Taxonomy Project



Taxonomy Project

IN THE YEAR 2525

Humans, after hundreds of years of constant effort, have successfully polluted all bodies of water on Earth. As a result, almost all previously known species of plant, animal, and other life have become extinct. Through natural selection, genetic engineering, and selective breeding programs, a portion of the Earth has been successfully repopulated. The following organisms are all that remain:

1. Photosynthetic sun-basking sharks. Their green fins have chlorophyll to convert sunlight to energy (autotrophs)

2. Chemosynthetic goldfish that convert pollution to food (autotrophs)

3. Aquatic humanoids whose main diet is aqua-wheat and basking sharks. They have fins instead of legs (heterotrophs)

4. Aqua-wheat: one of the few plants that remain, it is similar to algae.

5. Terrestrial Humanoids with 4 arms, their diet consists of butter-roaches and fuzzy hamsters.

6. Tentacled aqua humanoids, they only feed on aqua-wheat and have tentacles for arms and legs.

7. Cockroaches that feed on humanoid waste.

8. Giant Aqua-spiders that live in water and feed on goldfish and basking sharks.

9. Green-haired rats that are photosynthetic.

10. Parasitic mosquitoes that feed off any humanoid

11. Ten-legged fleas that live on the photosynthetic rats and drink blood.

12. Poison Grass - this plant is a hybrid between grass and poison ivy. The plants are toxic to almost everything (autotrophs)

13. Fuzzy hamsters with green hair that use the sunlight to make their food, thought to be related to the rats.

14. Butter-roaches: genetic engineering created these butterfly-like creatures from cockroaches. Butter-roaches eat poison grass.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

1. As an alien taxonomist, it is your responsibility to classify these existing organism types. Create a taxonomic scheme using only kingdom, phylum, genus, and species. The intermediate categories have been eliminated since the total number of species has been drastically reduced. (Two Kingdoms are recommended). Each new group needs a name and a description. Use the numbers of each organism to identify where they are placed on your chart. Finally, create Latin-sounding names for each organism. Remember, these will be scientific names and will include the genus and species classification. Written in this form: Genus species

2. Illustrate your interpretation of each organism's appearance. Write the number (from 1b) and the name (scientific and common) on top of the drawing.

3. Prepare a dichotomous key for these organisms so that your fellow aliens can identify them when they come to Earth for their summer vacations. Remember that a dichotomous key is based on APPEARANCE of the organisms. Use your drawings to make the key

4. Diagram a food web using the organisms - at least four organisms should be used in your diagram.

Taxonomy Rubric

|Category |Advanced |Proficient |Basic |Below Basic |

| |Each new group includes a |One of the criteria was not |Two of the criteria were not |Three of the criteria were not |

| |name, description and the |met. Each new group does not |met. Each new group does not |met. Each new group does not |

|Taxonomic Scheme |appropriate organisms. The |contain a name description or |contain a name description or |contain a name description or |

| |organisms have been correctly|the organisms OR The organisms |the organisms &/OR The |the organisms. & The organisms |

|40 points |classified and the scheme is |have not been correctly |organisms have not been |have not been correctly |

| |easy to understand. Each |classified and the scheme is |correctly classified and the |classified and the scheme is |

| |organism has a common and |hard to understand OR not every|scheme is hard to understand |hard to understand. & Not every|

| |scientific name |organism has a scientific and |&/OR not every organism has a |organism has a scientific and |

| | |common name. |scientific and common name. |common name. |

|Dichotomous Key |Every organism can be |Almost every organism can be |About ½ of the organisms can be|Very few of the organisms can |

| |correctly identified. The key|correctly identified. The key |correctly identified. The key |be correctly identified. The |

|20 Points |includes all organisms and is|includes all organisms but is |includes most organisms but is |key includes most organisms but|

| |easy to follow. |hard to follow. |hard to follow. |is very hard to follow |

|Illustrations |Each illustration is in |Most of the illustrations were |About ½ of the illustrations |Very few of the illustrations |

| |color, correctly labeled and |in color, correctly labeled and|were in color, correctly |were in color, correctly |

|20 points |includes the correct info. |included the correct info. |labeled and included the |labeled and included the |

| | | |correct info. |correct info. |

|Food Web |The food web is correctly |Most of the food web is |The food web is not organized |The food web has not been |

| |organized and at least 4 |correctly organized and at |correctly, and only 4 organisms|correctly organized and fewer |

|15 Points |organisms have been included.|least 4 organisms have been |have been used. |than 4 organisms have been |

| | |included. | |used. |

|Class Time |The student stayed on task |The student needed to be |The student needed to be |The student was constantly off |

| |and the workload was shared |redirected a few times but did |redirected a number of times & |task and did not *help with the|

|5 points |equally. |share the workload equally. |didn’t take an equal share of |project. |

| | | |the work. | |

This project is going to be worth 100 pts.

Project due date: __________________________

* This student will do a new project at home and submit it within 4 days of the due date

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