somehow you knew that this is exactly what he would look like.

The Linnaean System

• Is the one you’re familiar with

• A hierarchical arrangement based on resemblance to other organisms

• He also introduced the scientific name, composed of genus and species

Modern systematics

• Uses many features to categorize organisms

• anatomy, developmental stages, biochemical similarities, and the fossil record

• The relationships are drawn as cladograms or evolutionary trees