Introduction to taxonomy. Binary nomenclature. Systematic units.

Systematics is a science about the diversity of plant organisms, which determines their place in the system of the organic world. There is a taxonomy of animals, microorganisms, fungi and plants. In botany, a distinction is made between the taxonomy of lower plants and the taxonomy of higher plants.

Taxonomy- the most important branch of biology, including botany. Without systematics, the development of either theoretical or experimental botany (breeding, seed production, plant introduction, etc.) is unthinkable.

Any science is characterized by three components: the subject of study, the tasks that science sets for itself, and research methods. Taxonomy tasks are the description of plants, their names, classification and construction of the evolutionary system of the plant world. If earlier the tasks of plant taxonomy were to create a system of the plant world, establish a classification or distribute familiar forms into groups based on the study of their structure, assigning names to them in order to distinguish them, then at present the tasks of taxonomy are becoming much more complex. On the basis of evolutionary teaching, it is necessary to show the development of the entire plant world from the most ancient and primitive forms to the modern and most complex; establish family ties, the origin of plants, i.e. first of all, to give, if possible, a correct, harmonious picture of the development of the entire plant world, or its phylogeny, in which each species would have its place in the system in connection with other forms related to it. The taxonomy of plants must be phylogenetic, reflecting not only the diversity of previously existing and modern forms, but also their origin, connections and development throughout the history of organic life on Earth.

Thus, plant taxonomy consists of 3 sections:

1) taxonomy, that is, the theory and practice of plant classification;

2) nomenclature - a set of existing names of taxa and a system of rules governing the establishment and use of these names;

3) phylogeny - establishes the relationship of plants in historical terms.

Each science has its own specific research methods, partly in common with other close and related disciplines. Currently, to build a phylogenetic system it is necessary to use the achievements of many related sciences - morphology, anatomy, embryology, paleobotany, ecology and geography of plants, biochemistry, genetics, etc. The application of the methods and achievements of these sciences in phylogenetic systematics is inevitable and mandatory. These methods can be divided into three main groups: morphological in a broad sense, physiological-biochemical and experimental-genetic.

The system that modern botanists use is hierarchical, built on the “box within a box” principle. Any level of the hierarchy is called a taxonomic rank (category). The hierarchy of taxa and the rules for naming plants (nomenclature) are regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, which is mandatory for all botanists. Any level of taxa is called a taxonomy.

Plant nomenclature consists of designations of taxa (i.e., systematic units, or categories, to determine rank - for example, class, family, etc.) and names (for example, Anthophyta, Malus domestica). According to the code of botanical nomenclature, the following system of taxonomic ranks (categories) has been adopted (only the main ones are given).

With binary nomenclature, As has been customary since the time of Linnaeus, the Latin name of the species is followed by the abbreviated surname of the author of the species, i.e. the author who gave it the name according to the rule of priority. The surname of the author of the species for Linnaeus is indicated by one letter L., for example Rosa canina L. (i.e. Linnaeus), and for others it is indicated by several letters, for example D.C. (Decandolle), Max. (Maksimovich), etc.

As the main taxon– units of measurement of organic nature, in particular plants, accepted form. The doctrine of species has a very long history, saturated with an intense struggle of conflicting views. The concept of species, as is known, was firmly applied and regulated for the first time in science by C. Linnaeus in his classic work “Species of Plants” (1753). The date of publication of this work determines the beginning of the scientific taxonomy of plants. However, the concept of a plant species as a systematic unit was expressed much earlier - first by K. Gesner (1559) and other researchers, and then by D. Ray in his “History of Plants” (1686-1704). The latter believed that the belonging of plants to the same species is determined by the possibility of their origin from the seeds of the same or similar plants. Despite the constancy of the species emphasized in this definition, D. Ray recognized its ability to change due to the degeneration of seeds. He even stated that “a transformation of species occurs in plants.”

