Classification of Organisms

Taxonomy is the study of the classification of organisms, it is the

organization (separation) of all the known organisms into groups based

on their shared features, these groups are then organized into

further, larger groups. These groups are all referred to as Taxa

(Taxon - singular). The taxa used in taxonomy are: Species, Genus,

Family, Order, Class, Phylum and kingdom, each group getting larger

going form species to kingdom.

Taxa Used in Taxonomy

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Species

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Organisms That are able to interbreed, producing fertile offspring are

considered to be of the same species, this taxon can also be divided

into subspecies and then strains (to give more finite classification).

Genus

A groups of organisms that are similar and fairly closely related.

Family

A group of organisms, which are of apparently, related Genera.

Order

A group of similar, or apparently related families.

Class

A grouping of related orders within a phylum.

Phylum

Organisms with very basic similarities, which subtle similarities,

that appears to have been constructed on the same 'plan'.

Kingdom

The largest group, which includes animals, plants, fungi…Subdivided

into Prokaryota (single celled organisms) and Eukaryota (multicellular

organisms).

Some groups are so large that they become apparently meaningless, when

this happens they can be divided into more specific subdivisions.

For individual species the Binomial system is used to name organisms.

This system makes use of the Species and Genus taxa, by giving every

species 2 names, the first identifying it's genus, the seco...

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...ful, so their population exploded.

They were rounded up and shot in masses, but this had very little

effect on their population, eventually the viral disease myxomatosis

was introduced into the rabbit population, by man, through infected

fleas (the carriers of the disease), since the rabbit population was

so dense the disease spread quickly and massive numbers of rabbits

were killed, the disease became the only biotic environmental factor

affecting their population, but it still greatly decreased their

population size.

This case gives a clear example of how environmental factors limit

population sizes, if humans were not affected by famine, drought and

disease our population would balloon out of control and measures would

have to be taken (like those in place in china) to limit the growth of

our population.