Scientific classification of life on earth The scientific classification of life on earth was developed using seven hierarchical categories (taxanomic unit, shortened to taxon or taxa) based on shared physical traits.Kingdom (Animals, Plants, Fungi, Protist, Monera)

Phylum (e.g. Chordate, Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Nematoda, Crustacea)

Class (e.g. Arachnida, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Insecta)

Order (e.g. Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemitera, Diptera)Family (e.g. Carabidae, Curculionidae)Genus (e.g. Carabus)Species. (e.g. nemoralis) European Ground Beetle – common in Washington gardens Prefixes (super or sub) may be attached to taxonomic levels to indicate further groupings or organisms within a taxonomic level. Wikipedia has excellent explanations of taxonomy and scientific classification. More recently a Tree of Life (http://tolweb.org/ [1]) on earth that is based on nucleic acid sequences distinguishes three Domains of life, the Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Eukarya include all multi-cellular organisms. This molecular approach to taxonomy contradicts the separation of life into five kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi, protist, monera).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-domain_system [2]http://tolweb.org/notes/?note_id=54 [3] Classifying organisms using levels below kingdom (phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) is still meaningful and most resource materials are organized based on this classification system.  Focus on soil dwelling animalsSeveral phyla of animals reside in the soil and leaf litter above. Most notable are the Arthropoda (chitin exoskeleton, including insects, spiders, mites, centipedes, millipedes, and springtails), Annelida (segmented worms, earthworms), Nematoda (round worms, nematodes), and Mollusca (snails and slugs) Focus on Arthropods following section is from http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/arthropod.htm [4] Arthropod means "jointed legged creatures." All animals in the Artrhopod Phylum have jointed legs and exoskeletons. This means their skeleton is on the outside of their bodies. The Arthropod Phylum is split into Classes. Several Classes are listed below:http://ed.fnal.gov/samplers/prairie/graphics/pp_fnal_invert_diag.gif [5] Pour the extracted material into a Petri dish and observe under a dissecting microscope. Draw what you see. Using the on-line resources linked below, attempt to key out organisms that you observe.  Internet Resources for identifying soil organisms.Very simple diagram key – scroll to vry bottom http://www.yptenc.org.uk/docs/factsheets/env_facts/minibeasts.html [6] 

Hope College Leaf Litter Arthropod Key

http://www.hope.edu/academic/biology/leaflitterarthropods/ [7] Kwik-Key to Soil-Dwelling Invertebrates http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent525/soil/ident.html [8] A Pictographic Key to Leaf Litter Arthropods from the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Projecthttp://web.missouri.edu/~bioscish/index.shtml [9] Soil Mite pictureshttp://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/soil_mite.htm [10] Separating spiders and miteshttp://www.publish.csiro.au/web_cds_demo/mites/UserGuide.htm [11] Water bears http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/water_bear.htm [12] Internet resources for background information on soil organisms

Forest Invertebrates http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/publication/forest_facts/invertebrates/default.asp [13]

 http://www.earthlife.net/insects/soileco.html [14]http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/texts/vegetable_mould/mould.html [15]