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Taxonomy Scientists use taxonomy to classify organisms and assign each organism a universally accepted name. They do this by using a Dichotomous Key to classify organisms, the binary nomenclature, DNA, and RNA. In the taxonomic nomenclature naming system, there are different levels called a taxon (taxa plural) or taxonomic category. The different levels to the taxonomic nomenclature naming system are called: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. The first scientist to use the system was Carolus Linnaeus. His system had seven levels that were used for classification.
They range from smallest to largest: Species, Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum, and Kingdom. Later on scientists added on more levels. This system brought order to the process of naming species and classifying them into groups. The Dichotomous Key is used to help classify organisms and has been used for hundreds of years. There are different styles of the Dichotomous Key. Two of these styles are Lead Style and Question-answer Style. An example of Lead Style is: 1. Flowers red……. 2 2. Flowers white…. 3 3. Flowers blue…… 4 And example of Question-answer Style is: 1. What is the flower color? a. Red…….. 2 b. White…… c. Blue……. 4 I personally like the Lead Style better then the Question-answer Style because the Lead Style leads you to the answer while the Question Style makes you think. Binomial Nomenclature was a major step taken by Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist who lived during the eighteenth century, which assigned each species with a two-part scientific name. The scientific name is always written in italics and underlined. The first word is capitalized and the second word is lowercased. An example of a Binomial Nomenclature is Ursus arctos. The first part is the genus and the second part is the scientific name.
DNA and RNA is used to find out how closely one organism is related to another organism. DNA and RNA is not just used for finding out what the organism is related to. It can also tell how old the organism is and pass on its genetic information. DNA evidence helps to show evolutionary relationships of species and how species have evolved over time. An example of evolutionary relationship is how the African vultures and American vultures are both vultures, but the American vulture’s DNA is more closely related to the stork. An example of evolution can be seen by the various shape, size, and color of the bird’s beak.
As birds adapted to their environment they had to evolve to keep on living. A stork has a long slender beak to help catch fish while a vulture’s beak is short and stocky, more equipped for ripping flesh from dead animals. In this project I may not have used all of the information listed above, however, what I used I enjoyed thoroughly. The things I used were Binomial nomenclature, taxonomic nomenclature, and Dichotomous Key. In the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Insecta, I used a field guide and Dichotomous Key to classify each of the insects.
I learned some anatomy of insects and how to properly euthanize them. Here is an example of classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Dipera Family: Muscidae Scientific name: Domestica Common name: House fly I also learned about their Habitats. In the Kingdom Plantae I also used field guides and a Dichotomous Key, but I used the field guide more. I learned what Monocotyledoneae and Dicotyleoneae are. I also learned what some of the Division were and they are Pterophyta, Ginkgophyta (there is only one species left), Coniferophyta, nd Anthophyta. I learned how to press leaves and classify them. An example of this is Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Dicotyledoneae Family: Maple Scientific name: Acer rubrum Common name: Red maple In this project I learned a lot about taxonomy, like the different taxa, how to use the binary nomenclature, and what differences there are between DNA and RNA. I really enjoyed this project. I learned to be more observant when I walk through the woods and I now notice things I did not before this project. Sources: BugGuide. Iowa State University. 003-2008. http://bugguide. net/node/view/15740. “Dichotomous Key”. Wikibooks. 26 September 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. October 2008. http://en. wikibooks. org/wiki/Dichotomous_Key. Miller, Levine. Prentice Hall Biology. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. “Plants Database”. National Resources Conservation Service. United States Department of Agriculture. 20 Oct. 2008 http://plants. usda. gov/. Waggoner, Ben and PDP. July 2000. “Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)” UCMP Exhibit Hall. Berkeley. October 2008. http://www. ucmp. berkeley. edu/history/linnaeus. html.