History and Principles of Biological Taxonomy

Fill-in-the-blank practice flashcards covering the history, major contributors, and foundational concepts of biological taxonomy and systematics.

The science of arranging and classifying living organisms into groups called taxa is known as __________.

Taxonomy

The study of the diversification of life forms, both past and present, and their relationships among organisms through time is called __________.

Systematics

A group of one or more populations of an organism seen to form a unit is called a __________.

taxon

Generally, a taxon has three facets: the name of the taxon, the rank of the taxon, and the __________ of the taxon.

content

According to the roles of taxonomists and systematists, investigating evolutionary histories and considering environmental adaptations of species is unique to the __________.

Systematist

The Philippines has a significant number of endemic wildlife species, roughly around __________ species of flora and fauna.

60,000

Aristotle classified animals by distinguishing animals with blood (Enaima) from animals without blood, known as __________.

Anaima

Theophrastus developed the first classification system for plants and wrote De Historia Plantarum, which contained __________ species.

480

Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica, which contained around __________ medicinal plant species.

600

Albertus Magnus divided plants into monocots and dicots, defining monocots as flowers that exhibit __________ cotyledon.

one single

German botanist and Lutheran priest Jérôme Bock classified __________ plants according to their medicinal purposes.

700

Italian botanist Andrea Cesalpino categorized plants according to their differences in __________ structure or organs.

internal

Swiss botanist Caspar Bauhin coined the terms genus and __________.

species

John Ray developed an influential concept of the species as groups of organisms reproducing within their own __________.

limits

Carl Linnaeus simplified the classification system by imparting a two-part naming system called __________.

binomial nomenclature

The two works regarded as starting points of modern taxonomy by Linnaeus are Species Plantarum (1753) and the tenth edition of __________ (1758).

Systema Naturae

French naturalist Michel Adanson classed plants according to the individual workings of an organ, grouping plants with similar organs together into a __________.

division

Georges Cuvier divided animals into four major groups based on anatomical organization: vertebrates, mollusks, articulates, and __________.

radiates

The word 'taxonomy' was coined by French botanist __________.

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle

The first books on botany, including 'A Synopsis of British Flora' and 'An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany,' were published by __________.

John Lindley

Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart explored fossilized plants and is known as the Father of __________.

Paleobotany

George Bentham performed extensive exploration in Hong Kong and China and published the work titled __________.

Genera Plantarum

Ernst Haeckel proposed a three-kingdom system consisting of Animal, Vegetable, and __________.

Protista

Ernst Mayr established an evolutionary and genetic foundation for modern systematics in his 1942 publication titled __________.

Systematics and the Origin of Species

Robert Whittaker proposed a classification system based on five kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and __________.

Animalia

Carl Woese established the three-domain system of life consisting of Bacteria, Archaea, and __________.

Eukarya

Polish botanists Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler and Karl Anton Eugen created the __________ classification of taxonomy.

phylum

The Hutchinson system, which included 328 families, traces the origins of organisms through a process called __________.

phylogeny

Russian botanist Armen Leonovich narrowed the taxonomic process of identification to divisions or phyla with __________ underneath.

subclasses