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Topic 2 - Classification

This document discusses various methods for classifying and determining evolutionary relationships between organisms, including: 1) Artificial and natural classification systems based on observable traits and evolutionary history. 2) Tools like dichotomous keys that use distinguishing characteristics to identify unknown organisms. 3) Phylogenetic analysis using morphological and molecular data like DNA sequences to construct evolutionary trees and determine which species shared common ancestors.

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31 views

Topic 2 - Classification

This document discusses various methods for classifying and determining evolutionary relationships between organisms, including: 1) Artificial and natural classification systems based on observable traits and evolutionary history. 2) Tools like dichotomous keys that use distinguishing characteristics to identify unknown organisms. 3) Phylogenetic analysis using morphological and molecular data like DNA sequences to construct evolutionary trees and determine which species shared common ancestors.

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d20231107667
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Topic 2: Classification
1. Naming and Classification - Dichotomous Key
Construction.
2. Classification Based on Phylogenetic - Morphological
and Molecular Resources.
1. Naming & Classification - Dichotomous Key
Construction
● Living organisms must be classified, in order to compare
between them and see the differences between different
types of organisms.
● Classification systems aim to reflect evolutionary
relationships and organisms can be classified into
groups by the features that they share.
● Artificial classification was the earlier classification
system. It only used observable features in organisms to
place them in groups e.g. can fly.
● Natural classification uses information about the
organisms’ common ancestors and structural features to
place them in groups e.g. similar bone structure. This has
occurred due to the increased understanding of
evolutionary relationships between organisms. The 6
kingdom system is an example of natural classification.
Cont…
• Taxonomy – the science of naming and classifying
organisms within groups (taxa)
• Phylogeny – the evolutionary history of a species or
group of species.
• Systematics – the science of determining
evolutionary relationships among organisms.
• Carl Linnaeus devised this system in the 1700s.
Organisms are split into the following system:
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus,
Species
• The binomial system is used to name organisms. It is
the internationally agreed system where you use the
genus and species to name the individual species of
organisms.
Cont…
• Linnaean system
• Inclusive hierarchical system of classifying organisms
• Taxon – a unit of classification (plural = taxa)
• Binomial nomenclature – organisms have two part scientific names (in Latin): Genus and Species
• Identification Keys
• Based on morphological characters only
• Description of truly contrasting characters
• Clear, concise wording
• Minimum number of steps
• Criteria for classifying organisms
• Morphological characters
• Fossil record
• Embryology
• Molecular analysis (genetic differences)
• Biological Classification
• Based on degree of overall similarity between organisms
• Need to be precise, fixed and of universal application
• Needs to reflect evolutionary histories
Cont…
• Evolutionary relationships
• In determining relationships, it can be useful to treat some features of organisms as more important than others
• Homologous characters – features that are related due to common ancestry. These are important ones for
classification. They can be primitive or derived characters
• Analogous (homoplastic) characters – Features that are similar due to a common function but have evolved
separately. This results in convergent evolution
Cont…
• Dichotomous Keys
• The dichotomous key is the method employed for identifying unknown organisms. The evolution of keys has been
the result of work by taxonomists who study the characteristics of organisms at some taxonomic level
(=category) and often develop keys for their identification.
• A dichotomous key is constructed of a series of couplets, each consisting of two separate statements. For
example:
couplet 1. Seeds round ...........soybeans
1. Seeds oblong..........2 (this statement indicates that you go to couplet “2”)
couplet 2. Seeds white ...........northern beans
2. Seeds black ...........black beans
• By reading the two statements of each couplet, it will progress through the key from typically broad
characteristics to narrower characteristics until only a single choice remains. As long as the correct statement of
each couplet is chosen, and the unknown organism is included in the key, a confident identification is usually
achieved.
2. Classification Based on Phylogenetic -
Morphological and Molecular Resources.
• Phylogeny
• The evolutionary history of a group of genetically related organisms is called a phylogeny.
• It includes ancestor species and descendant species.
• A phylogeny is usually represented by a tree diagram called a phylogenetic tree.
• An early example of a phylogenetic tree is Darwin’s “Tree of Life”.
• In this diagram, Darwin was trying to show how he thought evolution had occurred. The tree shows how species
evolved through time, from the bottom of the tree to the top. As species evolved, they formed new branches on
the tree of life. Some of these species eventually branched into additional descendant species. Others died out, or
went extinct, without leaving any descendants.

Darwin’s Tree of Life. This branching diagram represents the


evolutionary histories of different species. It is the only diagram
that originally appeared in Darwin’s famous 1859 book, On the
Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Cont…
• Modern biologists still use phylogenetic trees to represent
evolutionary histories.
• The tips of the branches represent genetically related species.
• The branching points represent common ancestors.
• A common ancestor is the last ancestor species that two descendant
species shared before they took different evolutionary paths.
• In the tree in Figure below, species 1 and 2 shared a more recent
common ancestor with each other than with species 3. Therefore,
species 1 and 2 are more closely related to one another than to
species 3.
• Cladistics
• The most common method of incorporating information into
phylogenetic trees is called cladistics.
• Cladistics depicts hypotheses about how organisms are
related, based on traits of ancestor and descendent species.
• Cladistics was developed in the 1950s by a scientist named
Willi Hennig. Over the next several decades, it became very
popular, and is still widely used today.
Cont…
• Types of cladograms
• Rooted
• Identify node in cladogram that occurred first
• Shows direction of evolution throughout clade
• Several different ways to draw cladogram to show branching
• Reveals sequence in which important character states evolved
• Unrooted
• Do not show which node is closest to the root
• Leave direction of evolution between each pair of nodes unspecified
• Number of possible unrooted cladograms depends only on the number of species
• Cladistics compares species with respect to various characters
• To be useful character must occur in all species being considered: Details called character state
• Morphological characters: Related to body form
• Molecular characters: Chemical traits
• Examples: Structure of segment of DNA and ability to make a particular kind of molecule
• Choosing the Best Cladogram
• Statistical methods can be used to determine which cladogram best fits a particular data set. An important deciding
factor is parsimony. Parsimony means choosing the simplest explanation from among all possible explanations. In
cladistics, parsimony usually means choosing the cladogram with the fewest branching points.
Cont…
• Phylogenetic Classification
• A cladogram shows how species may be related by descent from a common ancestor.
• A classification of organisms on the basis of such relationships is called a phylogenetic classification.
• A phylogenetic classification involves placing organisms in a clade with their common ancestor.
• Consider the cladogram below.
• It groups birds in the same clade as reptiles, because a variety of evidence suggests that birds evolved from a
reptile ancestor.
• The cladogram places mammals in a separate clade, because evidence suggests that mammals evolved from
a different ancestor.
Cont…
• Similarities among nucleic acid base sequences provide some of the
most direct evidence of evolutionary relationships
• Nucleic acids directly control genetic traits and copies of nucleic
acids are actually passed from parents to offspring. Therefore,
similarities in these traits are likely to reflect shared ancestry.
• By the 1960s, scientists had found ways to sequence the bases in
nucleic acids. This coincided with the growing popularity of
cladistics.
• In cladistic analysis, similar nucleic acid base sequences are
assumed to indicate descent from a common ancestor. The more
similar the sequences, the more recently two groups are assumed to
have shared a common ancestor.
• Many base sequence comparisons have confirmed genetic
relationships that were assumed on the basis of similarities in
physical traits.
• For example, 96 percent of the DNA in humans and
chimpanzees is the same. This agrees, in general, with the
Linnaean classification of chimpanzees as close human
relatives.

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