Lecture 2: Introduction to Systematics

Thousands are still unknown and are yet to be identified and described.

• Systematics allow us to study/understand the diversity of life (how, where and when they
started to evolve on earth)
• Overlapping ideas with taxonomy
• Biologists have identified and named approximately 1.7 million species so far. This is only
5% of all organisms that ever lived!!!!!
• New organisms are still being found and identified.

Systematics

• from the latinized Greek word “systema” (organized whole) as applied to systems of
classification developed by early naturalists, notably Carolus Linnaeus (1735, Systema
naturae).
• According to G. G. Simpson (1961), it is the scientific study of the kinds & diversity of
organisms & of any & all relationships (all biological interactions) among them
• Broad overlap in the terms systematics & taxonomy in dealing w/ the diversity &
uniqueness of life; but there is also subtle difference.

Taxonomy

• is derived from Greek word “taxis” (arrangement) & “nomos” (law); first proposed in its
French form by de Candolle (1813) for the Theory of Plant Classification

Four Divisions of Taxonomy

1. Description
• Assignment of features or attributes to a taxon.
• The features are called characters. Two or more forms of a character are character states.
(Eg. Petal color: Red, Blue; Leaf shape: elliptic, lanceolate, and ovate)
• The terms used provide a vocabulary for communication about plants
• tools of communication, for concisely categorizing and delimiting the attributes of a taxon,
an organism, or some part of the organism.
• An accurate and complete listing of these features is one of the major objectives and
contributions of taxonomy.

Example of Leaf Character and Character states

Example of fruit types

2. Identification
 • process of associating an unknown taxon with a known one, or recognizing that the
unknown is new to science and warrants formal description and naming.
• One generally identifies an unknown by noting its characteristics, that is, by
describing it. Then, these features are compared with those of other taxa to see if
they conform.
• A taxonomic key is perhaps the most utilized of identification devices and the most
common, is a dichotomous key.

Dichotomous Key - used to identify organisms

• consists of a series of two contrasting statements.

• Each statement is a lead; the pair of leads constitutes a couplet.
• That lead which best fits the specimen to be identified is selected; then all
couplets hierarchically beneath that lead (by indentation and/or numbering) are
sequentially checked for fit until an identification is reached.
• Read both characteristics and either go to another set of characteristics OR
identify the organism.

3. Nomenclature
• formal naming of taxa according to some standardized system.
• These formal names are known as scientific names, which by convention are translated
into the Latin language.
Algae, fungi, and plants

• The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN or ICNafp) is a
set of rules and recommendations governing the formal naming of plants, fungi, and
certain other organisms—specifically, those that have been traditionally classified as
algae, fungi, or plants.
• It formerly existed as the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) until it
was replaced in 2011.
• The ICN is updated every six years during the International Botanical Congress (IBC).
• The latest version is the Shenzhen Code (2018), adopted at the 19th IBC in China. The
next update will follow the 20th IBC in Madrid, Spain, in 2024.

Animals

• For animals, the rules and regulations for naming taxa are provided by the International
Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).
• The ICZN governs the formal scientific naming of animals, ensuring stability and
universality in zoological nomenclature.
• The current edition of the ICZN is the 4th edition, published in 1999, and it remains in
effect with periodic amendments.

Cultivated plants

• The rules and regulations for naming cultivated plants are provided by the International
Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

Bacteria

• International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes

Fundamental Roles in Nomenclature

• The fundamental principle of nomenclature is that all taxa may bear only one scientific
name.
• The scientific name of a species traditionally consists of two parts (which are underlined
or italicized): the genus name, which is always capitalized, e.g. Pterocarpus, plus the
specific epithet, which by recent consensus is not capitalized, e.g., indicus.
• Species names are known as binomials and this type of nomenclature is called binomial
nomenclature, first formalized in the mid-18th century by Carolus Linnaeus.
The Type Concept

• A nomenclatural type (Latin: typus) is the element to which a name is permanently

attached.
• The designation of types: Definitely accepted as a type by the author
• The type element must be clearly indicated in the text using the word “typus” or
“holotypus”
• After 1 Jan. 2001 the designation must include the phrase “here designated”
• The work must have been effectively published
• The designation only applies at the rank of the taxon being published

Typification

1. Holotype - A particular specimen designated as the permanent reference point for the
name.
2. Isotypes - Duplicate specimens of the holotype collected at the same time and the same
place.
3. Syntypes - Multiple specimens cited in the original description when no holotype was
designated.
4. Paratypes - Additional specimens cited in the original description that are not designated
as the holotype.
5. Lectotype - A type specimen later chosen from the paratypes when no holotype was
designated or when the holotype is lost.
6. Neotype - A new specimen chosen if none of the original specimens or types exist.
7. Cotype - No longer used; formerly used for either syntype or paratype
8. Allotype - A designated specimen of opposite sex to that of the holotype.
Holotype Example

