CLASSIFICATION OF LIFE

Humans constantly try to organize information about the world around them in
meaningful ways. One way that we try to accomplish this is by classifying things into
different groups based on how things are alike and different. Think about some of the
things classified around your home or school and the methods used to classify non-
living things.

One branch of biology, called taxonomy, focuses on the classification of living

things. Taxonomy is the study of relationships between living things and the formal
classification of organisms into groups based upon those hypothesized relationships.
Organisms are classified based upon their similarities and differences.

Think about your own biological relatives. Your biological relatives include those that
you are related to by birth, for example parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts,
uncles, and grandparents. When two organisms are related, it means that they share a
common ancestor. The more recent the ancestor, the more closely related the
organisms are. Your closest relatives would be siblings (brothers and sisters) because
you share the closest common ancestor—a parent. Your cousins are not as closely
related to you because your common ancestor is farther away—a grandparent (your
parent’s parent).

Taxonomy takes into account the functional similarity as well as genetic similarity of
individuals. Human beings are mammals and are more closely related to primates, such
as apes, than to other mammals such as dogs. Humans and apes share functional
similarity in hands and facial features when compared to a dog’s face and paws. This
fact supports the idea that humans share a closer common ancestor to apes than dogs.

Although scientists have described nearly 2 million species on Earth, this number is
estimated to only be a small proportion of the actual number of species alive today.
There is an extensive fossil record of plants and animals that lived in the past and that
may be distant relatives of living species. The relationships between all of these
different extant and extinct organisms on our planet are amazingly intricate and
complex. Scientists are interested in classifying the many species currently living on
Earth, as well as those that are no longer living. They are also interested in studying the
evolutionary mechanisms that generate and maintain new species. Some species may
look very similar to each other, so it is important for scientists to establish specific
criteria for what distinguishes one species from another.
 Classification

Fig. 1.9. This diagram illustrates the nested hierarchy used in modern biological classification.
Image adapted from Dosto, Wikimedia Commons
In 1753, a Swedish biologist named Carl Linnaeus (also known as Carl von Linné)
proposed a universal system for classifying and naming animals and plants. Scientists
still use this Linnean system to classify living things. A hierarchical system, it works like
a series of nesting boxes (Fig. 1.9). The largest box is the domain, and all the other
levels of classification fit within the domains.

There are three domains that include all the living things on Earth. The domains are
Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Bacteria and Archaea are all single-celled
microorganisms that do not have DNA contained within a nucleus. Most of the Archaea
live in extreme environments. The Bacteria and Archaea were once grouped together
as a single kingdom (called Monera), but scientists later discovered that the Archaea
were distinctly different. Archaea are more similar to Eukarya than to Bacteria.
Fig. 1.10. Hawaiian goose or nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), Kīlauea Point, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i.
Image courtesy of Jörg Hempel, Wikimedia Commons
The domain Eukarya includes all organisms that have DNA contained within a nucleus.
Within the domain Eukarya, there are four kingdoms: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and
Animalia. Organisms with similar characteristics are grouped within these broad
kingdoms.

Organisms are usually grouped together based on their unique characteristics. The
classification of an organism often provides useful information about its evolutionary
history and which other organisms are related to it. For example, the Hawaiian goose
or nēnē (Branta sandvicensis; Fig. 1.10) is classified as shown in Table 1.9.

Table 1.9. Classification of the Hawaiian goose or nēnē bird (Branta sandvicensis). Table includes
the meaning and the key characteristics of the taxon.
Taxon Classification Meaning Key characteristics
Domain Eukarya true nucleus DNA is contained within a nucleus.
Kingdom Animalia animal Must eat other things.
Phylum Chordata has a notochord Notochord supporting dorsal nerve cord, gill slits
Class Aves bird Has feathers and hollow bones.
Order Anseriformes waterfowl Webbed front toes
swans, ducks &
Family Anatidae Broad bill, keeled sternum, feathered oil gland
geese
Brent or black
Genus Branta Bold plumage, black bill and legs
geese
from the Sandwich The Sandwich Islands is an old name for Hawai‘i.
Species sandvicensis
Islands This is the Hawaiian goose or nēnē.

At each level of hierarchy listed in Table 1.9, more information about the nēnē is
revealed. If the classification of the nēnē is imagined as a series of nested boxes (Fig.
1.9), the first box is the domain Eukarya box. All organisms in Eukarya (often referred to
as eukaryotes) have DNA contained in a nucleus rather than in the cytoplasm like the
domains Prokarya and Archaea.
Next is the kingdom Animalia box. Everything in this box must consume other
organisms to survive. Other kingdoms within Eukarya, like the kingdom Plantae, have
organisms that can make their own food.

Within the kingdom Animalia box, there are several other boxes, each labeled as a
different phylum. One is the phylum Chordata box. This box contains everything that
has a notochord, gill slits, and a dorsal nerve cord.

