Biology › Section J · Evolution › Topic J.7
Organizing life on Earth
Millions of species need a filing system: how phylogeny, phylogenetic trees, and the Linnaean hierarchy organise life by its evolutionary history.
In this topic
- Why biologists classify: phylogeny and systematics
- Phylogenetic trees are testable hypotheses
- Reading a tree: roots, branch points, and sister taxa
- Worked example: tracing the vertebrate tree
- Rooted versus unrooted trees
- What a tree does not show
- Taxonomy: the Linnaean hierarchy
- Binomial nomenclature: two names, one species
- Worked example: where cats and dogs part ways
- A filing system that keeps being refiled
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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