K. Linnaeus, apparently, did not pay attention to Rey’s statements about the species and, in essence, did not give a definition of this basic systematic unit. He only said: “There are as many kinds of different forms as the infinite Being created,” i.e. God. Varieties, according to Linnaeus, are different plants grown from seeds of the same species; they appear due to random reasons (climate, soil, etc.), and in the absence of these reasons, plants grow similar to the original parents. Species are divided into varieties and grouped into genera. “There are as many genera as there are different fruitings produced by natural species.” Further, K. Linnaeus said that “varieties are often works of culture, species and genera are creations of nature, and orders and classes are products of both nature and art.” Thus, he emphasized the partial artificiality of these latter systematic units.

Further research showed that the species identified by Linnaeus are not always the same. In many cases they represent a group of more or less stable hereditary systematic units and therefore the Linnaean species in these cases must be divided into a number of species. According to the definition given by academician V.L. Komarov, a species is “a morphological system multiplied by geographical certainty,” i.e. a species is determined by morphological characteristics and a specific habitat. V.L. Komarov himself admitted that this is a formalistic definition, necessary only for the practical work of a taxonomist. A species is a systematic category evolving in nature; it must be understood not statically, but dynamically, according to the law of universal change and development. Therefore, in a formulation that takes these points into account, V.L. Komarov (1945) said that “a species is a set of generations descending from a common ancestor and under the influence of the environment and the struggle for existence of living beings isolated by selection from the rest of the world; at the same time, a species is a certain stage in the process of evolution.”

In modern botany, As in science in general, it must be recognized that our knowledge is at the very beginning of the explanation of nature. Science has acquired a “non-classical” (non-pragmatic) character. The non-classical nature of modern taxonomy is also evident in the understanding of species in plants. The long-standing debate about the criteria for “biological species”, i.e. natural species, created by nature itself and genetically isolated from each other, ended with the recognition that this category is not universal. It turned out that not all plant diversity is divided into “biological” species. Among self-pollinating organisms, there are microspecies - jordanones, there are hybridizing aggregates of "half-species" (singameons), there are "twin species" (morphologically similar, but genetically different) and "twin species" (morphologically different, but with the same genotype).

The concept of “taxonomic species” came into taxonomy, which denotes collections of plants of approximately the same volume. If there is a “biological species”, then the “taxonomic species” coincides with it in volume. If a set of plants does not develop into such “good species”, then the species are allocated conditionally. They are difficult to identify even for an experienced botanist. For the same set of plants, different scientists today identify different numbers of species (in larger and smaller volumes) and group these species into different numbers of genera, families and orders. This causes frequent discussions and revisions of the taxonomy; the result is a unified understanding of the system. An example of such a collective agreement is two publications “Vascular Plants of the USSR” (1981) and “Vascular Plants of Russia and Neighboring States (within the former USSR)” (1995). Author – S.K. Cherepanov.

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 Examples
• 2 The emergence of binomial nomenclature
  • 2.1 Polynomial names
  • 2.2 Carl Linnaeus: the emergence of nomina trivialia
  • 2.3 The first nomenclature codes
Notes

• 4 Literature and links

Introduction

Binomial, or binary, or binomial nomenclature- a method adopted in biological taxonomy to designate species using a two-word name ( binomen), consisting of a combination of two names or names: a genus name and a species name (according to the terminology adopted in zoological nomenclature) or a genus name and a species epithet (according to botanical terminology). Gender name Always written with a capital letter, species name (specific epithet) - Always with a small one (even if it comes from a proper name). In the text, the binomen is usually written italics. The name of the species (specific epithet) should not be given separately from the name of the genus, since without the name of the genus it is completely meaningless. In some cases, it is permissible to shorten the genus name to one letter or a standard abbreviation. According to the established tradition in Russia, the phrase binomial nomenclature(from English binomial), and in botanical - binary, or binomial nomenclature(from lat. binominalis).

1. Examples

For example, in the scientific names Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 (swallowtail) or Rosa canina Linnaeus, 1753 (rose hip), the first word is the name of the genus to which the species belongs, and the second word is the name of the species or specific epithet. After the binomen there is often an abbreviated reference to the work in which the species was first described in the scientific literature and provided with a name given according to certain rules. In our case, these are links to the works of Carl Linnaeus: tenth edition Systema naturae(1758) and Species plantarum (1753).

