1. THE NUMBER OF SPECIES THAT ARE KNOWN AND IDENTIFIED RANGE BETWEEN 1.7 MILLION TO 1.8 MILLION.

2. WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?
BIODIVERSITY REFERS TO THE NUMBER AND TYPE OF ORGANISMS PRESENT ON THE EARTH.
3. WHY IS NOMENCLATURE IMPORTANT?
IN ORDER TO STANDARDISE THE NAMING OF MILLIONS OF LIVING ORGANISMS SO THAT A PARTICULAR
ORGANISM IS KNOWN BY THE SAME NAME THROUGH OUT THE WORLD.
4. WHAT IS NECESSARY TO NAME AN ORGANISMS?
NOMENCLATURE OR NAMING OF AN ORGANISM IS ONLY POSSIBLE WHEN THE ORGANISM IS DESCRIBED
CORRECTLY AND WE KNOW TO WHAT ORGANISM THE NAME IS ATTACHED TO. THIS IS IDENTIFICATION.IN ORDER
TO GIVE A NAME WE NEED TO IDENTIFY THE ORGANISM FIRST.
5. WHAT IS THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC NAME?
THE SCIENTIFIC NAME ENSUERES THAT EACH ORGANISM HAS ONLY ONE NAME.DESCRIPTION OF ANY ORGANISM
SHOULD ENABLE THE PEOPLE TO ARRIVE AT THE SAME NAME.

5.WHICH BODY PROVIDES THE CRITERIA AND PRINCIPLES FOR NAMING PLANTS AND ANIMALS?

INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE (ICBN) FOR PLANTS

INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE (ICZN) FOR PLANTS

6.WHAT IS BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE?

THE SYSTEM OF PROVIDING A NAME WITH TWO COMPONENTS IS CALLED BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE. EACH NAME
HAS TWO COMPONENTS THE GENERIC NAME AND THE SPECIFIC EPITHET.

7.RULES FOR BIOLOGICAL

-BIOLOGICAL NAMES ARE GENERALLY IN LATIN AND WRITTEN IN ITALICS.

-FIRST WORD DENOTES THE GENUS AND THE SECOND COMPONET DENOTES THE SPECIFIC EPITHET.

-BOTH THE WORDS ARE UNDERLINED IF HANDWRITTEN ARE SEPARATELY UNDERLINED OR PRINTED IN ITALICS TO
INDICATE THEIR LATIN ORIGIN.

-THE FIRST WORD START WITH A CAPITAL LETTER AND THE SECOND WORD STARTS WITH A SMALL LETTER.

- NAME OF THE AUTHOR APPEARS AT THE END OF THE BIOLOGICAL NAME AND IS WRITTEN IN ABBREVIATED FORM.

WHAT IS CLASSIFICATION?

CLASSIFICATION IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH ANYTHING IS GROUPED INTO CONVENIENT CATEGORIES BASED ON SOME
EASILY OBSERVABLE CHARACTERSTICS.

WHAT IS TAXA?

TAXA IS THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR CATEGORIES.TAXA CAN INDICATE CATEGORIES AT DIFFERENT LEVELS.EG. DOG IS A
MAMMAL AND MAMMAL IS AN ANIMAL.SO DOG, MAMMMAL AND ANIMAL REPRESENT TAXA AT DIFFERENT LEVELS.

WHAT IS TAXONOMY?

TAXANOMY IS THE PROCESS OF CLASSIFICATION IN WHICH BASED ON CHARACTERSTICS ALL LIVING ORGANISMS CAN BE
CLASSIFIED INTO DIFFERENT TAXA.

WHICH CHARACTERS FORM THE BASIS OF MODERN TAXONOMY?

1. EXTERNAL STRUCTURE
2. INTENRAL STRUCTURE
3. STRUCTURE OF CELL
4. DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
5. ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION OF ORGANISMS

WHICH PROCESSES ARE BASIC TO TAXONOMY?

-CHARACTERISATION

-IDENTIFICATION

-CLASSIFICATION

-NOMENCLATURE

WHAT WERE THE EARLIEST CLASSICATION OF ORGANISMS BASED ON?

THE EARLIEST CLASSIFCATION OF ORGANISMS WERE BASED ON “USES OF ORGANISMS”.

WHAT DOES SYSTEMA MEAN?

SYSTEMA MEANS SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF ORGANISMS.

WHAT IS SYSTEMATICS?

SYSTEMATICS REFERS TO THE STUDY OF DIFFERENT KIND OF ORGANISMS AND THEIR DIVERSITITES AND MOST
IMPORTANTLY THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG THEM.

LATER THE SCOPE OF SYSTEMATICS WAS ENLARGED TO INCLUDE IDENTIFICATION, CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE.

SYSTEMATICS TAKES INTO ACCOUNT EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIP AMONG ORGANISMS.

WHAT IS RANK OR CATEGORY(TAXONOMIC CATEGORY)?

CLASSIFICATION IS NOT A SINGLE STEP PROCESS BUT INVOLVES A NUMBER OF STEPS AND EACH STEP REPRESENTS A RANK
OR CATEGORY.SINCE CATEGORY IS PART OF OVERALL TAXONOMIC ARRANGEMENT IT IS CALLED TAXONOMIC CATEGORY.

