The Science of Taxonomy

MINISTRY FOR RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGH EDUCATION MINISTRY FOR RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGH EDUCATION
JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY

BIOLOGY FACULTY BIOLOGY FACULTY
Jln. Dr. Suparno Karangwangkal Purwokerto 53123 Jln. Dr. Suparno Karangwangkal Purwokerto 53123
INTRODUCTION
THE SCIENCE OF TAXONOMY
However, taxonomy is often indiscriminately with

• In present days usage: Taxonomy is branch of biology
systematics and have broad overlap applications
concerned with identifying, describing and naming
organisms
There is subtle difference
Taxonomy derived from Greek words: taxis • Called alpha taxonomy

(arrangement) and nomos (law),proposed by Candolle
(1813) for plant classification.  Taxonomy deals mostly with real organisms: species
and lower ranking taxa.
Current thinking: taxonomy is the theory and practice
of classifying organisms
1
The term systematics from latinized Greek word systema as

applied to the system of classification developed by Linnaeus • Systematics deal with populations, species, and
(Systema nature 1st ed 1735) higher taxa
• Major task of systematics are:
• Modern definition from Simpson (1961): Systematics a. comparing unique properties of each species and
is a scientific discipline deals with the kinds and higher taxon
diversity and any or all their relationships
b. Determine what properties of certain taxa have in
• Or symply: systematics is the science of the diversity common and what biological causes of the
differences or shared characters
of organisms
• Finally, systematics is concerned with variation
• Systematics deal with populations, species, and within taxa
higher taxa
LEVEL OF TAXONOMY
Deal with real organisms on species and below
Alpha taxonomy: species level
• the first and most basic step in taxonomy
The major task of alpha taxonomist are describing,
• concerned with the characterisation and naming naming, revising taxa name and synonymise taxa
of species or the science of finding, describing
and naming species of living or fossil organisms
or recognition, description and naming of taxa
2
Beta Taxonomy
• concerned with the arranging of species into a
• Higher ranking taxa (including clades) mostly are
natural system of higher and lower taxa the province of beta taxonomy
(Classification of taxa)
• the main jobs of beta-taxonomist are comparing
• comparing taxa, including studies of relationship and classifying taxa, and also make phylogenies
(phylogeny) (Systematics)
• the beta taxonomy consist of two fields, i.e.

classification and systematic
Gamma Taxonomy
• concerned with biological aspects of taxa, BASIC CONCEPT OF TAXONOMY
including intraspecific populations, speciation,
and evolutionary rates and trends
1. living things change with time
• Study on morpho-genetics variation is also the
province of gamma taxonomy 2. natural selection is a process by wich
environment work on phenotype
• study of infra-specific variation, speciation, and
population structure and also study of evolution
3
HISTORY OF TAXONOMY AND

ORGANISM CLASSIFICATION
PRINCIPLES OF TAXONOMY 1. Hippocrates (460-377B.C.) enumerated types of animals but
no indication of useful classification
1. Species is a fundamental unit of taxonomy • Animals are known for their function; such as food, clothing,
and medicine
2. Species is dynamic or not static unit
2. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) the father of biological classification
3. Species has its own diversity • Study zoology: morphology, ebryology, habits, and ecology
4. Species characters show continuity and • “Animals may be characterized according to their way of
living, actions, their habits, and their body parts”
discontinuity • Worked on birds,fihses, whales, and insects.
• Interest in natural history and in the study of

• Insects: mandibulate adn haustellate;winged animal was decreased after the death of Aaristotle
and wingless • Gesner (1551) and Aldrovandi (ca. 1600) wrote
Encyclopedias
• Blooded versus bloodless, hairy versus
feathered, two-footed versus four-footed • Animals was rapid in progres after 1550, as
documented by WilliamTurner (1508-1568),
• Did not supply orderly, fully consistent Pierre Belon (1517-1564), and Guillaume
classification of animals Rondelet (1507-1566); however, the recognize
taxa were on the whole those folklore, such as
birds, fishes, and shells
4
Downward Classification Downward Classification

