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CHAPTER # 4
RULES OF TAXONOMY

 Every known living organism on
Earth is classified and named by a

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set of rules. Those rules are used
by all scientists around the planet.
The names are called scientific
names, not common names.
Common names are the ones you
might use when talking with your
friends. You call your pet a dog or a
cat (the common name). Scientists
call those animals by a set of
several names like Canis
SCIENTIFIC NAMES

Scientific names follow a specific set of rules.



Scientists use a two-name system called a

Binomial Naming System. Scientists name

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animals and plants using the system that
describes the genus and species of the
organism. The first word is the genus and the
second is the species. The first word is
capitalized and the second is not. A binomial
name means that it's made up of two words
(bi-nomial). Humans are scientifically named
Homo sapiens. You may also see an
abbreviation of this name as H. sapiens where
the genus is only represented by the first
letter.
What is taxonomy ?
 Taxonomy : The science which identifies,
describes, classifies and names living
beings. Taxonomy is the most fundamental

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of life sciences and is becoming crucial to
biodiversity management, public health,
agriculture, and many other aspects of life
and society.
 The taxonometric way of classifying organisms
is based on similarities between different
organisms. A biologist named Carolus
Linnaeus started this naming system. He
also chose to use Latin words.
DIVISIONS OF LIVING ORGANISM

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KINGDOMS=GROUP... SPECIES=INDIVIDUALS
Kangaroos Play Cool Orange Flute & Gorillas Sing.


 If we take a Ring-tailed Lemur, we can trace it through the
hierarchy of nature, taxonomy as follows, it belongs to:
The Animal …Kingdom
kingdom is the highest taxonomic rank, or the most general

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taxon used in classifying organisms.
sharing with all other members of this group the need to feed on

organic matter (unlike plants which can create energy using light
and minerals)
The vertebrate … Phylum

sharing with all other members of this group of animals, a back

bone with a hollow nerve chord
Phylum is a taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above Class.

"Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division.




The Ring-tailed Lemur

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 The Mammal … Class
sharing with all other members of this group of
vertebrates, the ability to feed their offspring on
milk
 The Primate … Order
Sharing with all other members of this group of

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mammals, a thumb that can be opposed to the
other digits, binocular vision and various more
broadly defined characteristics (including high
intelligence, relatively long maturation period for
the young, dental similarities, tendency for
complex social organization, and generally
bearing one or two young)
 The Lemuridae … Family
Sharing with other members of this group of
primates, a slightly longer nose, smaller brain,
long slender limbs, a tail, more specific dental
features including the grooming comb formed by
the lower incisor and canine teeth

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 The Lemur … Genus
Sharing with other members of this group of
lemurs, scent marking methods, vocalizations,
aspects of social structure and overall body shape
 The Ring-tailed Lemur … Species
 A species is the primary unit of biological
classification or taxonomy. Species members share
a basic genetic similarity and can interbreed and
produce viable or fertile offspring.
Infectious diseases
 Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic
microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses,
parasites or fungi; the diseases can be

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spread, directly or indirectly, from one
person to another. Zoonotic diseases are
infectious diseases of animals that can
cause disease when transmitted to humans.
Transmission
 Transmission of pathogen can occur in
various ways including physical

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contact, contaminated food, body
fluids, objects, airborne inhalation, or
through vector organisms.Infectious
diseases that are especially infective
are sometimes called contagious and
can be easily transmitted by contact
with an ill person or their secretions.
The spread of infectious disease.
 One characteristic of infectious diseases is that
they are easily transmitted from one person to
another. For example, a person who has

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contracted typhus can easily pass that disease
to a second person simply by coming into
contact with that person. Germs travel from the
carrier of the disease to the uninfected person.
 Disease can be spread by many methods other
than direct contact, such as through water, food,
air, and blood. Waterborne transmission occurs
through contaminated water, a common means
by which cholera is spread. Food borne poisoning
in the form of bacterial contamination may occur
when food is improperly cooked, left
unrefrigerated, or prepared by an infected food
handler.
 Diseases such as measles and tuberculosis can be
transmitted through the air. Any time an infected
person coughs or sneezes, infectious organisms can
travel more than 3 feet (0.9 meter) to an uninfected
person. Fungal infections such as histoplasmosis, and
blastomycosis can also be spread by airborne
transmission as their spores are transported on dust
particles.

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 Vectors are animals that carry germs from one person to
another. The most common vectors are insects. These
vectors may spread a disease either by mechanical or
biological transmission. An example of mechanical
transmission occurs when flies transfer the germs for
typhoid fever from the feces (stool) of infected people
to food eaten by healthy people. Biological
transmission occurs when an insect bites a person and
takes in infected blood. Once inside the insect, the
disease-causing organisms may reproduce in the gut,
increasing the number of parasites that can be
transmitted to the next person. The disease malaria is
spread by the Anopheles mosquito vector.

Protection against infectious
diseases.
 When scientists learned the cause of infectious
diseases, they also developed the ability to prevent
and cure such diseases. For example, people can now

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be vaccinated as a protection against many types of
infectious disease. A vaccine is a material that can be
injected into a person to ward off attacks by certain
disease-causing organisms. The material may consist
of very weak concentrations of the organism itself or
of dead organisms. The presence of these organisms
in the bloodstream stimulates the body's immune
system to start producing chemicals that will fight off
the disease if and when it actually enters the body.
 In addition, scientists have discovered and invented a
host of substances that will fight the germs that
cause infectious diseases. The class of drugs known
as antibiotics, for example, can be used to aid the
body's natural immune system in combating disease-
causing organisms that have entered the body.
