Taxonomic Classification from Domain to Species: Earth How.

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TaxonomicClassification:FromDomaintoSpecies
UpdatedonSeptember27,2023
TaxonomicClassification:FromDomaintoSpecies
Eachlevelofclassificationanswersageneralquestionaboutthespecies.
Likeafamilytree,wecanseetherelationshipbetweenanylivingorganismbyobservingthefollowingclassificationoflife.
Let’sdiveintothe7taxonomicclassificationsoflifeonEarth.
“In biology, we categorize life by how similar they are to each other.”
1.Domains
“Domains”arethetop-levelclassificationthatcategorizeslifeinthemostgeneralway.It’sevenmoregeneralthanaskingwhetheran
organismisaplantorananimal.
Forexample,protists,fungi,plants,andanimalsarepartoftheeukaryadomain.Thisisbecausetheircellsallhaveanucleus.While
prokaryoteslikearchaeaandbacteriadon’thaveone,eukaryahaveanucleus.Sothe3domainsoflifearearchaea,bacteria,and
eukarya.
Theothertwokingdomsareeubacteriaandarchaebacteriawhichdonothaveacellnucleus.Thesesingle-celledmicroorganisms
evolvedintheearlystagesofEarth’sformationandhaveverydifferentcellanatomyfromeukarya.
2.Kingdoms
Afterdomains,thekingdomclassificationgetsabitmorespecific.Forexample,isitaplantorananimal?Ifit’saplant,wecategorizeit
intheplantkingdom.Ifit’sananimal,it’spartoftheanimalkingdom.
The7kingdomsofbiologyare:
Bacteria
Archaea

2. Protozoa
Chromista
Plantae
Fungi
Animalia
3.Phylums
Aswemovedownthelevelsoftheclassificationoflife,kingdomsarebelowdomains.Each
phylumisgroupedintoakingdom,whichisgroupedintoadomain.
ANIMALKINGDOM:Theanimalkingdomcontainsapproximately35phyla.
PLANTKINGDOM:Theplantkingdomconsistsof14.
FUNGUSKINGDOM:Thefunguskingdomcontains8phyla.
Humansarepartoftheanimalkingdomtaxonomy.Next,webelongtotheChordataphylumwhichhasthesefourcommon
characteristics:anotochord,adorsalhollownervecord,pharyngealslits,andapost-analtail.
AnotherexamplefromtheanimalkingdomistheArthropodaphylumwhichisaninvertebrateanimalwithexoskeletons.Forexample,all
insects,spiders,andcrustaceansbelongtothisphylum.
4.Classes
Asyoumovethroughthelevels,thequestionsgetmorespecific.Eachorderhasaclass,whichisgroupedintoaphylum.
Fortheanimalkingdom,thereare35phyla.Then,thesephylacanbebrokenupinto107classes.
Forexample,theChordataphylumcontainsmammals,reptiles,andamphibians.
5.Orders
After,wegroupordersintoclasses.Andinthetaxonomyclassificationbelow,thegenuscanbegroupedintoorders.
Ifyoulookatthehumantaxonomy,ourclassisMammalia.Then,ourorderisprimates.
Ordershaveaseparatesub-divisioncalledafamily.Forexample,humansarepartoftheHominidaefamily.
6.Genus
Eachgenushasafamily.Theyalsobelongtoaspecies,whichisthemostspecifictaxonomicclassificationofthemall.
Forexample,ourgenusishomo.Gorillaisagenus.Ithastwospecieswhicharethewesterngorillaandtheeasterngorilla.
Whenyouhearascientificname,itusesthegenusandspecies.
7.Species
Thetaxonomicclassificationof“species”isthemostspecificyoucanget.
Eachspeciesbelongstoagenus.Then,itgoesdownthechainoftaxonomicclassificationintoanorder,class,phylum,kingdom,and
domain.

3. Biologistshaveidentifiedapproximately1.3millionspeciesonEarth.Butitisestimatedthat8.7millionspeciescanexistontheplanet.
Theanimalkingdomisthelargestwithapproximately1millionspecies.Then,theplantkingdomisthesecond-largestwith
approximately250,000differentspecies.
TaxonomicClassification:FromDomaintoSpecies
Thetaxonomicclassificationsystemisawayofgroupingandclassifyingorganisms.
Ataxonomicclassificationsystemisafoundationforscientificinquiry,andtheknowledgegainedfromitcontinuestobeusedtoday.
Asyoualreadyknow,thetaxonomicclassificationsystemisahierarchicalsystemforclassifyinglifeforms.
Doyouhaveanyquestionsonthesubject?Pleasesendusyourcommentsintheformbelow.
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4. 6Comments
Iagreewiththeabovecommentsassigningfamilyasasub-divisionoforderasinappropriate.EverylistoftaxonomylevelsthatIhave
seen,whichaquitenumerous,includesfamily.AlsoIliketoequatetaxonomywiththetreeoflifewithlifeatthebottomandspecieson
top.ThusIconsiderspeciesasthetoplevelinsteadoflife.
BillMcNeillsays:
March31,2022at3:55pm
Ilikehowyoumadethisandit’sgoodbutjustsoyouknowyouguysforgotthefamilyandtheordershouldbe,toptobottom,domain
tospecies.thisisjustbecausethetop,beingthedomain,isthebroadestcategorymakingitlikelytohavethebiggestareaunlikethe
speciesbeingthenarrowestcategory.Don’ttakethisthewrongway,Ilikeditbutyoushouldchangethosethings.
AryanSharmasays:
November11,2021at7:17pm
DNADeoxyribonucleicAcid:TheOriginofYourGenes
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5. LeaveaReply
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Thanksalotfortheinformationbutinmybook,itsaysthat“family”isnotasub-order.Plshelpmehere.
SandipanGangulysays:
November9,2021at10:32pm
Thanks!
LesBarrettsays:
April28,2021at12:52am
Thankyou😊
Dailynsays:
February11,2021at8:41pm
thanksalot😀
JohnDowsays:
January11,2021at4:02pm
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