• Holotype of two new species, Syzygium parvipomum and Syzygium omissum, from
Surigao del Norte

Lectotype Example
Herbarium Specimens

A herbarium specimen voucher is usually a pressed, mounted plant sample with collection data
deposited for future reference

Steps in Herbarium Preparation

1. Initial Preparations
• Target your collection locations and date periods to obtain useful specimens. Existing
herbarium specimens and published research should be of help.
• Obtain collection permits from appropriate agencies (this can take months to over a year). An
understanding of export and import regulations should also be considered for international
work.
• Establish official contact with government, herbarium, and research personnel in the area you
will be working. This is required by law in most countries.
• Make arrangements with a herbarium to deposit your specimens. Philippine National Herbaria
(PNH)
• Assess and purchase collecting equipment and supplies: consider what you will need to
prepare the specimens, e.g., plant press, plant drier, pruning shears, shovels, pressing papers,
markers to write on the pressing papers, etc.

2. Sample Collection

• Collect as much as possible, with all the available morphological and reproductive parts.
Atleast 2-3 replicates
• For angiosperms, atleast 4 to 5 leaves on each twigs or branch, and include flowers or fruits
• The roots or rhizomes of herbaceous and lower vascular plants should be included
• Bulky plant material should be sliced
• Your plant sample should be within 30 cm width x 40 cm lenght so as to fit with the mounting
sheet (11.5 x 16.5 inches)

3. Pressing and Drying Plant Specimens

Specimen samples are pressed in a plant press and dried on a plant dryer.

Plant Presser

• consists of a frame (typically wooden, for rigidity)

• Dimension: (12 x 18 inches)
• Corrugated cardboard ventilators (Cartoon)
• Blotter paper
• plant sample (30 x 40 cm) in a newspaper
• Straps with buckle

Drying
• steady airflow and bottom heat between 95–120°F
• Place the press in a warm, dry area.
• Check and replace the blotting paper (newspaper) regularly until your plant samples become
stiff.
• Rapid drying with gentle heat promotes the best plant specimens
• Example of dryer: Field combustible fuel-based heaters

4. Mounting and Labelling

• Choose the best replicated specimen to be mounted.

• Generally positioned in a life-like arrangement
• Standard size of mounting sheet: 11.5 x 16.5 inches
• Put a glue (1:1 ratio) with water; sometime stick glue can be used
• Gummed linen mounting strips are then applied to reinforce portions of the plant that might
be torn loose

Why common names are disadvantageous?

• Only scientific names are universal, used the same world-wide; e.g., Moringa olifera – Eng:
Horse radish, Tag: Malungay, Bis: kalamungay
• Common names are not consistent.
o A taxon may have more than one common name (e.g., physic nut, Barbados nut,
purging nut for Jatropha curcas).
o One common name may refer to more than one taxon (e.g., ”Kiwi” for both bird
and fruit)
• Common names tell nothing about rank; scientific names do. (eg. Guava/Bayabas
what???; Psidium guajava), Psidium – Genera, guajava – Specific epithet
• Many, if not most, organisms have no common name in any language.

4. Classification

• arrangement of entities (in this case, taxa) into some type of order. The purpose of
classification is to provide a system for cataloguing and expressing relationships between
these entities.
• Taxonomists have traditionally agreed upon a method for classifying organisms that
utilizes categories called ranks.
 • These taxonomic ranks taxon is a group of organisms typically treated at a given rank.

Modern Classification

• Linnaeus grouped species into larger taxa, such as genus and family, based on visible
similarities.
• Darwin’s ideas about descent with modification evolved into the study of phylogeny, or
evolutionary relationships among organisms.
• Modern biologists group organisms into categories representing lines of evolutionary
descent.
• Species within a genus are more closely related to each other than to species in another
genus.
• Similarities in DNA:
o Scientists use similarities and differences in DNA to determine classification and
evolutionary relationships.
o They can sequence or “read” the information coded in DNA to compare organisms.

