SYSTEMATICS: MAN'S ATTEMPT AT PIGEON-HOLING NATURE

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778); "laws of order" is taxonomy.
Individual group of organisms is a taxon, groups of organisms are taxa. Species and higher order taxa reflect evolutionary mechanisms.

Compare different species and make decisions on their relationships;
Examine large-scale diversity patterns in time and space
Evaluate present and past geographic distributions and determine the underlying mechanisms responsible for the pattern

Taxonomy is the underpinning of all other biological and paleobiological sciences.

Aristotle recognized 550 kinds of animals
1700s there were >6000 recorded species of plants and 4000 species of animals.
Each species was given a binomen - genus and species epithet; placed into a systematic hierarchy

Botanists withdrew from an attempt by the British Association for the Advancement of Science to standardize nomenclatural rules in 1842

Binominal Nomenclature. Priority of names begins arbitrarily on 1 January 1758 (10^th edition of System Naturae (Linnaeus) and Aranei Svecici (Clerck)/
Principle of priority - the oldest available name for a taxon is its valid name (except ichnotaxa)
Principle of the First Reviser - when normal priority can't be established, one name can become precedent over another (e.g., simultaneous publication)
Principle of Co-ordination -- within the family, genus, or species, a name established for a taxon at any rank is deemed to have simultaneously established with the same author and date for the other ranks.
Principle of Homonymy - every taxon has a unique name different from any other.
The Principle of Name-bearing Types - each nominal taxon has a name-bearing type. A nominal family-group taxon has a nominal genus, a nominal genus has a nominal species, which is designated by a holotype, lectotype, neotype, or syntype.

Independence from Zoological Nomenclature - two organisms can have the same binomial name!!
Names of taxonomic groups are determined by nomenclatural types
Nomenclature of a group is based upon publication priority
Each taxonomic group can only have one name, with earliest record having priority
Scientific names are treated as Latin regardless of derivation
Rules of nomenclature are retroactive unless expressly limited.

Parataxonomy? A parataxon defined as "a taxon based on a fragment or detached organ that can be classified at genus and species levels by comparison with other fragments or detached organs, but cannot be assigned to the same taxa at those levels as the whole animal to which it belongs."

Dual nomenclature (one for entire apparatuses; one for isolated elements).
Became unworkable, and the oldest name is now applied to one of the elements and has become the accepted systematic name

Disarticulated Plant Fossils - whole plants are rarely preserved.
Majority of plant fossils represent organs that were lost during and/or after life.
Paleobotanists use a system for isolated organs whereby each different organ may have a different binomen.

STRONG debate to erect a separate code of nomenclature for ichnofossils.
Formal trace-fossil names are FORM TAXA and comprise an ichnogenus, ichnospecies, along with an author and date.
A suitable idiomorphic holotype must be designated for comparative purposes.

Mid 60's assumed relationships on comparative anatomy or morphology (similarities in appearance) and phylogenetic relationships (the way in which organsisms are related to each other). This introduced uncertainties and subjectivity into the method.
Numerical Taxonomy (Phenetics) utilizes statistical techniques and "objectivity"
Cladistics in 1970's presumed that unless phylogenetic hypotheses were testable, evolutionary history was uncertain.

Proposed as a purely objective and statistically valid method
Classification should be based upon mathematical similarities between organisms.

Taxon characteristics measured and coded (OTU), resulting in a large data matrix.
Computer algorithms used to determine statistically related taxa; most features in common.

Problems arose when determined that coding and character weighting was not objective - another subjective exercise based upon the investigator's paradigm.