• Plant classification experienced agreat flowering • The principle dominated taxonomy until at the end
in the period from Cesalpino (1519-1603) to of the eighteenth century
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1788) • Animal taxonomy made a little conceptual
• Their method of downward classification was the progress between seventeenth up to eighteenth
ceturies
principle of logical division;which consisted in
dividing a larger (superordinate) group by • Only workfrom Willughby (1635-1672) on bird
and Reaumur (1683-1757) on insects revealed a
dichotomy into two subordinate groups: remarkable advance
• Animals: with or without blood; animals with • Natural history museum was only dominated by
blood: hairy or not hairy, and so fort Buffon (1707-1788) and Linnaeus
Downward Classification Downward Classification

• Linnaeus, called as the father of taxonomy • Carolus Linnaeus eliminated the use of
largely adhered downward classification by common names
logical dividion
• Used Latin as a basis for nomenclature
• His and essentialist thinking that species reflect
the existence of fixed and unchanging types • His adopted mixed value of classification: his
(essences) work on insect are still largely acceptable; but
• His phenomenal works were Species Plantarum in other groups such birds, amphibian and
(1753) and Systema Nature (1758) Vermes were inferiorto earlier author
5
Downward Classification Upward Classification
• Created "binomial nomenclature" identifying • The midle of eighteenth century the

each organism by a two-part name shortcomings of downward classification
become recognized
• Used morphological (form & structure)
characteristics as a basis for classification • It is method of identification, not classification
• Since the arrangement largely depended on
• Linnaeus considered each species to have a sequence of differentiating characters, it is
unique structure that made it distinct clearly artificial
• Incapable of producing order in large fauna
Upward Classification Upward Classification
• Gradually replaced by upward classification • Buffon (1749): “the only way to design an
• This method consist of assembling species by instructuve and natural method is to group
inspection into group of similar or related together things that resemble each oter and to
species and forming hierarchy of higher taxa by separate things taht differ from each other”
again grouping similar taxa of the next lower • This thought was systematically applied by
rank. botanist Adanson (1763) ang all post-Linnaeus
zoologist
6
Impact of The Origin of Species Population Systematics

• Before 1859, taxonomist unable to answer why • Essentialist: species as invariant unit
the member of taxon are more similar to each
other than they are to member other taxa • In fact, population samples from different part
• Darwin simplified the explanation through theory of geographic range shows smaller or greater
of evolution by common by descent differences
• Natural group exist because the member of natural • Resulted in polytypic species: species which is
taxon are descendants of a common ancestor and composed of different populations in dimension
therefore have a much greater chance to be similar of space and time
to each other than do unrelated species
Population systematics Current Trend

• The study and comparison of infraspecific population • New systematics deal almost exclusively with
become the objective of population systematics
the species level
• Replacement of essentialist thinking by population
thinking has had important consequences in many areas
of taxonomy
• Labelled as New Systematics by J.S. Huxley (1940)
• Such as facilitated the study of variation and the
delimitation of lower taxa and categories;reevaluation
ofspecies concept and to a more biological approach in
taxonomy
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HISTORY OF ORGANISMS CLASSIFICATION Five kongdomof life (KEY)

Linnaeus Haeckel Chatton Copeland Whittaker Woese et al • 1. Cell type:
1735 1866 1937 1956 1969 1977 – A. Prokaryotic (P) - primitive, lack membrane-bound internal organelles
Eubacteria – B. Eukaryotic (E) - true nucleus, membrane-bound organelles
Vegetabilia Protista Prokaryota Monera Monera Archaebact • 2. # Cells organization:

eria – Unicellular (U)
– Colonial (C)
Protista Protista – Multicellular (M)
Plantae Protoctista Fungi Fungi • 3. Nutrition:

– A. Autotrophic (A) - Source of carbon is simple, such as carbon dioxide (CO2)
Animalia Eukaryota Plantae Plantae Plantae – B. Heterotrophic (H) - Source of carbon is complex, such as
carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids
Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia
KINGDOM MAJOR EXAMPLES CELL # CELLS NUTRITION

TYPE ORG. Three-Domain System
(1) Monera Bacteria P U H
Blue-green algae P U, C A • sequencing of rRNA suggests all
(2) Protista Protozoa E U H organisms evolved along three distinct
Algae E U,C A
lineages: domains
Seaweeds E M A
• Bacteria
(3) Fungi Mushrooms E M H
Yeasts E U H • Archaea
(4) Plantae Mosses, Liverworts, Ferns,
Gymnosperms, Angiosperms
E M A • Eukarya
(5) Animalia Sponges, Cnidaria, Worms, Arthropods, E M H
Molluscs, Echinoderms, Chordates
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THE CONTRIBUTION OF SYSTEMATICS

