Biodiversity
- There are 13 billion know species of organisms.
- This is only 5% of the organisms that ever lived!
- New organisms are still being found and identified.
So what is classification?
- Classification is the arrangement of organisms into orderly groups based on their similarities.
- Classification is also known as taxonomy.
- Taxonomists are scientists that identify and name organisms.
Why do we need to classify organisms?
- It is easier to compare similarities between organisms.
- It is easier to compare differences between organisms.
- We can find certain organisms easily by using their characteristics.
- Accurately and uniformly names organisms.
- Prevents misnomers such as starfish and jellyfish that aren’t really fish.
- Uses same language (Latin or some Greek) for all names.
