classification

• in the linnaean system, living things are divided first into kingdoms, and kingdoms are subdivided into smaller groups: phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
• the order of classfication is: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
• to remember the order of classification, you can use the acronym 'king philip came over for good soup'
• in 1990, carl woese proposed a three-domain system
• in the three-domain system, organisms are split up into three large groups: archaea, bacteria and eukaryota
• archaea are organisms that are primitive bacteria
• bacteria are organisms that are 'true' bacteria
• eukaryota are all other organisms, including fungi, plants, animals and protists
• organisms are named according to the binomial system, based on their genus and species
• humans are known as homo sapiens