The "Classifieds"
Scientists have been trying to figure out the best way to classify living things for a long time. Some early scientists were very sensible about it. To them, an organism was useful, harmful, or unnecessary. Others divided all living things into two groups — plants and animals.
In time, scientific discoveries allowed scientists to learn more about the organisms they were studying. They had always been able to describe how an organism looked and behaved. Now they could begin to describe how their systems worked. In other words, they looked at an organism from the outside AND the inside.
What’s in a Name?
Think about those early scientists. They were discovering a ton of information about the living things they were studying. They wanted to share what they learned with other researchers. They just didn't have one scientific language they could all use.
They tried using Greek and Latin words to describe the way the plant or animal looked and behaved. It worked pretty well. All of the scientists knew Greek and Latin so they were speaking the same language. The problem was that not all people see things in the same way. So, the biologists had to wonder if they were all describing the same organism or a different one.
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On a piece of paper, write a one sentence description of the picture you see to the left. When you are finished, compare your description to two other "scientists" by clicking on the links below. |
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| How do your descriptions compare? Were they similar? Different? | ||
In the 1700s, a botanist named Carolus Linnaeus accidentally created a system for naming living things. Linnaeus liked using a description to name the plants he was studying. Then, in his notes, he would often write a shorter two-word name. Other scientists found this "shorthand" useful and started to use it. That's how the system we use today got started. The descriptive names became common names – like nicknames. The two-word names were used as the proper scientific name.
The System
Since the time of Linnaeus, we have learned much more about how the plant and animal world works. In 1969, R.H. Whittaker suggested a five-kingdom system. This system classified living things into five categories: Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, Protista, and Monera. In the last few years, discoveries have shown that there is another kingdom needed. Archaebacteria was added and now there are six.
Researchers use Kingdoms and other groupings to organize plants and animals into a system called the taxonomy. The taxonomy starts with Kingdoms. This is the broadest category. It includes a lot of differences. For example, a fish and a bear are very different, but they are still classified in the same Kingdom – Anamalia. From there, the categories get more specific.
The categories in today’s taxonomy are: Kingdom, Phylum or Division, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
When you know where any living thing fits into the taxonomy, you can better understand its scientific name.
Are you wondering if this system has solved all of the communication troubles? It hasn't. Scientists still disagree when it comes to deciding where an organism fits into the system. However, once a name has been agreed upon, there in an international committee to make sure that everyone uses the correct name for the correct organism.
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