Linnaeus: Scientists Name & their contribution Series [ From NCERT Biology 11th & 12th]

Linnaeus

👉Systema Naturae
👉Binomial names, Two Kingdom Classification, Artificial System
👉Father of Taxonomy

👉Name of the author appears after the specific epithet, i.e., at the end of
the biological name and is written in an abbreviated form, e.g., Mangifera
indica Linn. It indicates that this species was first described by Linnaeus.

👉Human beings were, since long, not only interested in knowing more

about different kinds of organisms and their diversities, but also the

relationships among them. This branch of study was referred to as

systematics. The word systematics is derived from the Latin word

‘systema’ which means systematic arrangement of organisms. Linnaeus

used Systema Naturae as the title of his publication. The scope of

systematics was later enlarged to include identification, nomenclature

and classification. Systematics takes into account evolutionary

relationships between organisms.

👉In Linnaeus' time a Two Kingdom system of classification with

Plantae and Animalia kingdoms was developed that included all

plants and animals respectively

👉Biological classification of plants and animals was first proposed by Aristotle on the

basis of simple morphological characters. Linnaeus later classified all living organisms

into two kingdoms – Plantae and Animalia. Whittaker proposed an elaborate five

kingdom classification – Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. The main

criteria of the five kingdom classification were cell structure, body organisation,

mode of nutrition and reproduction, and phylogenetic relationships.

👉Let us also look at classification within angiosperms to understand

some of the concerns that influenced the classification systems. The

earliest systems of classification used only gross superficial morphological

characters such as habit, colour, number and shape of leaves, etc. They

were based mainly on vegetative characters or on the androecium

structure (system given by Linnaeus). Such systems were artificial; they

separated the closely related species since they were based on a few

characteristics. Also, the artificial systems gave equal weightage to

vegetative and sexual characteristics; this is not acceptable since we know

that often the vegetative characters are more easily affected by

environment. As against this, natural classification systems developed,

which were based on natural affinities among the organisms.