7 th Grade Classification Study Guide
1.
Classify organisms – using KPCOFGS (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species)
2.
Define:
1.
Binomial nomenclature: a scientific name made up of 2 Latin names - the genus and species
2.
Field guide: an illustrated book that provides descriptions of plants or animals found in nature.
3.
Dichotomous key: a device used to identify what group an organism or object is in. Most use a two choice system where you answer yes or no to each question to arrive at the correct group.
4.
Taxonomy: the classification of organisms
5.
Kingdom: the largest of the classification groupings
6.
Phylum: group of classes with shared characteristics- have same general body plan, varying only in detail
7.
Species: the smallest of the classification groupings. Organisms are MOST CLOSELY related.
Members of a species are capable of breeding and producing offspring that can also reproduce.
3.
Rules for writing a scientific name: the first letter of the name of the genus should be capitalized, the name of the species should be lower case
4.
Importance of scientific naming: you know exactly which species you are talking about and the scientific name tells you which species are similar
5.
What type of confusion could occur using the common names of organisms? The same species can have different common names in different languages. Different species can have the same common name (ex:// the English and American robin are not the same species).
6.
When would you use a field guide vs. a dichotomous key?
Field guide Dichotomus key
Uses illustrations (pictures) to identify organisms
Information
If you need to identify an organism, and know exactly what it looks like
Use questions to identify organisms
Identifying characteristics
Scientific name
If you need to identify an unknown organism
7.
Contributions of Linneaus and Aristotle to classification
Linneaus
The “father of classification”
Grouped organisms based on similar external/internal structures
Introduced KPCOFGS
responsible for developing the classification system we use today
Aristotle
2 groups  plant or animal
Based his grouping on external characteristics
Only based on what he could see  if it moved = animal, if it stayed still = plant