TO BIOLOGY AND HUMANKIND
In evolution In ecology
• The extent to which progress in ecology depend
• Before risethe Genetics, the study of evolution
upon accurate identification and upon the
was carried out almost entirely by taxonomist existence of a sound systematics groundwork for
• All major evolutionary problem were first all groups of animals
pointedoutby systematics In applied Biology
• Study og organic diversity as practiced by • Taxonomic breakthrough have often supplied the
systematist continues to reveal new key to the solution the previousle perplexing
evolutionary problems problem in economic entomology
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• Example: The supposed malaria vector Anopheles

maculipennis Meigen, was reported throughout Europe
continent, yet malaria was restricted to local district. • In Teoretical Biology
• A lot of money were wasted because no one understood • Population thinking has come into biology
the connection between mosquito distribution and that through taxonomy
of malaria
• Careful taxonomic studies finally provided the key • One root of population genetics is taxonomy
• Several sibling species of Anopheles maculipennis
complex are available with different habitats preferences
and breeding baits, only some of wich are responsible
for the transmission of malaria in a given area
The Role of Taxonomy ADITIONAL CONTRIBUTION OF SYSTEMATICS

AND NOMENCLATURE
1. It is the only science that provide vivid picture of
the existing organic diversity of the earth Systematics and nomenclature are fundamental for:
2. It provides most of the information needed fora o biotic inventories
reconstruction of the phylogeny of life o taxonomic reviews
3. It reveals numerous interesting evolutionary o wildlife forensic analyses
phenomena and thus make them available for
causal study by other branch of biology o checklists, such as "Checklist of Vertebrates of the
United States of America”
4. It supplies classification which are of greatest
heuristic and explanatory value in mist branches o management of research collections
of biology o determination of the status of threatened or
endangered species
10
PHENON, TAXON, AND CATEGORY

Phenon Taxon
 A convenience term for the diffferent form or  The words bluebirds, songbirds, and
phenotypes that may occur within a single vertebrates refer to group oforganisms.
population  Taxa are concrete object of zoological
 The term of morphospecies sommetimes been classification
applied confusingly to what is designated as
phenon  Simpson (1961), taxon is a group of real
 First introduced by Camp and Gilly (1943) to organisms recognized as a formal unit at any
describe phenotypically homogenous samples at level of hierarchical classification
the species level
Jln. Dr. Suparno Karangwangkal Purwokerto 53123 Jln. Dr.
Jln. Dr. Suparno
Suparno Karangwangkal
Karangwangkal Purwokerto
Purwokerto 53123
53123
Category
 Designated as rank or level in hierarchic
classification.
 It is a class whose member are all the taxa that are THANK YOU
assigned a given rank
 For instance, the species category is a class whose
members are the species taxa
 The term such as species, genus, family, and order
designate categories
11

The Science of Taxonomy

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MINISTRY FOR RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGH EDUCATION MINISTRY FOR RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGH EDUCATION

JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY

THE SCIENCE OF TAXONOMY

However, taxonomy is often indiscriminately with

Taxonomy derived from Greek words: taxis • Called alpha taxonomy

The term systematics from latinized Greek word systema as

• the beta taxonomy consist of two fields, i.e.

HISTORY OF TAXONOMY AND

• Interest in natural history and in the study of

Downward Classification Downward Classification

Downward Classification Downward Classification

Downward Classification Upward Classification

• Created "binomial nomenclature" identifying • The midle of eighteenth century the

Upward Classification Upward Classification

Impact of The Origin of Species Population Systematics

Population systematics Current Trend

HISTORY OF ORGANISMS CLASSIFICATION Five kongdomof life (KEY)

Vegetabilia Protista Prokaryota Monera Monera Archaebact • 2. # Cells organization:

Plantae Protoctista Fungi Fungi • 3. Nutrition:

KINGDOM MAJOR EXAMPLES CELL # CELLS NUTRITION

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SYSTEMATICS

• Example: The supposed malaria vector Anopheles

The Role of Taxonomy ADITIONAL CONTRIBUTION OF SYSTEMATICS

PHENON, TAXON, AND CATEGORY

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