Examples of abbreviated names (usually the default for well-known laboratory organisms or when listing species of the same genus): E. coli(Escherichia coli T. Escherich, 1885), S. cerevisiae(baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Meyen ex E.C. Hansen). Some of these shortened names have made their way into popular culture, e.g. T. rex (T. rex from Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn, 1905, tyrannosaurus).

2. The emergence of binomial nomenclature

2.1. Polynomial names

Binomial nomenclature in the form in which it is used in our time developed in the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. Before this, rather long, verbose, or polynomial names were used.

The first polynomials were formed spontaneously during the compilation of herbal books of the 16th century. The authors of these works, the “fathers of botany” Otto Brunfels, Hieronymus Tragus and Leonhart Fuchs, comparing the plants of Germany with the plants described by ancient authors (mainly Dioscorides), formed new names by adding epithets to the names of the ancients, which were, like most popular names , are initially single-word. As the number of known plant species increased, the polynomials grew, sometimes reaching one and a half dozen words. So, for example, one of the mosses was called Muscus capillaceus aphyllos capitulo crasso bivalvi, that is Moss in the form of a hair, leafless, with a thickened bivalve head. This name said more about the species than its current name - Buxbaumia leafless ( Buxbaumia arylla): it contained all the main identifying characteristics of the species. But it was very difficult to use such names when compiling, say, a list of plants in a given area. In addition, polynomials gave rise to an uncontrollable desire to split existing species into small and minute new species, since the verbose “species difference” included many variable but unimportant characters of plants and animals. The number of known species increased like an avalanche. Some of the polynomials consisted of only two words, but the similarity to binomial nomenclature was only superficial. This was due to the fact that the concept of ranks of systematic categories and the idea of ​​a necessary connection between the procedures of classification and naming became widespread only at the end of the 17th century.

Only in the works of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1694) and Augustus Bachmann (Rivinus) (1690s) was a complex system of subordinate categories introduced (in particular, the categories of genus and species were isolated in a more or less modern sense) and the principle was first applied "one genus - one name." According to this principle, the names of all plants belonging to the same genus should begin with the same word or stable phrase - the name of the genus. Species names were to be formed by adding more or less verbose species differences to the genus name (the so-called differenitae specificae). Since differenita specifica had diagnostic value, there was no need for it if the genus was not divided into species. The name in such cases consisted only of the genus name without adding specific distinction.

2.2. Carl Linnaeus: emergence nomina trivialia

The transformation of nomenclature was one of the most important proposals of Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus believed that it was necessary to make the names of genera single-word, getting rid of stable phrases like Bursa pastoris (shepherd's purse) or Dens leonis (Leontodon, kulbaba), and compiling verbose species differences (lat. differentiae specificae) - subject to strict rules. According to Linnaeus's views, nothing should be used in species differences that could not be seen on the plant itself (place of growth, the name of the botanist who first found it, comparisons with other plants). They should concern only the structure of plants, described using standardized terminology (a significant part of the work “Philosophy of Botany” is devoted to its detailed presentation). The length of the species difference should not, according to Linnaeus' calculations, exceed twelve words (six nouns for the main parts of the plant and six adjectives characterizing them). In some cases, a species difference could consist of one adjective if it characterized the entire plant as a whole.

Page 105 Systema Naturae Carl Linnaeus 1767 edition. Note the nomina trivialia (Monoceros And Mysticetus), placed to the left of the description of whale species, the absence differentia specifica in the only species of the genus Monodon(narwhal) and its presence in the first of the species of the following genus: Balaena naribus flexuosis in medio capite, dorso impinni(bowhead whale).

The use of verbose names in practice was associated with certain difficulties. Firstly, they were long, and secondly, they were subject to change: when new species were added to the genus, they had to be revised so that they could retain their diagnostic functions. In this regard, in travel reports and “economic” studies on the economic use of plants and animals, Linnaeus and his students used abbreviated names. At first, such abbreviated names consisted of the genus name and species number, according to the writings of Linnaeus Flora suecica or Fauna suecica. From the mid-1740s they began experimenting with the use of so-called trivial names(lat. nomina trivialia). They first appeared in the index to the description of the trip to Öland and Gotland (1745) and then in Pan Svecicus(a catalog of the plants of Sweden, indicating which species of livestock feed on them) (1749).

