Classification, Domain & 6 Kingdoms Notes
1st Classification System
1. Created by Aristotle and was used for 2,000 years
2.
Two main group – plants & animals. Plants were grouped into edible & not edible. Animals were
grouped by how they move (walk, swim, fly)
3. Problems with Aristotle’s classification system:
A. some organisms could be put into more than one subgroup. Ex: Ducks can walk, swim, & fly
B. some organisms had different names in English and more names in different languages.
Ex: A cougar, puma, & mountain lion are all the same animal & they also have different
names in different languages.
C. some organisms had names that were very long because they were more of a description of
the organism. Ex: Bumble bee’s name was 12 words long
Today’s Classification System
4. Based on the classification system Carrolus Linnaeus developed over 200 years ago.
5. Levels of classification – Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
Has groups within groups within groups so that the closer you get to a species, the few organisms are
in the same group.
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6. There are 3 Domains (largest group) – Eukarya, Archaea, & Bacteria
7. Now there are 6 kingdoms – Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Protist, Fungi, Plant, & Animal
Archaebacteria falls within the Archaea Domain; Eubacteria falls within the Bacteria Domain; & the
other 4 kingdoms – Protist, Fungi, Plant & Animal all fall within the Eukaryote Domain
8. Scientific name used for all organisms (binomial nomenclature) – in Latin – uses Genus and
Species names.
9. Includes how organisms evolved over time.
10. Groups are classified into clades. A clade is a
group that is related by a common ancestor.
Just follow the clade back to the beginning to
find it’s ancestor.
11. A cladogram (shown below) shows the
evolution of the species over time. The far left
is the earliest organism, with the far right
being the most current. Many cladograms
include characteristics that separate organisms
from one another. This allows you to see what
specific characteristics were used to group the
new organisms into a separate section.
In this cladogram:
Ray-finned fish have bony
skeletons so they are
different from sharks
Primates, Rodents & rabbits
have amniotic eggs and hair
so they are different from
amphibians
Classification & Kingdom Vocabulary Terms
12. Autotroph – makes it own food through photosynthesis (producer)
13. Heterotroph – can’t make its own food, must eat food (consumer)
14. Sessile – lives attached to one place – doesn’t move
15. Mobile – can move
16. Unicellular – Organisms made up of only one cell
17. Multicellular – Organisms made up of more than one cell (can be many cells)
18. Prokaryote – No nucleus
19. Eukaryote – Has a nucleus