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Information about Alpha Taxonomy

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Lilium hybrid "Stargazer"
Taxonomy, sometimes alpha taxonomy, is the science of finding, describing and categorising organisms, thus giving rise to taxonomic groups or taxa, which may then be named.

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). 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. 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.

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.
  • 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).
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The subspecies of butterfly called Morpho rhetenor helena

See also

References

  • Wheeler, Q. D. (2004). Taxonomic triage and the poverty of Phylogeny. Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. London, Biology 359: 571-583.

External links

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General subfields within biology
Anatomy - Astrobiology - Biochemistry - Bioinformatics - Botany - Cell biology - Ecology - Developmental biology - Evolutionary biology - Genetics - Genomics - Marine biology - Human biology - Microbiology - Molecular biology - Origin of life - Paleontology - Parasitology - Pathology - Physiology - Taxonomy - Zoology
Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge'), in the broadest sense, refers to any systematic knowledge or practice.[1] Examples of the broader use included political science and computer science, which are not incorrectly named, but rather named according to
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Plantae
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    • For the journal, see .
    A taxon (plural taxa), or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or group of organisms. A taxon is assigned a rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary
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    naming convention is a collection of rules followed by a set of names. The intent is that users of these names will be able to deduce useful information, based on the names' character sequence and knowledge of the rules followed.
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    Linnaean taxonomy is a method of classifying living things originally devised by, and named for, Carl Linnaeus although it has changed considerably since his time. The greatest innovation of Linnaeus, and still the most important aspect of this system, is the general use of
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    For the science of classifying living things, see .


    Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek τάξις, taxis, 'order' +
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    In phylogenetics, a group of organisms is said to be paraphyletic (Greek para = near and phyle = race) if the group contains its most recent common ancestor, but does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor.
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    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. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenic trees, phylogenies).
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    Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London (the others are the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum). Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road.
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    In botany, a herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in alcohol or other preservative.
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    Botanical gardens grow a wide variety of plants primarily categorized and documented for scientific purposes. Botanists and horticulturalists tend the flora and maintain the garden's library and herbarium of dried and documented plant material.
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    Molecular phylogeny is the use of the structure of molecules to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a so-called phylogenetic tree.

    Every living organism contains DNA, RNA, and proteins.
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    A phylogenetic tree, also called an evolutionary tree, is a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities that are believed to have a common ancestor.
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    The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a partnership designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagency group within the U.S.
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    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. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenic trees, phylogenies).
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    Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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    For the journal, see .
    A taxon (plural taxa), or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or group of organisms. A taxon is assigned a rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary
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    NSF is an abbreviation.
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    Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the scientific study of life.
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    Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms.[1] The word "biochemistry" comes from the Greek word βιοχημεία biochēmeia, which means "the chemistry of life.
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    Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication, and diversity over time.
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