The Fascinating World of Taxonomy: Classifying Life

🌍Diversity is a fundamental characteristic of life, with millions of species yet to be discovered and classified.

🔍Taxonomy is the system for classifying organisms, placing them in domains, kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, and species.

🌱Linnaeus's two kingdom system simplified organism classification as plants or animals, but it is no longer practical.

📚Binomial nomenclature, introduced by Linnaeus, uses two-word naming conventions for organisms, consisting of genus and species names.

🏞️The domain-kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species hierarchy is used to categorize and classify organisms.

How many species have been formally described?

—Just under two million species have been formally described, but there are still millions left to identify.

What is binomial nomenclature?

—Binomial nomenclature is a two-word naming convention that includes the genus and species name of an organism.

Why did Linnaeus propose a two kingdom system?

—Linnaeus proposed the two kingdom system to simplify organism classification as either plants or animals, but it is no longer accurate or practical.

Are all organisms classified in the same domain?

—No, organisms are classified into three domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.

What are the major categories in the hierarchy of life?

—The major categories in the hierarchy of life are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

00:01Diversity is a hallmark of life, with millions of species yet to be formally described and classified.

00:13Linnaeus introduced the conventions of modern classification, including binomial nomenclature.

00:24Linnaeus proposed a two kingdom system, classifying organisms as plants or animals.

01:09Binomial nomenclature uses two-word naming conventions for organisms.

01:31The domain-kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species hierarchy is used to categorize and classify organisms.