Systematic . Science dedicated to inventorying and describing biodiversity and understanding phylogenetic relationships between organisms. It includes taxonomy (science of discovery, description and classification of species and groups of species, with their names and principles) and also phylogeny (evolutionary relationships between organisms).
In general, it is said to comprise the classification of various living organisms. In biology , those who systematize are scientists who classify species and other taxa in order to define how they relate evolutionarily.
Summary
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- 1 Classification
- 2 Nomenclature
- 1 Scientific name
- 2 Reclassification
- 3 History of systematics as science
- 4 Systematic Botany
- 5 Source
- 6 External links
Classification
The purpose of the classification of living things, called taxonomy , was initially to organize known plants and animals into categories that could be referred to.
Subsequently, the classification began to respect the evolutionary relationships between organisms, an organization more natural than that based only on external characteristics. For this, ecological , physiological and all other characteristics that are available for the taxa in question are also used.
It is to this group of investigations regarding taxa that the name Systematics is given. In recent years, classifications based on the similarity between genomes have been attempted , with great advances in some areas, especially when those information from other fields of biology are added to this information .
The classification of living things is part of the systematic, science that studies the relationships between organisms, which includes the collection, preservation and study of specimens and the analysis of data from various areas of biological research.
Nomenclature
The nomenclature is the attribution of names (scientific name) to organisms and to the categories in which they are classified.
Scientific name
The scientific name is accepted in all languages and each name is applied to one species.
There are two international organizations that determine the naming rules, one for zoology and one for botany.
According to these rules, the first name published (from Lineu’s work) is correct, unless the species is reclassified, for example in another genus.
Reclassification
Reclassification has occurred with some frequency since the 20th century . The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature recommends that in this case the reference to the one who first described the species, with the year of the description, be kept in parentheses and does not include the name of the person who reclassified it.
This international standard uses, among other things, the fact that the genetic approach to taxonomy is still new , subject to revision due to new scientific research, or simply the definition of new parameters for the delimitation of a taxon, which may be morphological, ecological, behavioral, etc.
History of systematics as science
The first classification system was that of Aristotle in the IV ane, who ordered the animals by type of reproduction and whether or not they had red blood. His disciple Theophrastus classified plants by their use and form of cultivation.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, botanists and zoologists began to outline the current system of categories, even based on superficial anatomical characteristics.
However, as common ancestry may be the cause of such similarities, this system proved to approximate nature and continues to be the basis of the current classification. Lineu did his first extensive job of categorization, in 1758 , creating the current hierarchy.
From Darwin, evolution came to be considered as the central paradigm of Biology and with that, evidences of paleontology on ancestral forms and embryology on similarities in the first stages of life.
In the 20th century , genetics and physiology became important in classification, such as the recent use of molecular genetics in comparing genetic codes. Specific computer programs are used in the mathematical analysis of the data.
In February 2005 Edward Osborne Wilson, a retired professor at Hardvard University, where he forged the term biodiversity and participated in the founding of sociobiology, advocating for a “genome project” of Earth’s biodiversity , proposed creating a foundation digital dataset with detailed photos of all living species and completion of the Tree of Life project .
As opposed to a systematic based biology cellular and molecular, Wilson sees the need for systematic descriptive to preserve biodiversity .
From the economic point of view, the systematics can bring useful knowledge in biotechnology and in the containment of emerging pests. More than half of the planet’s species is parasitic and most of them are still unknown.
Systematic Botany
The Botanical Systematics is the science that deals with establishing relationships among plants from their characters (for example morphology, anatomy , physiology , structure the DNA , etc.).
The discipline covers Taxonomy (which orders plants in a system of classification of plant organisms), phylogeny and the evolution of plant organisms.
The systematic modern not only based on the external morphology of the plant, also considers the anatomical constitution, their genetic characteristics, their ecology, their range, their ancestors, among others; to try to form a system according to the true affinities of the plants, that is, the degree of kinship that exists between the various groups of plants.
When only living plants are considered today, the current systematic botany does not differ much from that of yesteryear, since, in the latter, the fossil remains and imprints, which were the subject of phytopaleontology, were not considered.
Current systematic trends integrate plant pathology in order to group plants according to their true affinities.
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