What is taxonomy?
- Taxonomy is the science that arranges and groups organisms at different level.
- The basic unit of taxonomy is the species, but organisms are named after both their species and genus name. For example, wolves are Canis lupus.
- The ensemble of all the species is called the tree of life.
Taxonomy depends on phylogeny
- At the beginning of life, there was only one cell. All living organisms are issued from that cell.
- Along the history of life, different traits appeared that made some organisms becoming different and ultimately their own species.
- Example of such traits are the appearance of a cell nucleus (Eukaryotes), photosynthesis in plants (Plantae), the chordal spine (Chordata) of animals, and many others.
- The relationship between species depending on their evolutionary history is called phylogeny, which is used for taxonomy (the classification of organisms).
- For example, Birches, Wolves and Salmons are all eukaryotes (they all have a nucleus), but because plants are photosynthetic and animals are not, Birches are in another group than Wolves and Salmons. Wolves and Salmons are chordates (they have a spine) but Salmons lay eggs while Wolves do not... and so on.
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You can find the tree of life here
