LibGuides: Classification: Introduction

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of describing, naming, and classifying living and extinct organisms. The term taxonomy drives from the Greek taxis ("arrangement;" from the verb tassein, meaning “to classify”) and nomos (“law” or “science,” such as used in “economy”).

Taxonomy is basic to all biological disciplines since each requires the correct names and descriptions of the organisms studied. However, taxonomy is also dependent on the information provided by other disciplines, such as genetics, physiology, ecology, and anatomy.

Library books on classification

How animals & other organisms are classified

What is scientific classification?
Classification is the method used by scientists to order living organisms. All species have a unique classification that results in a binomial name. Vertebrates are an example of a classification group. Keys can be used to help to identify individual organisms.

An Introduction to the Classification of Animals (1866)

Taxonomy's: Life's filing system

Odd species names
Scientific names that have entertainment value.
The kingdoms of life
Play the video & then test yourself.
Tree of life
The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. The project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history (phylogeny).
Tree of life cladogram
Wherever they’re found, all living things are related because they all share a common ancestor. To show how species are related, scientists create diagrams called cladograms. Like a family tree, a cladogram shows close and distant relatives. Scientists call the family tree for all species on Earth the "Tree of Life."
A-Z Animal classification
Want to know the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus & Species of an animal? Then search A-Z of Animal Classification.

The details

Modern basic 5-Kingdom system
The original two Kingdoms were Plantae and Animalia, which remained the only Kingdoms until the middle of the 20th Century. During the last 40-50 years, those groups have been splintered a bit - Fungi was split off from the plants, Protista removed the single-celled eukaryotes and Monera was made for the prokaryotes. Those five Kingdoms have been considered "the" Kingdoms in most basic biology books, even though the splintering has continued. The latest basic books now recognise a sixth group, the Archaea, once thought to be odd bacteria but now considered a fundamentally different group.
What determines a species?
Species is a that has been defined in different ways through the past. It first just meant a distinctly-describable type; then it was distinct types that could not interbreed; then it was distinct types that could breed and produce offspring that themselves could go on as adults to breed. Today, the best, latest, nontechnical definition of species is...

Species: A group that, in natural surroundings, breeds exclusively within the group.

Referencing

When submitting an assignment, it's important to reference the sources you use. Using the right sources in your work provides you with the supporting evidence you need in your assignment. Referencing is the acknowledgment of the sources that you use in your work. You must reference all sources that you use in your assignment, including words and ideas, facts, images, videos, audio, websites, statistics, diagrams, and data.Microsoft Word has a "References" tab which allows you to add sources. There are also websites which will "autocite" resources.

Zotero: Free software to collect, organise, cite, and share your research sources. Click here for 'how to' guides on installing and using Zotero, or here for the video version.

The following online citation generators are free to use: