The Living World
Biology is the science of life forms and living processes. The living world is rich in variety; the number of known and described species ranges between 1.7-1.8 million. This is called biodiversity - the number and types of organisms present on earth.
Key processes
- Identification: correctly recognising which organism a name is attached to.
- Nomenclature: standardising names so an organism is known by the same name worldwide. Plants follow the ICBN; animals follow the ICZN.
- Classification: grouping organisms into convenient categories (taxa) based on easily observable characters.
- Characterisation: describing the features of an organism.
Together, characterisation, identification, classification and nomenclature are the four processes basic to taxonomy.
Binomial nomenclature
Given by Carolus Linnaeus. Each scientific name has two parts - the generic name (genus) and the specific epithet (species). Example: Mangifera indica (mango), Homo sapiens (human).Systematics
The study of the diversity of organisms and their relationships, including evolutionary relationships. The word comes from the Latin systema; Linnaeus titled his work Systema Naturae.Taxonomic hierarchy
In ascending order: Species - Genus - Family - Order - Class - Phylum/Division - Kingdom. As we move up the hierarchy, the number of shared characters decreases and determining relationships becomes more difficult.Taxonomic studies are useful in agriculture, forestry, industry and for knowing our bio-resources and their diversity.