Classification of organisms Flashcards
What is phylogeny?
Study of the evolutionary history of groups of organisms
What does a phylogenetic tree show?
How all organisms have evolved from shared common ancestors
How can you tell how closely related two species are?
If they have less branches on the phylogenetic tree between them
What is taxonomy?
the science of classification
What does taxonomy include?
Naming organisms and organising them into groups
What are the 8 taxa used to classify organisms?
Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
How should you write the name of the species?
Capital letter for the genus
Lower case letter for the species
In italics
What is meant by the term hierarchy? (2 marks)
Groups within groups
No overlap between groups
Larger groups at the top and smaller groups at the bottom
What is a phylogenetic group?
grouped by evolutionary history
