Systematics

Guide Note

Systematics is the study of how all living things became so diverse and how all the groups of organisms both extinct and extant have diverged through time and geographical distribution from a distant common ancestor. A Phylogenetic Tree illustrates how groups are related by the order of the branches and how much change has occurred by the length of the branch. Phylogenies can be used to study different traits or the biogeography of a group of organisms.

Figures in Systematics

Ernst W. Mayr wrote Systematics and the Origin of Species in which he redefined a species as a distinct group of interbreeding individuals. Willi Hennig is considered the founder of phylogentic sytematics and first used Cladistics as a way to classify organisms based on evolutionary change. Carl Woese examined genetic differences rather than comparing morphological similarities and so defined a new domain of living things called the Archaea which were neither bacteria nor eukaryotes. Phenetics which classifies organisms on similarity of appearance is based on the system of Carl Linnaeus

Fast Facts

  1. Is the foundation for all studies on organisms
  2. Studies life diversities on Earth past and present
  3. Studies the relationships among living things
  4. Discipline of Biology
  5. Important in understanding Evolution, Conservation, preservation and protection of Endangered Species
  6. Uses Taxonomy as basis

Theories Involved
  1. Evolution
  2. Cladistics
  3. Taxonomy
  4. Cell Theory
  5. Zoology
  6. Botany

The Mahalo Top 7

  1. Official Site: The National Systematics Laboratory  Stephanie: Great Site
  2. Wikipedia: Systematics
  3. National Biological Information Infrastructure: Taxonomy & Systematics
  4. University of California Museum of Paleontology: Phylogenetic Systematics | Systematics of the Eukaryota | Systematics of the Plantae Sherry:Great overview
  5. American Museum of Natural History: Systematics (90.32 KB) WARNING: PDF-File
  6. National Center for Information Biotechnology: Systematics And Molecular Phylogenetics
  7. University of Wisconsin: Plant Systematics Collection

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