Guys can somebody please explain to me what is taxonomy? Like I am completely lost in...

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Biology

Guys can somebody please explain to me what is taxonomy? Like I amcompletely lost in what all of it means, I donâ€™t even understandwhen people talk about Metazoan animals and etc... Like every wordis confusing and basically I am a mess, when It comes to thistopic... Can somebody please help clear this up in a very clear anddescriptive way?

Thank you!!!!!

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Taxonomy Taxonomy which literally means arrangement law is the science of classifying organisms to construct internationally shared classification systems with each organism placed into more and more inclusive groupings Think about how a grocery store is organized One large space is divided into departments such as produce dairy and meats Then each department further divides into aisles then each aisle into categories and brands and then finally a single product This organization from larger to smaller more specific categories is called a hierarchical system The taxonomic classification system also called the Linnaean system after its inventor Carl Linnaeus a Swedish botanist zoologist and physician uses a hierarchical model Moving from the point of origin the groups become more specific until one branch ends as a single species For example after the common beginning of all life scientists divide organisms into three large categories called a domain Bacteria Archaea and Eukarya Within each domain is a second category called a kingdom After kingdoms the subsequent categories of increasing specificity are phylum class order family genus and species The kingdom Animalia stems from the Eukarya domain For the common dog the classification levels would be as shown in Figure 7 Therefore the full name of an organism technically has eight terms For the dog it is Eukarya Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Canidae Canis and lupus Notice that each name is capitalized except for species and the genus and species names are italicized Scientists generally refer to an organism only by its genus and species which is its twoword scientific name in what is called binomial nomenclature Therefore the scientific name of the dog is Canis lupus The name at each level is also called a taxon In other words dogs are in order Carnivora Carnivora is the name of the taxon at the order level Canidae is the taxon at the family level and so forth Organisms also have a common name that people typically use in this case dog Note that the dog is additionally a subspecies the familiaris in Canis lupus familiaris Subspecies are members of the same species that are capable of mating and reproducing viable offspring but they are considered separate subspecies due to geographic or behavioral isolation or other factors Taxonomists begin by sorting specimens to separate sets they believe represent species Once the specimens are sorted the next job is to see whether or not they already have names This may involve working through identification guides reading descriptions written perhaps 200 years ago and borrowing named specimens from museums or herbaria to compare with the sample Such comparison may involve external characters need to dissect internal structures or even molecular analysis of the DNA If there is no match the specimens may represent a new species not previously given a name The taxonomist then has to write a description including ways in which the new species can be distinguished from others and make up a name for it in a Latin format The name and the description must then be properly published so that other taxonomists can see what has been done and be able to identify the species themselves From finding the specimens to the name appearing in print can take several years Systems of Classification There are three different systems of classifications which have been proposed so far by different taxonomists They are i Artificial ii Natural iii Phylogenetic 1 Artificial System of Classification This type of classification is based upon characters of convenience without relation to phylogenetic significance classification based upon characters erroneously presented to indicate phylogenetic relationship also classification based on a single arbitrarily chosen criterion instead of an evolution of the totality of characters known as artificial classification This system of classification was adopted by Pliny in the first century AD for animals on the basis of habitats eg land air and water Accordingly animals were classified into two categories on the basis of their flying ability i Animals that can fly and ii Animals that cannot fly In the first group unrelated animals like butterflies birds and bats were placed together The classification of plants on the basis of habit into i Herbs ii Under shrubs iii Shrubs and iv Trees is also an artificial one The criteria used in this classification although very simple and easy to follow are arbitrary and do not reflect any natural relationship existing among the organisms Moreover it leads to heterogeneous assemblage of unrelated organisms under one heading and does not do justice to the totality of characteristics of an organism The system adopted by Linnaeus was also artificial in which the plants were classified on the basis of number and arrangement of stamens and carpels Closely related species of organisms are kept far apart in this system of classification 2 Natural System of Classification The natural classification may be defined as Classification based on characters which indicate natural relationships The organisms of a natural systematic category agree with one another in so many characters because they are descendants of one common ancestor The natural system of classification is based on similarity Zoologists and botanists differ in their interpretation of the implication of this system of classification According to zoologists the natural system of classification includes the phylogenetic and evolutionary trends which are evident in the word natural Botanists hold the opinion that the natural system does not necessarily include phylogenetic trends of plants Here they proposed the phylogenetic system of classification separate from the natural system to include the evolutionary trends in plants The natural system of classification of the plant kingdom was proposed by George Bentham 18001844 and Joseph Dalton Hooker 18171911 3 Phylogenetic System of Classification The phylogenetic system is based on the evolutionary and genetic relationship of the organisms It enables us to find out the ancestors or derivatives of any taxon Our presentday knowledge is insufficient to construct a perfect phylogenetic classification and all the present phylogenetic systems are formed by the combination of natural and phylogenetic evidences This system is adopted by Adolph Engler 18441930 and Karl AE Prantl and John Hutchinson 18841974 in classifying the plants Nomenclature Nomenclature is defined as the system of naming of plants animals and other objects or groups of plants animals and other objects Scientific names are the language of taxonomists When a taxonomist identifies and describes the natural group of animals he gives appropriate scientific names to the groups Common names do not serve the purpose because a particular animal is known by different names in different parts of the world For example the bird that we know as gauraiya in India and Pakistan is known by different names in other countries house sparrow in England Pardal in Spain Musch in Holland Suzune in Japan and so on Moreover the common name may be used for different kinds of animals For example the name kenchua is used both for the earthworm and Ascaris On the See Answer

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