The Origins of Taxonomy

Abstract

There are approximately 10 million kinds of olganisms in the world, of which we have described some 15 percent. The rapid growth of the human population will cause most of the remainder to disappear from the earth before they are seen by a taxonomist. These facts suggest a more rigorous application of priorities in systematic biology as well as a careful review of the principles upon which our taxonomic system is based. Folk taxonomies all over the world are shallow hierarchically and comprise a strictly limited number of generic taxa ranging from about 250 to 800 forms applied to plants and a similar number applied to animals. These numbers are consistent, regardless of the richness of the environment in which the particular people live. Very few specific and varietal taxa are recognized in folk taxonomic systems. Until the invention of movable type in the mid-l5th century, written taxonomies were simply records of the folk taxonomies of particular regions. Subsequently, with the possibility for the wide distribution of books, it began to seem worth while to attempt to describe and name all species of plants and animals in the world. By the year 1700, 698 genera of plants were recognized; and by the year 1778, some 1350 genera, including tens of thousands of species. In 1789 de Jussieu interpolated the family as a higher level taxonomic category in an attempt to reduce the number of important units in the system to a memorable number. The family is still the focal point in systems of angiosperm classification at present, several hundred families being recognized. Problems with the taxonomic system stem largely from the fact that it is not designed as an information retrieval device. In folk taxonomies, names are given to organisms and these are used to communicate about the organisms with others who already know the culturally significant properties of the organisms being discussed. In dealing with the vast numbers of organisms that exist, we tend to overemphasize the process of classification and the decisions it involves at the expense of the information about the organisms that we are supposedly accumulating. Frequent changes in names exacerbate the difficulties of the system and render it still less useful for information retrieval. With modern electronic data processing equipment, it has become possible to record information about organisms, to retain this information in a data bank, and to utilize it for various purposes, including the construction of various taxonomic systems. The invention of high-speed electronic data processing equipment is seen as analogous to but more important than the invention of movable type in the history of systematic biology. By using such equipment to its full potentialities, we should be able to achieve a qualitative improvement in our perception of the living world.

"Modern Linnaeus": A class exercise on plant nomenclature and taxonomy in comparison with a previous experiment

“…These findings support the hypothesis by which the formal Linnaean taxonomy probably has codified a system of nomenclature present in the folk systematics of the earliest prescientific man (Raven et al 1971). Moreover, it is worth noting that some authors (e.g., Boster 1987) have presented evidence of a collective understanding that is not limited to a particular collection of human beings.…”

Body Size and Numbers of Plants and Animals

“…For mammals and birds this effect cannot be ruled out entirely until several kinds of comparisons are made (Van Valen, 1973). Angiosperms, however, show the same effect (less strongly because only three size classes are available), and their taxonomy is based largely on reproductive structures even though somewhat affected by considerations such as economic importance (Raven et al, 1971). …”

Construção e validação de uma taxonomia de eventos de TD&E

“…Desde as agremiações humanas mais primitivas, podem-se observar tentativas de desenvolvimento de sistemas de classificação que possibilitaram o reconhecimento de similaridades e diferenças entre objetos e eventos do mundo natural (Raven, Berlin, & Breedlove, 1971). Estudos da etnociência buscaram identificar esquemas populares de classificação (folk taxonomies) em diferentes sociedades primitivas (Berlin, Breedlove, & Raven, 1968).…”

“…Os biólogos, uns dos primeiros a desenvolver esquemas sistemáticos de classificação, nada mais fizeram do que se apropriar de taxonomias já elaboradas pelas comunidades, apenas incluindo algumas sistematizações a mais em tais taxonomias (Raven et al, 1971). De acordo com esses autores, somente no século XVIII os sistemas de classificação em biologia começaram a deixar de ser genéricos e restritos a poucas espécies.…”