1.1 Diversity of Living Things
Learning Goals
• Appreciate our planet's biodiversity and sustainable ecosystems
• Define a "species" - understand three "species concepts":
morphology, biology, and phylogeny
• Demonstrate an understanding of how to "classify" species using Carl
von Linne (Carolus linnaeus) binomial nomenclature naming system or
scientific name
• Use Taxonomic Classification (Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, etc.)
A. Biodiversity
How Many Organisms?
• 287,655 plants, including:
> 15,000 mosses,
> 13,025 ferns,
> 980 gymnosperms,
> 199,350 dicotyledons,
> 59,300 monocotyledons
• 74,000120,000 fungi
• 10,000 lichens
How Many Organisms?
• 1,550,000 animals, including:
> 1,490,200 invertebrates:
> 58,808 vertebrates:
– 1,250,000 insects,
– 29,300 fish,
– 70,000 molluscs,
– 5,743 amphibians,
– 40,000 crustaceans,
– 8,240 reptiles,
– 130,200 others
– 9,934 birds,
– 5,416 mammals
This is BIODIVERSITY:
• The amount and variation of all living things in a defined area
This is SUSTAINABILITY:
• an ecosystem includes all the interacting parts of a biological community, as well
as, with the nonliving components of its environment (therefore both biotic and
abiotic factors interact)
• a sustainable ecosystem is one that is capable of withstanding a certain amount
of pressure in order to support a wide variety of organisms, but never to the
extent that there would be long term depletion or negative affects to the
diversity within the ecosystem
Natural Resource Example: Forestry
•
•
•
•
Environment selective cutting instead of clear cutting and tree replanting
management
Social community relies on longterm viable forest industry in order to have jobs
in order to have a better quality of life for them and their future generations
within
• the community
• Economy forest industry still makes money, but protects the environment at the
• same time so it can be long term
B. Identifying, Naming, and Classifying Species
• Species: a group of organisms that can interbreed in nature and produce fertile
offspring
• Scientists have actually been unable to agree on a single definition of what a
"species" is ... so
• they introduced various factors, called species concepts, to include in the overall
definition in order to separate, identify, and name organisms.
1) Identifying Species
• There are 3 ways to identify species called species concepts:
Morphological species
concept
Biological species
concept
• focuses on
morphology
• body shape, size, and
other structural
features
• focuses on the ability
of organisms to
interbreed in nature
and produce viable,
fertile offspring
Phylogenetic species
concept
• focuses on the
phylogeny, or
evolutionary history
of organisms
• Organisms in the same
species can interbreed
to produce viable
offspring.
• These cannot....
Horse
Donkey
Mule
Different definition of species:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fO
fFlMe6ek
Pros/Cons of each Species Concept:
• Which Species Concept most closely fits the formal definition of
"species"? (biological)
• Which Species Concept is the most widely used? (morphological)
2) Naming Species
• International system of naming organisms was developed by Carolus
linnaeus
• He is referred to as "Father of Taxonomy"
• His naming system is known as binomial nomenclature
• This naming system is made up of 2 words
• First word: Genus name (always capitalized)
• Second word: species name (always lowercase)
• The "scientific name" is always underlined when handwritten and
italicized when typed
Examples:
• Canis lupus
• Homo sapien
• Panthera leo
3) Classifying Species
• Classification is the “grouping together of similar things”
• Scientists (Taxonomists) specialize in studying the relationships
among organisms they identify, name, and classify based on natural
features
• The "study of classifying organisms" is called taxonomy
• Taxonomists use a hierarchical classification system each organism
has "8 ranks" and then within each rank it is placed into a named
group or "taxon"
• All categories range from "most general" to "most specific"
Animal
Human
Common
chimpanzee
Bonobo
Rhesus monkey
Kingdom
Animalia
Animalia
Animalia
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Chordata
Chordata
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Mammalia
Mammalia
Mammalia
Order
Primates
Primates
Primates
Primates
Family
Hominidae
Hominidae
Hominidae
Cercopithecidae
Genus
Homo
Pan
Pan
Macaca
Species
Homo
sapiens
Pan
troglodytes
Pan paniscus Macaca mulatta
**How closely related two species' are is determined by how many taxa they share in common**