Kingdom and Domains

• In the 18th century, Linnaeus originally proposed two kingdoms: Animalia and Plantae.
• By the 1950s, scientists expanded the kingdom system to include five kingdoms = 1)
Monera (Bacteria), 2) Protista (Amoeba, slime mold), 3) Fungi (mushrooms, yeasts,
molds), 4) Plantae (moss, ferns, plants, cone-bearing), 5) Animalia (Birds, reptiles)
• Six Kingdom System
o In recent years, biologists have recognized that Monera are composed of two
distinct groups.
o As a result, the kingdom Monera has now been separated into two kingdoms:
Eubacteria and Archaebacteria, resulting in a six-kingdom system of classification
The Three-Domain System

• Scientists can group modern organisms by comparing ribosomal RNA to determine how
long they have been evolving independently.
• This type of molecular analysis has resulted in a new taxonomic category—the domain.
• The three domains, which are larger than the kingdoms, are the following:
a. Eukarya – protists, fungi, plants and animals
b. Bacteria – which corresponds to the kingdom Eubacteria.
c. Archaea – which corresponds to the kingdom Archaebacteria.

Characters in Taxonomy

1. Phenetic classification is that based on overall similarities. Most of our everyday

classifications are phenetic. For efficiency of organization, we group similar objects together
and dissimilar objects apart. Many traditional classifications in systematics are phenetic,
based on noted similarities between and among taxa.

2. Phylogenetic classification is that which is based on evolutionary history, or pattern of

descent, which may or may not correspond to overall similarity.

7 Components Fields of Systematics

1. Biodiversity - number & kinds of organisms

2. Taxonomy - art & science of describing organisms
3. Classification - methods of grouping organisms. It could be artificial, natural, or
evolutionary based on homology
4. Nomenclature - science of naming organisms
5. Biogeography - studies the distribution of organisms. It aims to reveal where organisms
live, at what abundance, and why they are (or are not) found in a certain geographical area.
6. Evolutionary Systematics - - seeks to classify organisms using a combination of
phylogenetic relationship and overall similarity (homology)
- considers taxa rather than single species, so that groups of species give rise to new
groups
7. Phylogenetics - study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms (e.g.
species, populations), which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and
morphological data matrices
- a cladogram, or phylogenetic tree, a branching diagram that conceptually represents the
best estimate of phylogeny.
- Lineages or Clades – the lines of the cladogram
- Lineages represent the sequence of ancestral-descendant populations
through time, ultimately denoting descent.
Scope of Systematics

1. Deals w/ populations, species, & higher taxa

- supplies needed information about these levels
- cultivates:
• a way of thinking
• a way of approaching biological problems important for the balance & well-being of
biology as a whole

2. Using comparative method, it determines:

a. what the unique properties of each species & higher taxon (variation within taxa) are
b. what properties certain taxa have in common, and
c. what the biological causes of the differences or shared characters are

Aim of Systematics

• To inventory the world’s kinds of organisms (flora & fauna)

• To provide a method for identification & communication
• To produce a coherent & universal system of classification
o *classification makes organic diversity accessible to the other biological
disciplines
• To demonstrate the evolutionary implications of biodiversity
• “Systematics is a dynamic science, a "never ending synthesis". New technologies
constantly provide new data which causes constant re-evaluation of classification
schemes”

Approaches in Taxonomy

1. Classical taxonomy classifies organisms based on their physical (Morphological)

characteristics

2. Modern taxonomy classifies organisms based on their genetic relationships and

evolutionary history

• Uses phylogenetics, focusing on evolutionary relationships and genetic data

3. Integrative Taxonomy

• Combining multiple sources of evidence: Morphology, Genetics / Molecular (DNA

Barcoding, Phylogenomics), Ecology (Habitat/Behaviour), Biogeography
(Distribution)
• Uses computational tools and big data to analyze complex relationships.
 • Provides a more holistic and accurate classification of organisms.

Currently, systematists use

• Morphological, biochemical, and molecular comparisons to infer evolutionary

relationships
• In evaluating molecular homologies, systematists use computer programs and
mathematical tools when analyzing comparable DNA segments from different
organisms

Roles of Taxonomy

1. The only science that provides vivid pictures of organic diversity

(eukaryotes/prokaryotes; sexual/asexual; producer/consumer)
2. Provides much of the information for the reconstruction of phylogeny (shows
genealogical relationships among species)
3. Reveals evolutionary phenomena making them available for causal study
4. Supplies classifications which have heuristic (leads to discovery) & explanatory value
in fields of evolution, biochemistry, ecology, genetics
5. Supplies almost all info for entire branches of biology, and
6. Makes important conceptual contributions that would not otherwise be easily
accessible to experimental biologists
7. Contribution with other fields in biology through correct identification & classification
of species in agriculture, public health, ecology, conservation, genetics, and
behavioral biology