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Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation of things to the classes ( classification ).
The varied definitions either place taxonomy as a sub-area of systematics (definition 2), invert that relationship (definition 6), or appear to consider the two terms synonymous. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy (definitions 1 and 2), or a part of systematics outside taxonomy.
In biological taxonomy, a domain (/ d ə ˈ m eɪ n / or / d oʊ ˈ m eɪ n /) (Latin: regio [1]), also dominion, [2] superkingdom, realm, or empire, is the highest taxonomic rank of all organisms taken together. It was introduced in the three-domain system of taxonomy devised by Carl Woese, Otto Kandler and Mark Wheelis in 1990. [1]
Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts: The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his Systema Naturae (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus there are three kingdoms, divided into classes, and the classes divided into lower ranks in a hierarchical order.
In biology, taxonomic rank (which some authors prefer to call nomenclatural rank [1] because ranking is part of nomenclature rather than taxonomy proper, according to some definitions of these terms) is the relative or absolute level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a hierarchy that reflects evolutionary
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses uses the taxonomic rank "kingdom" in the classification of viruses (with the suffix -virae); but this is beneath the top level classifications of realm and subrealm. [58] There is ongoing debate as to whether viruses can be included in the tree of life.
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from taxonomy; pl.: taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking , especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established.
In 1876 Thomas Henry Huxley, an early advocate of evolutionary theory, proposed a revised taxonomy based on a concept strongly resembling clades, [7] although the term clade itself would not be coined until 1957 by his grandson, Julian Huxley. German biologist Emil Hans Willi Hennig (1913–1976) is considered to be the founder of cladistics. [8]