| Linnaean Taxonomy |
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TAXONOMIC RANKS A summary of this scheme, from most general to most specific, would be:
EXAMPLE CLASSIFICATION: HUMANS As an example, consider the Linnaean classification for modern Human s:
NOMENCLATURE A strength of Linnaean taxonomy is that it can be used to develop a simple and practical system for organizing the different kinds of living Organism s. The greatest innovation of Linnaeus, and still the most important aspect of this system, is the general use of Binomial Nomenclature , the combination of a genus name and a single specific epithet ("sapiens" in the example above), to uniquely identify each species of organism. In the example, humankind is uniquely identified by the binomial ''Homo sapiens.'' No other species of animal can have this binomial. In this way, every species is given a unique and stable name (compared with common names that are often neither unique nor consistent from place to place and language to language). This uniqueness and stability are, of course, a result of the acceptance by working systematists (biologists specializing in taxonomy); not merely of the binomial nomenclature in itself, but of much more complex codes of rules and procedures governing the use of these names. These rules—or at least those governing the Nomenclature and classification of plants and Fungi —are contained in the International Code Of Botanical Nomenclature , maintained by the International Association For Plant Taxonomy . The current code, the "Saint Louis Code" was adopted in 1999 and supersedes the "Tokyo code". Similar codes exist for animals and bacteria. Scientists follow these codes so that the names of organisms can be as clear and stable as possible. LATER DEVELOPMENTS Over time, our understanding of the relationships between living things has changed. The greatest change was the widespread acceptance of Evolution as the mechanism of biological diversity and species formation. After this, it became generally understood that classifications ought to reflect the Phylogeny of organisms, where each taxon should originate from a single ancestral form. Such taxa are designated as being monophyletic. In modern systems it is generally encouraged that taxa should be strictly Monophyletic . Originally, Linnaeus established three kingdoms in his scheme, namely and Archaea , which contain the prokaryotes, and Eukaryota , comprising the remaining forms. This change was precipitated by the discovery of the Archaea . Reflecting truly evolutionary relationships, especially given the wide acceptance of Cladistic methodology and numerous Molecular Phylogenies that have challenged long-accepted classifications, has proven problematic within the framework of Linnaean taxonomy, and some systematists have proposed a Phylocode to replace it. ''See also'': Evolutionary Tree , which has further subdivisions and presents the most current taxonomic viewpoint. QUOTATIONS
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