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UNIT 7: PLANT & ANIMAL TAXONOMY. SYSTEMATICS & PHYLOGENY CHAPTER 19 p. 337 - 351. 1. SYSTEMATICS. SYSTEMATICS – involves the RECONSTRUCTING of EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY and then CLASSIFYING or grouping organisms according to evolutionary findings.
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UNIT 7: PLANT & ANIMAL TAXONOMY SYSTEMATICS & PHYLOGENY CHAPTER 19 p. 337 - 351
1. SYSTEMATICS • SYSTEMATICS – involves the RECONSTRUCTING of EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY and then CLASSIFYING or grouping organisms according to evolutionary findings. • It is dedicated to understanding the evolutionary history of life on earth. • Comes from the Greek word SYSTEMA which means an orderly arrangement. • It is analytical and relies on a combination of data from the FOSSIL RECORD and COMPARITIVE ANATOMY and DEVELOPMENT, with an emphasis on MOLECULAR DATA – to determine evolutionary relationships.
2. TAXONOMY • TAXONOMY forms part of SYSTEMATICS. • Comes from the Greek words: TASSO – arrange/classify and NOMOS – use/law. • Taxonomy concerned with IDENTIFYING, NAMING & CLASSIFYING organisms. • ARISTOTLE – one of the first taxonomists – he identified organisms as belonging to a particular group. • LATIN is the language used for SCIENTIFIC NAMES of organisms.
BINOMIAL SYSTEM • CAROLUS LINNAEUS was seen as the father of taxonomy in the 17th century & developed a BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE by which each species receives a TWO PART NAME. • The first part is the GENUS NAME, this is a category that can contain many species. • The second part is the SPECIFIC EPITHET which refers to one species within that genus – the specific epithet tells us something descriptive about the organism, like the colour, geographical description. It can also be an EPONYM – named after someone or some mythical character.
The GENUS name is always CAPITALIZED, but not the species name. • When written, the genus and species name is UNDERLINED and when typed it is indicated in italics e.g. Lilium canadense.
WHY DO ORGANISMS NEED SCIENTIFIC NAMES? • There are several reasons: • - A common name will vary from country to country because different countries use different languages. • - Even people who speak the same languages sometimes use different common names to describe the same organism. • For example: Bowfin, Grindle and Cypress trout describe the same common fish, Amiacalva. • Furthermore, between countries, the same common name is sometimes given to different organisms. A “robin” in England is very different from a “robin” in the United States.
WHY DO SCIENTISTS USE LATIN? • Latin – is a universal language that not too long ago was well known by most scholars (Physicians). • When scientists throughout the world use the same scientific binomial name, they know they are speaking of the same organism. • The Linnean Society rules on the appropriateness of the binomial name for each species in the world. • Of the estimated 3-30million species now living on Earth, a million species of animals and half a half million species of plants and microorganisms have been named.
DNA • A new fast and efficient way of identifying species is based on their DNA.