Transcript Seashell Lab - Life Science with Ms. DeBari

Bell ringer: What are the names of the taxa Linnaeus
came up with, in order of biggest to smallest? What is
the taxa that was invented in the 1990’s and is the biggest
taxa?
Let’s Test Your Key!
 Choose a shell from your box and test your key. Can
you correctly identify the shell?
Questions
 What is classification?
 Why is it important for each organism to have a
unique scientific name?
 What should a good classification scheme be based
on?
 On what characteristics did your team base its
classification scheme?
 Did you have any shells in your container that didn’t
seem to fit into a group? If so, what did you do with
them?
Questions
 What do you think scientists do when they encounter a
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new organism that doesn’t fit into a group?
Could others identify your shells with your
classification scheme?
Some groups had the same shells but gave them
different scientific names. Could this be a problem?
Why?
Why is it important for all scientists to use a universal
classification scheme?
Was it difficult to create a classification key for your
shells? Why or why not?
Dichotomous Key
 What you made (without knowing it!) was a
dichotomous key
 A dichotomous key is a series of descriptions
arranged in pairs that is used to identify an
organism.
 Take a look at the dichotomous key on your table and
try to identify a seashell with your group
Cladogram
 A cladogram is a branched diagram that shows the
relationships among organisms
Homework
 Complete the dichotomous key practice sheet for
homework