Nomen triviale usually it was one word or a set phrase, sometimes it was the ancient name of the plant, rejected by Linnaeus for some reason (as in the case of Capsella bursa-pastoris, where Bursa pastoris, in fact, is a rejected two-word generic name), sometimes - something completely unsuitable as a genuine differentia, as color, smell, country of origin or similar plant (as in the case of Quercus ilex). Invention and Application nomina trivialia was limited by only two rules: they should not be repeated within the genus and should not change after the addition of new species to the genus. Linnaeus was the first to consistently apply nomina trivialia to all types of plants in Species Plantarum(1753), and in the tenth edition Systema Naturae(1758) - to all types of animals and minerals. Unlike differentiae, nomina trivialia were given to plants and animals and in those genera that contained only one species.

In the works of Linnaeus and his closest followers nomina trivialia located in the margins of the page. The custom of placing nomen trivial directly behind the name of the genus, as is currently done, it developed only towards the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries.

2.3. The first nomenclature codes

The practice of using binomen was fixed by the first nomenclature codes that appeared in the 1840-60s. The need to develop codes regulating the formation of new names and the use of old ones was associated with the growing nomenclatural chaos. With an increase in the number of authors, insufficient intensity of scientific communication and a weakening of the disciplinary influence of Linnaeus's outdated works, which did not correspond to the nomenclatural practices of that time, the number of new names began to increase like an avalanche.

The first nomenclatural rules were developed in England and adopted at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in 1842. Hugo Theodore Strickland, an English naturalist, geologist and ornithologist, took the most active part in their development. In botany, an attempt to codify the rules was made by Alphonse Decandolle, who published “The Laws of Botanical Nomenclature” in 1867. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, international codes of zoological and botanical nomenclature were developed on their basis (and in the second half of the 20th century, special codes of nomenclature for bacteria and viruses). In all these codes, the scientific name of a species is considered to be a binomial name consisting of the name of the genus and what was invented by Linnaeus and his students as nomen trivial.

Notes

1. Shipunov A. B. Fundamentals of the theory of systematics: Textbook. - M.: Open Lyceum VZMSH, Dialogue-MSU, 1999. - 56 p.
2. See Atran, S. (1990) Cognitive Foundations of Natural History: Towards an Anthropology of Science. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press and Kupriyanov A. V. (2005) Prehistory of biological systematics: “folk taxonomy” and the development of ideas about the method in the natural history of the late 16th - early 18th centuries. St. Petersburg: EUSP Publishing House.
3. See: Heller, J. L. (1983) Studies in Linnaean method and nomenclature. Marburger Schriften zur Medizingeschichte. Bd. 7. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. and Koerner, L. (1999) Linnaeus: Nature and Nation. Harvard University Press.
4. See “Report of a Committee appointed “to consider of the rules by which the Nomenclature of Zoology may be established on a uniform and permanent basis.”” by H. E. Strickland, J. S. Henslow, John Philipps, W. E. Shuckard, John Richardson, G. R. Waterhouse , Richard Owen, W. Yarrell, Leonard Jenyns, C. Darwin, W. J. Broderip, J. O. Westwood. Report on the Twelfth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at Manchester in June 1842. London. John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1843. P. 105-121. and Alphonse de Candolle. Lois de la nomenclature botanique. Paris. 1867

4. Literature and links

• Jeffrey C. Biological nomenclature. - M.: Mir. 1980.

binary nomenclature

private rule biol. nomenclatures, according to which names species are made up of two words - the first denotes the genus (in Latin it is written with a capital letter), the second - the species (written with a lowercase letter if it does not denote its own name). Introduced by a Swedish naturalist K. Linnaeus.

(Source: “Microbiology: a dictionary of terms”, Firsov N.N., M: Drofa, 2006)

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