Describe the system of classification of angiosperm proposed by hutchinson
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How Animals Are Classified
The history of scientific classification
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Scientific Classification
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by
Laura Klappenbach
Updated May 23, 2019
For centuries, the practice of naming and classifying living organisms into groups has been an integral part of the study of nature. Aristotle (384BC-322BC) developed the first known method of classifying organisms, grouping organisms by their means of transport such as air, land, and water. A number of other naturalists followed with other classification systems. But it was Swedish botanist, Carolus (Carl) Linnaeus (1707-1778) that is considered to be the pioneer of modern taxonomy.
In his book Systema Naturae, first published in 1735, Carl Linnaeus introduced a rather clever way to classify and name organisms. This system, now referred to as Linnaean taxonomy, has been used to varying extents, ever since.
About Linnaean Taxonomy
Linnaean taxonomy categorizes organisms into a hierarchy of kingdoms, classes, orders, families, genera, and species based on shared physical characteristics. The category of phylum was added to the classification scheme later, as a hierarchical level just beneath kingdom.
Groups at the top of the hierarchy (kingdom, phylum, class) are more broad in definition and contain a greater number of organisms than the more specific groups that are lower in the hierarchy (families, genera, species).
By assigning each group of organisms to a kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, they can then be uniquely characterized. Their membership in a group tells us about the traits they share with other members of the group, or the traits that make them unique when compared to organisms in groups to which they do not belong.
Many scientists still use the Linnaean classification system to some extent today, but it is no longer the only method for grouping and characterizing organisms. Scientists now have many different ways of identifying organisms and describing how they relate to each other.
To best understand the science of classification, it will help to first examine a few basic terms:
classification - the systematic grouping and naming of organisms based on shared structural similarities, functional similarities, or evolutionary history
taxonomy - the science of classifying organisms (describing, naming, and categorizing organisms)
systematics - the study of the diversity of life and the relationships between organisms
Types of Classification Systems
With an understanding of classification, taxonomy, and systematics, we can now examine the different types of classifications systems that are available. For instance, you can classify organisms according to their structure, placing organisms that look similar in the same group. Alternatively, you can classify organisms according to their evolutionary history, placing organisms that have a shared ancestry in the same group. These two approaches are referred to as phenetics and cladistics and are defined as follows:
phenetics - a method of classifying organisms that is based on their overall similarity in physical characteristics or other observable traits (it does not take phylogeny into account)
cladistics - a method of analysis (genetic analysis, biochemical analysis, morphological analysis) that determines relationships between organisms that are based solely on their evolutionary history
In general, Linnaean taxonomy uses phenetics to classify organisms. This means it relies on physical characteristics or other observable traits to classify organisms and does consider the evolutionary history of those organisms. But keep in mind that similar physical characteristics are often the product of shared evolutionary history, so Linnaean taxonomy (or phenetics) sometimes reflects the evolutionary background of a group of organisms.
Cladistics (also called phylogenetics or phylogenetic systematics) looks to the evolutionary history of organisms to form the underlying framework for their classification. Cladistics, therefore, differs from phenetics in that it is based on phylogeny (the evolutionary history of a group or lineage), not on the observation of physical similarities.