Pre-Lab Questions
1. Use the following classifications to determine which organism is least related out of the three. Explain your rationale.
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Table 2: Classifications
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Classification Level
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American Green Tree Frog
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European Fire- Bellied Toad
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Eastern Newt
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Domain
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Eukarya
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Eukarya
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Eukarya
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Kingdom
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Animalia
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Animalia
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Animalia
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Phylum
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Chordata
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Chordata
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Chordata
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Class
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Amphibia
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Amphibia
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Amphibia
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Order
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Anura
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Anura
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Caudata
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Family
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Hylidae
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Bombinatoridae
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Salamandridae
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Genus
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Tursipops
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Bombina
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Notophthalmus
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Species
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cinerea
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bombina
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viridescens
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2. How has DNA sequencing affected the science of classifying organisms?
3. You are on vacation and see an organism that you do not recognize. Discuss what possible steps you can take to classify it.
Exercise 1: Dichotomous Key Practice
A dichotomous key is an identification tool that starts with broad defining characteristics and splits into two options until an organism can be identified. In this exercise, you will identify organisms by their binomial nomenclature using a dichotomous key.Post-Lab Questions
1. What do you notice about the options of each step as they go from number one up?
2. How does your answer from Question 1 relate to the Linnaean classification system?
Exercise 2: Classification of Organisms
Post-Lab Questions
1. Did this series of questions correctly organize each organism? Why or why not?
2. What additional questions would you ask to further categorize the items within the kingdoms (Hint: think about other organisms in each of the kingdoms and what makes them different than the examples used here)?
3. What questions would you have asked instead of the ones that you answered above when classifying the organisms?