The phylum Chordata box contains many classes, one of which is the class Aves. Aves
are the birds, with feathers and hollow bones.

The class Aves box includes the box labeled order Anseriformes, the waterfowl that are
grouped together due to their webbed front toes.

The order Anseriformes box contains two family boxes. One of these is the family
Anatidae—the swans, ducks, and geese that have a broad bill, a keeled sternum, and
other unique features.

The family Anatida box contains the genus Branta. Geese in the genus Branta are
noted for bold plumage and legs and bills that are black in color.

The genus box Branta holds the species sandvicensis. By examining each level of
classification, it becomes clear that Branta sandvicensis is a Hawaiian goose with a
black broad bill, legs, webbed toes, feathers, hollow bones, and a notochord. It must
also eat other things. Note that several other species found in Hawai‘i are given the
species name sandvicensis because Sandwich Islands is an older European name for
the Hawaiian Islands. However, no other organism on earth is given the
genus Branta and the species sandvicensis. Branta sandvicensis is reserved only for
the nēnē.

The classification system tells something about the evolutionary relationships among
species. Moving down through each level of classification, the number of species in the
group decreases (Table 1.10). Two species within the same genus likely share a recent
common ancestor in their evolutionary history. These two species would be more
closely related to each other than two species classified into different families.
Table 1.10. The number species decreases in each group moving down the levels of classification.

Kingdom Animalia: Over 1.6 million species

Phylum Chordata (chordates): Approximately 51,500 species

Class Sarcopterygii (includes lobe-finned fishes): Approximately 32,000 species including 2

coelacanths, 6 lungfishes, and all four-limbed vertebrates

Order Coelacanthiformes (coelacanths): 2 species

Family Latimeriidae: 2 species

Genus Latimeria: 2 species

Species chalumnae and menadoensis

The levels of classification might also provide information on the evolutionary history of
a species or other taxonomic group. Such is the case with the
coelocanths Latimera spp.) whose classification is detailed in Table 1.10. West Indian
ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae; Fig. 1.10.1) and its sister species the
Indonesia coelacanth (Latimera menadoensis) are the only living members of their
genus (Latimera). They are also the only living members of their family (Latimeriidae)
and of their order (Coelacanthiformes). All other species belonging to these levels of
classification are now extinct.
Image

Image caption
Fig. 1.10.1. Preserved specimen of West Indian ocean coelacanth (Latimera chalumnae), Vienna
Natural History Museum, Austria
Image copyright and source
Image courtesy of Alberto Fernandez Fernandez, Wikimedia Commons
Coelacanths are also some of the very few surviving fish species within the class
Sarcopterygii, a group known as the lobe-finned fishes. All four-limbed vertebrate
animals—amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—also belong to class
Sarcopterygii. The coelacanths, and the six species of lung fish, are more closely
related to each other and to the four-limed vertebrates than to other fishes. For this
reason, the coelacanth offers a rare glimpse into the evolutionary history of vertebrate
animals and their limb-development.

Classification systems are used in many ways. Compare the classifications shown in
Fig. 1.11 and Fig. 1.12. Most people know something about water vehicles, so it is not
necessary to say that a speedboat has a motor. In the same way, there is general
knowledge that a tuna is classified as a fish. So, a tuna can be described without
needing to say that it is a fish because. Thus, if we make the statement that a skipjack
tuna is caught while fishing in a speedboat, many details can be left out of the
description because there is general, underlying knowledge of the classification of boats
and tuna.

Fig. 1.11. Example classification scheme for small boats

Fig. 1.12. Example classification scheme for fish

Scientific Nomenclature
The scientific name of the Hawaiian goose or nēnē—its genus and species name—are
written in italics. This use of italics is part of the rules that the scientific community has
developed for the naming of organisms. There are three main codes that govern the
naming of organisms.

 The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature governs the naming of

animals.
 The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature governs the naming of plants
and fungi.
 The International Code of the Nomenclature of Bacteria governs the naming of
bacteria.

The following are some basic nomenclatural rules that apply to all three codes:

1. In general, organisms are identified by their binomial name, consisting of the

genus and species names.
2. The genus name is always capitalized, whereas the species name is not. Both
names are always italicized or underlined.
3. Genus names can be abbreviated by their first letter, but species names cannot.
For example, after initially referring to the leafy sea dragon, Phyllopteryx eques, it
could subsequently be written P. eques.
4. Unknown species are referred to with the abbreviation sp. For example, a
seahorse of an unknown species in the genus Hippocampus would be
written Hippocampus sp. Note that sp. is not italicized.
5. Some genera have more than one species in them. To refer to multiple species
within the same genus, the genus name is followed with the abbreviation spp. A
group of seahorses all in the genus Hippocampus could be
written Hippocampus spp. Note that spp. is not italicized.