NOVA | Orchid Hunter | Classifying Life

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NOVA | Orchid Hunter | Classifying Life
by Rick Groleau
PBS.org

Classifying Life
Can you think of a task more daunting than classifying all of Earth's life forms, which may be as high as 50 million? Or even of classifying a single group, such as the 25,000 species of orchid? So why bother? Keeping track of the amazing diversity of life and being able to compare and contrast different organisms in the tree of life is valuable in and of itself. But taxonomy, as this field is called, can also lead to surprising insights and discoveries, from finding new drugs to giving scientists a systematic way to monitor the effects of global environmental change.

Scientists classify organisms into a hierarchy that begins with kingdom and works its way deeper into phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. If you're new to this system, it can be a challenge simply remembering these categories. Here's a mnemonic referring to 16th-century Spanish exploration that might help: King Philip Crossed Over For Gold and Silver.

In this feature, you'll step into the shoes of a taxonomist and classify three forms of life: a plant, an animal, and a...—well, you'll need to figure that one out for yourself.

Please visit the web site for an interactive activity and to learn more.