Lilium hybrid "Stargazer"

Taxonomy, sometimes alpha taxonomy, is the science of finding, describing and categorising organisms, thus giving rise to taxonomic groups or taxa (singular: taxon), which may then be named. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to A naming convention is a convention for naming things The intent is to allow useful information to be deduced from the names based on regularities

There are seven major levels of taxonomic groupings in traditional Linnaean taxonomy: Kingdom, Phylum or Division, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species (each of which may have several super- or subgroupings). Linnaean taxonomy is a method of classifying living things originally devised by (and named for Carolus Linnaeus, although it has changed considerably since his time Alpha taxonomy, however, focuses more on the species end of that spectrum (e. g. , classifying organisms [specimens] into species groups, and classifying those into genera, rather than determining the higher-level relationships between families or orders).

For a long time the term "taxonomy" was unambiguous, but over time it has gained several other meanings and thus became potentially confusing. Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification The word comes from the Greek, taxis (meaning 'order' 'arrangement' and, nomos To some extent it is being replaced, in its original (and narrow) meaning, by "alpha taxonomy". As such, alpha taxonomy deals mostly with real organisms: species and lower ranking taxa. Higher ranking taxa (including clades and grades) mostly are the province of systematics. A clade is a taxonomic group comprising a single Common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancestor In Alpha taxonomy, a grade refers to a level of morphological and/or Physiological complexity Biological systematics is the study of the diversity of Life on the planet Earth both past and present and the relationships among living things through time

The relationship between "taxonomy" and "systematics" is a potential source of confusion. These words have a similar history: over time these have been used as synonyms, as overlapping or as completely complementary.

• In today's usage, Taxonomy (as a science) deals with finding, describing and naming organisms. This science is supported by institutions holding collections of these organisms, with relevant data, carefully curated: such institutes include Natural History Museums, Herbaria and Botanical Gardens. The Natural History Museum is one of three large Museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London (the others are the Science Museum In Botany, a Herbarium is a collection of preserved Plant specimens Botanical gardens grow a wide variety of Plants primarily to categorize and document for scientific purposes
• Systematics (as a science) deals with the relationships between taxa, especially at the higher levels. These days systematics is greatly influenced by data derived from DNA from nuclei, mitochondria and chloroplasts. This is sometimes known as molecular systematics which is becoming increasingly more common, perhaps at the expense of traditional taxonomy (Wheeler, 2004).

The subspecies of butterfly called Morpho rhetenor helena

See also

• Cladistics
• Evolutionary tree
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System
• Important publications in taxonomy
• Systematics
• Biological classification
• Taxon

References

• Wheeler, Q. Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry A phylogenetic tree, also called an evolutionary tree, is a tree showing the Evolutionary relationships among various biological Species or other Integrated Taxonomic Information System ( ITIS) is a partnership designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the Taxonomy of biological Species Anatomy Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon Biological systematics is the study of the diversity of Life on the planet Earth both past and present and the relationships among living things through time A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to D. (2004). Taxonomic triage and the poverty of Phylogeny. Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. London, Biology 359: 571-583.

External links

• uBio Taxonomic Name Reconciliation
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System - Generalized N. American server Mexico Server Canada Server
• Tree of Life
• BioLib
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Taxonomy & Informatics An AMNH & NSF Project
• Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: definition- taxonomy Ü
• The Nature of Plant Species - article on a study by University Bloomington scientists
• Aphia: North Sea flora and fauna taxonomic register