Taxonomic

Taxonomy is the science of naming, defining and classifying groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped together into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given a taxonomic rank; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a super group of higher rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum (division is sometimes used in botany in place of phylum), class, order, family, genus and species. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy, as he developed a system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorizing organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms.

With the advent of such fields of study as phylogenetics, cladistics, and systematics, the Linnaean system has progressed to a system of modern biological classification based on the evolutionary relationships between organisms, both living and extinct.

History

The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the discipline remains: the conception, naming, and classification of groups of organisms. As points of reference, recent definitions of taxonomy are presented below:

• Theory and practice of grouping individuals into species, arranging species into larger groups, and giving those groups names, thus producing a classification.
• A field of science (and major component of systematics) that encompasses description, identification, nomenclature, and classification
• The science of classification, in biology the arrangement of organisms into a classification
• "The science of classification as applied to living organisms, including study of means of formation of species, etc."
• "The analysis of an organism's characteristics for the purpose of classification"

Taxonomic ranks

The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown.

• Domain
• Kingdom
• Phylum or Division
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

See also

• Binomial nomenclature
• Cladistics
• Phylogenetics
• Systematics
• Linnaean taxonomy

References

Taxonomic Resources
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