Taxonomy and Classification

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What is Taxonomy?

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The science of classifying and naming living things.

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What is a Derived Character?

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A trait that appears in recent parts of a lineage, but not in its older members.

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What do organisms in the phylum Chordata have in common?

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They have spinal cords.

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How are organisms classified?

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Based on similarities and evolutionary relationships.

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What does it mean if two organisms share many classification levels?

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The more related they become because of many shared characteristics.

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What is Cladistics?

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A method of classifying organisms based on common ancestry.

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What is a Kingdom in biological classification?

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A high-level category used to classify living organisms, such as Animalia or Plantae.

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What is a Species?

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The most specific level of classification, referring to a group of organisms that can interbreed.

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What is a Genus?

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A classification category that groups together species that are closely related.

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What is the purpose of a scientific name?

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To provide a unique and universally accepted name for each species.