In the field of biology, new types of living organisms are being discovered and studied. There are more than one and a half million species described. Total discovered by scientists from the wildlife world is about 14 million. To order such a huge number of species, it is necessary to systematize (systematize) organisms.
Who is a taxonomist
A taxonomist is a person engaged in compiling a system of the wildlife world. For the correct course of the systematization process, the employee uses data from many areas of biology.
A taxonomist is a scientist who is versed in various fields of nature science. To determine the location of the species in the system, the scientist delves into paleontology, anatomy, physiology, genetics and many other branches of biology.
A taxonomist is a scientist who constantly checks the correct position of species in particular taxonomic groups. He may announce the emergence of a new taxonomic group if the need arises. That is, in the case when the described species cannot be included in existing classes, families, and so on.
The meaning of the word systematics is quite simply described in the explanatory dictionaries: "specialist in taxonomy." Indeed, a taxonomist should be well versed in the principles of his work, that is, be a very good specialist.
The principles of work of scientists
What principles are based on by scientists, making up a huge system of all living organisms? After the works of Charles Darwin appeared, the principle of evolution came first.
All organisms in the system of the wildlife world are located according to a strict rule: in one taxonomic group there are closely related species, genera, families, or other taxa.
Examples of distribution of species by taxonomic groups
All representatives of the order of carnivorous mammals descended from myacids - predators resembling a modern marten. Miacids have long lived on the planet. In the Oligocene (about thirty million years ago) a branch was separated from them: the ancestors of modern predators. They evolved and formed different in appearance and lifestyle types of living organisms: wolves, foxes, bears, sea lions, walruses, martens, weasels, meerkats, skunks, raccoons and others.
Thus, all modern carnivorous mammals belong to the order Carnivora, which means "carnivores." Even if the animal does not eat exclusively meat, but comes from the same ancestor as other carnivores, it belongs to the Carnivorous order. For example, this applies to bears, whose diet is extremely diverse.
All modern bears descended from the same miatsid, or rather, from one of the branches of these small animals. This branch is characterized by a large variety of fairly large species. One species was particularly large in size: Ursus etruscus.
He lived one and a half million years ago. It was from Ursus etruscus that the white and brown, as well as different types of cave bears, descended. All of them belong to the common genus Ursus. Spectacled bear does not belong to this genus, but is included in the Bear family. This means that the relationship of this species with other bears is more distant.
The influence of various sciences on taxonomy
In recent decades, genetics has made an increasing contribution to taxonomy. One of the activities of geneticists is the decoding of genes of different organisms. The similarity of the genomes of different species can lay the foundation for combining them in one taxonomic group.
Paleontology also constantly delivers new data to systematize. Scientists discover intermediate types of the long chain of the evolutionary process. This confirms or refutes the location of a species in the system.
Thus, a taxonomist is a scientist collecting data from various fields of biology. Systematics is always interested in the latest works of paleontologists, geneticists and other specialists. New data sometimes changes the location of one or another species in the system of the wildlife world.