TAXONOMY AND

SYSTEMATICS
TAXONOMY- the science of naming and
classifying.

SYSTEMATICS- the study of the

diversification of life forms.
 TAXONOMY VS. SYSTEMATICS

ROLE TAXONOMIST SYSTEMATIST

Provides scientific names ✔ ✔

Gives a detailed description of an
organism ✔ ✔
Collects and keeps volumes of specimens ✔ ✔
Offers classifications for the organisms,
constructing identification keys and data on
their occurrence and distribution
✔ ✔

Investigation on evolutionary histories ✔

Considers environmental adaptation of
species ✔
 BASIC TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS AND
PRINCIPLES
PHYLOGENY
 Taxonomy is based on phylogeny.
 Phylogeny is a representation and therefore of
how organisms evolved from a common
ancestor.
 It shows the tree of life as a product of evolution
and degrees of relationship by descent from a
common ancestor.
Most of the data used in making phylogenetic trees is
based on morphology.
Comparative morphology examines varying shapes
and sizes of organismal structures, including their
developmental origins.
In comparative morphology, the homologies or
similarities in terms of certain functions between
species that inhabited the same environment are also
studied.
The relationship between a taxonomic group and
phylogenetic tree has three forms:
1. Monophyletic- a taxon that evolved from a single
ancestor and includes all the descendants of that
ancestor.
2. Paraphyletic- descended from a common ancestor
but not including all descendants of that ancestor.
3. Polyphyletic - descended from two or more different
ancestors.
 CLASSFYING ORGANISMS

Classification is the arrangement of

living things into taxonomic groups.
The most familiar classification
scheme is the taxonomic framework
established by Carolus Linnaeus.
 EARLY SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATION

The earliest known system of classifying organisms

comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
He further classified animals based on their means of
habitat.
He also wrote a book titled, Historia Animalium, in
which animals are grouped according to their
similarities.
Aristotle’s system of classification had many
limitations but its use prevailed for many years.
In the eighteenth century, Swedish naturalist Carolus
Linnaeus published two-volume work titled Species
Plantarum, which was later to become at the time the
most important work on plant nomenclature and
classification.
In his work, he listed a single word, which when
combined with the generic name, formed a convenient
abbreviated designation for the species.
Linnaeus also published Systema Naturae,
which used morphology for arranging
specimens into a collection.
Today, all species of organisms are named
using the Binomial System of Nomenclature,
which also includes the authority for the name,
either abbreviated in form of in full, in Latin.
At present, the following nomenclature codes govern the naming
of species, as follows:
Algae, fungi, Plants- International Code of Nomenclature for
algae, fungi and plants (ICN)
Animals- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)
Bacteria- International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB)
Cultivated plants- International Code of Nomenclature for
Cultivated Plants (ICNCP)
Viruses- International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
(ICTV)
 Some of the major rules in nomenclature…

1. Names should be written in Latin.

2. The scientific name of an organism is always written with the
genus capitalized and the species epithet in lower case letters.
3. Because the words are Latinized, they should always be italicized.
4. When scientific names are written by hand, each separate word
should be underlined.
5. The first name to be validly and effectively published gets priority.
This rule has caused numerous name changes, particularly on
fossil organisms.
6. All taxa must have an author when described.
Hierarchical System of Classfication
Pisum sativum
Canis familiaris
Zea mays
Homo sapiens
Mimosa pudica
Helianthus annuus
Felis catus
Malus pumila
Pithecophaga jefferyi
The hierarchy includes the domain, kingdom, phylum, class,
order, family, genus, species.
Domain is the highest level of classification.
The taxonomic category to which all phyla belonged is
called kingdom. Related classes are grouped in a phylum.
Orders are grouped into classes. Related families make up
an order.
Groups of genera are called family. Groups of closely
related species make up a genus and the smallest taxon is
the species.
 SPECIES DIVERSITY

Species diversity is the total number of different

species in an ecological community.
The most widely accepted concept of species is the
biological species concept formulated by Ernst Mayr
and Theodosius Dobzhansky.
It states that a species is an interbreeding population
of individuals having a common descent.
 SPECIES DIVERSITY

The evolutionary species which concept was

proposed by George Gaylord Simpson, posits
that a species is a single lineage of ancestor-
descendant populations which maintains its
identity from other such lineages and that has its
own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate.
 SPECIES DIVERSITY

The phylogenetic species is an irreducible

grouping of organisms diagnostically distinct
from other such groupings and within which
there is a parental pattern of ancestry and
descent.
 CLADISTICS
It is a method in biological classification by which
organisms are categorized based on the branching of
descendant lineages from a common ancestor.
It is also known as phylogenetic systematics.
The outcome of cladistics is a cladogram.
The branches on a cladogram are only a formal device
for indicating a nested hierarchy of clades within a group
of organisms that includes the most recent common
ancestor of all its members and all descendants of that
ancestor.