and fauna including microorganisms of the world. The word taxonomy was coined by Augustin Pyramus de Candole ( ). Taxonomy is a theoretical study of classification with well defined principles, rules and procedures. Aristotle is called the father of taxonomy (classical) and Carolus Linnaeus is the father of modern taxonomy.
Systematics (G. System /sequence) The objectives of taxonomy and systematics are very similar; their goal is to classify organisms with stipulated rules. The main criteria of systematics is identifying, describing, naming, arranging, preserving and documenting the organisms. Apart from the above said features, evolutionary history of the species and the environmental adaptations and interrelationship between species are also being investigated in systematics.
Carolus Linnaeus is the father of modern taxonomy, which is the system of classifying and naming organisms. One of his contributions was the development of a hierarchical system of classification of nature. Today, this system includes eight taxa: domain, k i n g d o m , phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. XI Std Biology-Zoology Chapter- of relationship among individuals.
Later on biologists initiated studies on the evolutionary and genetic relationships among organisms, which led to the emerge of phylogenetic classification or cladistics. It is an evolutionary classification based on how a common ancestry was shared. Cladistic classification summarizes the genetic differences between all species in the ‘phylogenetic tree’. Ernst Haeckal introduced the method of representing evolutionary relationships with the help of a tree diagram known as cladogram .
This system of classification takes into account ancestral characters (traits of basic body design which would be in the entire group) and derived characters (traits whose structure and functions differs from those of ancestral characters). One or more derived characters which appeared during evolution resulted in the formation of new subspecies. In a cladogram each evolutionary step produces a branching and all the members of the branch would possess the derived character which will not be seen in organisms below the particular branch point. Arranging organisms on the basis of their similar or derived characters which differ from the ancestral After Aristotle, his