Taxonomy (biology)

Taxonomy (biology)

File:Taxonomy (biology).jpg

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

Taxonomy in biology is the science of defining and naming 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, 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.

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:

File:Linnaeus.jpg

Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy

Principles

The taxonomy of organisms can be organized into a hierarchy based on the degree of similarity among different organisms. This hierarchy, from most inclusive to least inclusive, is as follows: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Modern taxonomy

Modern taxonomy includes a rank of domain, which was not included in the original Linnaean taxonomy. The domain is now recognized as a major rank above the kingdom level, although it is not used in the traditional Linnaean system.

See also

• Cladistics
• Phylogenetics
• Systematics
• Virus classification

References

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