Jump to content

Alpha taxonomy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hiplis (talk | contribs) at 08:15, 10 April 2007 (it is an empirical science. Minus curious and unreferenced statement about levels (what tradition? where?)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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.

For a long time the term "taxonomy" was unambiguous, but over time the word "taxonomy" gained several other meanings and thus became confusing. To some extent it is being replaced, in its original (and narrow) meaning, by "alpha taxonomy".

Another source of confusion is the relationship to systematics. The words "taxonomy" and "systematics" have a similar history and similar meanings: 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).
The species 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.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alpha_taxonomy&oldid=121631699"