BI236 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Carl Linnaeus, Binomial Nomenclature, Evolutionary Taxonomy
Document Summary
Note: animal diversity is not random but has a definite order. Taxonomy and phylogeny of animals: biologists organize animals in a nested hierarchy of groups within groups according to evolutionary relationships as revealed by ordered patterns in their sharing of homologous features, darwin: theory of common desent or ancestory. Taxonomy and phylogeny of animals: >1. 5 million species of animals named. < 20% of all living (extant) animals (another 80% is still unknown) < 1% of all extinct animals: taxonomy, systematics. Formal system of naming and classifying species. Broader science of classifying (systematization) organisms based on similarity, biogeography, etc. Systematic zoologists have three goals: to discover all species of animals, to reconstruct their evolutionary relationships, to classify (systematize) animals according to their evolutionary relationships via an informative taxonomic system. Rank system: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species } 7 mandatory ranks. Over 30 taxonomic ranks for complex groups.
