Saturday, January 30, 2010

Taxonomy and Biological classification



        Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms. Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method by which biologists group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is a form of scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.

        The system currently used by taxonomists is called the Linnaean taxonomic system, in honor of Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus (1707 — 1778). Modern biological classification has its root in the work of Carolus Linnaeus, who grouped species according to shared physical characteristics. These groupings have since been revised to improve consistency with the Darwinian principle of common descent. Molecular phylogenetics, which uses DNA sequences as data, has driven many recent revisions and is likely to continue to do so. Biological classification belongs to the science of biological systematics.