WHAT IS TAXONOMIC HIERARCHY?

TOGETHER ALL TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES CONSTITUE A TAXONOMIC HIERARCHY.

WHAT IS A TAXON(PLURAL OF TAXA)

EACH CATEGORY REFERRED TO AS UNIT OF CLASSIFICATION REPRESENTS A RANK AND IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS TAXON.

EACH RANK OR TAXON REPRESENTS A UNIT OF CLASSIFICATION.

*GROUP DENOTES CATEGORY AND CATEGORY FURTHER DENOTES RANK.

*THE TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES ARE DIFFERENT BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES AND NOT MERE MORPHOLOGICAL AGGREGATES.

WHICH ARE THE COMMON CATEGORIES FOR CLASSICATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS.

KINGDOM

PHYLUM OR DIVISION(FOR PLANTS)

CLASS

ORDER

FAMILY

GENUS

SPECIES

WHAT IS SPECIES?

TAXONOMIC STUDIES CONSIDER A GROUP OF INDIVUAL ORGANISMS WITH FUNDAMENTAL SIMILARITES AS SPECIES.

HOW TO DISTINGUISH ONE SPECIES FROM OTHER CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES?

ONE SPECIES CAN BE DISTINGUISHED FROM ANOTHER CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES BASED ON THE DISTINCT
MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES.

WHAT IS GENUS OR GENERA?

GENUS COMPRISES OF GROUP OF RELATED SPECIES WHICH HAVE MORE CHARACTERS IN COMMON IN COMPARISON TO
SPECIES OF OTHER GENERA.

WE CAN SAY THAT GENERA ARE AGGREGATES OF CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES.

WHAT IS FAMILY?

FAMILY IS GROUP OF RELATED GENERA WITH STILL LESS NUMBER OF SIMILARITIES AS COMPARED TO GENUS AND SPECIES.

HOW ARE FAMILY CHARACTERISED IN PLANTS?

FAMILIES ARE CHARACTERISED BASED ON THE VEGETATIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE FEATURES OF PLANT SPECIES.EG.

PLANTS FROM THREE DIFFERENT GENERA SOLANIUM, PATUNIA AND DATURA ARE PLACED IN THE FAMILY SOLAMACEA.

AMONG ANIMALS EG. GENUS PANTHERA COMPRISING LION, TIGER AND LEOPARD IS PUT ALONG WITH GENUS FELIS(CATS)
IN THE FAMILY FELIDAE.

CATS AND DOGS HAVE CERTAIN SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMALIRITES ARE PLACED INTO DIFFERENT FAMILIES FELIDAE AND
CANIDAE.

WHAT IS ORDER?

CATEGORIES LIKE SPECIES, GENUS AND FAMILY ARE BASED ON SIMILAR CHARACTERS WHILE ORDER AND OTHER HIGHER
CATEGORIES ARE BASED ON AGGEREGATE OF CHARACTERS.

ORDER BEING A HIGHER CATEGORIES IS AN ASSEMBLAGE OF FAMILIES WHICH EXHIBIT A FEW SIMILAR CHARACTERS.

EG. PLANT FAMILIES LIKE CONVOLVULACACEAE, SOLANACEAE ARE INCLUDED IN THE ORDER POLYMONIALES MAINLY BASED
ON FLORAL CHARACTERS.

THE ANIMAL ORDER CARNIVORA INCLUDES FAMILIES LIKE FELIDAE AND CANIDAE.

WHAT IS CLASS?

THE CLASS INCLUDES RELATED ORDERS.

E.G ORDER PRIMATES CONSISTING OF GIBBON,MONKEY AND GORILLA IS PLACED IN CLASS MAMMALIA ALONG WITH
ORDER CARNIVORA.CLASS MAMMALIA HAS OTHER ORDERS ALSO.

WHAT IS PHYLUM?

CLASSES CONSTITUTING MAMMALIA, REPTILES , FISHES,BIRDS AND AMPHIBIANS CONSTITUE THE NEXT HIGHER CATEGORY
PHYLLUM.ALL THESE BASED ON THE COMMON FEATURES LIKE PRESENCE OF NOTOCHORD AND DORSAL HOLLOW NEURAL
SYSTEM ARE PLACED IN PHYLLUM CHORDOTA.

IN CASE OF PLANTS, CLASSES WITH A FEW SIMILAR CHARACTERS ARE PLACED IN A HIGHER CATEGORY CALLED DIVISION.

WHAT IS KINGDOM?

ALL ANIMALS BELONGING TO THE VARIOUS PHYLLA ARE ASSIGNED TO THE KINGDOM ANIMALIA AND PLANTS BELONGING
TO THE VARIUS DIVISION ARE ASSIGNED TO THE KINGDOM PLANTS.

*LOWER THE TAXA MORE THE CHARACTERS THE ORGANISMS SHARE AND AS WE GO HIGHER LESSER THE SIMILAR
CHARACTERS.

*PLEASE STUDY TABLE FROM NCERT.