Home Page Textbooks Prentice Hall Biology (California) Section 18.1: Finding Order in Diversity

Prentice Hall Biology (California)

1st Edition

Kenneth R. Miller, Levine

ISBN: 9780132013529

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Section 18.1: Finding Order in Diversity

Exercise 1

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According to the text, biologists called taxonomists decide on universally accepted names to organize living things in groups that have biological significance.

Names must be universally accepted, for example “mammal” is used for all warm blooded animals with internal skeletons that nurse their young. When scientists refer to living things, they can avoid misunderstanding by referring to the scientific name rather than the common name.

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Living things are classified using a series of universally accepted names which group organisms according to biological similarities.

Exercise 2

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Linnaeus developed a naming system called binomial nomenclature. Because of this naming system, organisms are given a scientific name that consists of the genus and the species to which they belong. In addition, Linnaeus also constructed a classification system that is hierarchical in terms of its structure. It has seven levels or taxonomic categories that include (arranged from the largest to the smallest) kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Exercise 3

Solution 1

Solution 2

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Linneau’s taxa categories is ranked from largest at the top heirechally

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

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see explanation for solution

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Linnaeus’s classification system is divided into seven taxonomic categories that are arranged in a hierarchy. From highest to lowest, these are categories are: *Kingdom*, *Phylum*, *Class*, *Order*, *Family*, *Genus*, and *Species.*

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It is also important to note that each lower category serves as a subcategory of a higher category. For instance, a kingdom consists of many phyla, a phylum consists of many classes, a class consists of many orders, and so on.

Exercise 4

Solution 1

Solution 2

Solution 3

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The common names for organisms cause problems for scientists, because they vary among languages and from place to place.

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The scientific names are more convenient because they also refers to characteristics and classification of animals. While common names did not

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see explanation for solution

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When discussing organisms, it is important to refer to these organisms using a universal and unique name. This is the reason why scientists prefer using scientific names to refer to specific organisms rather than using their common names.

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Scientific names are convenient because they are unique, meaning they only refer to a specific organism. Scientific names are also useful because they are universal, meaning they refer to the same organism regardless of culture, geography, or other factors.

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On the other hand, the use of common names is problematic because they can cause confusion. One major problem of common names is that they might refer to different organisms depending on cultural, geographical, or other factors. This can cause confusion.

Exercise 5

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In binomial nomenclature, organisms are given a two-part scientific name that consists of the genus and the species to which they belong. The scientific is written in italics and the second word is in lowercase. For example, the scientific name given to a tiger is $textit{Panthera tigris}$. The word $textit{Panthera}$ is the genus to which the tiger belongs and the word $textit{tigris}$ refers to its species name.

Exercise 6

Solution 1

Solution 2

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based on the diagram foxes are more related to snakes than sea stars. because foxes and snakes belong to the same phylum. sea stars do not belong to this phylum

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see explanation for solution

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The given diagram illustrates each of the seven taxonomic categories in Linnaeus’s classification system. What’s fascinating about this system is that each lower category represents a group of organisms that are more closely related to each other.

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If we look at the diagram closely, we can see that the foxes, snakes, and sea stars all belong to the kingdom of *Animalia*. However, when we go to a lower taxonomic category in the hierarchy, we can see that the sea star is missing from the phylum of *Chordata*.

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Since a lower taxonomic category in the hierarchy represents a group of closely related organisms, then we can infer that the foxes are more closely related to **snakes** than to sea stars due to the fact that sea stars are not part of the phylum Chordata.

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Section 18.1: Finding Order in Diversity

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