Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method of scientific taxonomy used to group and categorize organisms into groups such as genus or species. These groups are known as taxa (singular: taxon).
Modern biological classification has its root in the work of Carolus Linnaeus, who grouped species according to shared physical characteristics. These groupings have since been revised to improve consistency with the Darwinian principle of common descent. With the introduction of the cladistic method in the late 20th century, phylogenetic taxonomy in which organisms are grouped based purely on inferred evolutionary relatedness, ignoring morphological similarity, has become common in some areas of biology. Molecular phylogenetics, which uses DNA sequences as data, has also driven many recent revisions and is likely to continue doing so. Biological classification belongs to the science of biological systematics.
Read more about Biological Classification: Definition, Biological Types, Taxonomic Ranks, Modern System, Authorities (author Citation), Globally Unique Identifiers For Names
Famous quotes containing the word biological:
“In America every woman has her set of girl-friends; some are cousins, the rest are gained at school. These form a permanent committee who sit on each other’s affairs, who “come out” together, marry and divorce together, and who end as those groups of bustling, heartless well-informed club-women who govern society. Against them the Couple of Ehepaar is helpless and Man in their eyes but a biological interlude.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)