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78-541: The scheme is one of a number developed by Biodiversity Information Standards particularly aimed at taxonomic databases . The starting point was the "need for an agreed system of geographical units at approximately 'country' level and upwards for use in recording plant distributions". The scheme represents a compromise between political and botanical divisions. All boundaries either follow a political boundary (country boundary, province boundary, etc.), or coastlines. The scheme also aims to follow botanical tradition, in terms of

156-469: A basis of morphological and physiological facts as possible, and one in which "place is found for all observational and experimental data relating, even if indirectly, to the constitution, subdivision, origin, and behaviour of species and other taxonomic groups". Ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a great value of acting as permanent stimulants, and if we have some, even vague, ideal of an "omega" taxonomy we may progress

234-552: A chaotic and disorganized taxonomic literature. He not only introduced the standard of class, order, genus, and species, but also made it possible to identify plants and animals from his book, by using the smaller parts of the flower (known as the Linnaean system ). Plant and animal taxonomists regard Linnaeus' work as the "starting point" for valid names (at 1753 and 1758 respectively). Names published before these dates are referred to as "pre-Linnaean", and not considered valid (with

312-443: A different sense, to mean the delimitation of species (not subspecies or taxa of other ranks), using whatever investigative techniques are available, and including sophisticated computational or laboratory techniques. Thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined " beta taxonomy " as the classification of ranks higher than species. An understanding of the biological meaning of variation and of the evolutionary origin of groups of related species

390-575: A later edition of his Universal Geography , reasoning that it overemphasized Chinese influence, and suggested Chin-India instead. Nevertheless, Indo-China had already gained traction and soon supplanted alternative terms such as Further India and the Peninsula beyond the Ganges . Later, however, as the French established the colony of French Indochina (covering present-day Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), use of

468-451: A little way down the Greek alphabet. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a "beta" taxonomy. Turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy. Later authors have used the term in

546-504: A notable renaissance, principally with respect to theoretical content. Part of the theoretical material has to do with evolutionary areas (topics e and f above), the rest relates especially to the problem of classification. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics (a) to (d) above. A whole set of terms including taxonomy, systematic biology, systematics , scientific classification, biological classification, and phylogenetics have at times had overlapping meanings – sometimes

624-470: A single continuum, as per the scala naturae (the Natural Ladder). This, as well, was taken into consideration in the great chain of being. Advances were made by scholars such as Procopius , Timotheus of Gaza , Demetrios Pepagomenos , and Thomas Aquinas . Medieval thinkers used abstract philosophical and logical categorizations more suited to abstract philosophy than to pragmatic taxonomy. During

702-455: A single digit code from 1 (Europe) to 9 (Antarctica). Although it is said that "popular concepts of the continents of the world have been maintained, but with one or two slight modifications", some of the botanical continents are notably different from the traditional geographical continents . In particular, Asia is divided into two botanical continents; 5 Australasia consists only of Australia and New Zealand and small outlying islands; most of

780-652: A sub-area of systematics (definition 2), invert that relationship (definition 6), or appear to consider the two terms synonymous. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy (definitions 1 and 2), or a part of systematics outside taxonomy. For example, definition 6 is paired with the following definition of systematics that places nomenclature outside taxonomy: In 1970, Michener et al. defined "systematic biology" and "taxonomy" (terms that are often confused and used interchangeably) in relation to one another as follows: Systematic biology (hereafter called simply systematics)

858-536: A taxon involves five main requirements: However, often much more information is included, like the geographic range of the taxon, ecological notes, chemistry, behavior, etc. How researchers arrive at their taxa varies: depending on the available data, and resources, methods vary from simple quantitative or qualitative comparisons of striking features, to elaborate computer analyses of large amounts of DNA sequence data. Mainland Southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina or

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936-524: A truly scientific attempt to classify organisms did not occur until the 18th century, with the possible exception of Aristotle, whose works hint at a taxonomy. Earlier works were primarily descriptive and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in this scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on arbitrary criteria, the so-called "artificial systems", including Linnaeus 's system of sexual classification for plants (Linnaeus's 1735 classification of animals

1014-421: Is Yāvadvīpa  [ ms ] . Another possible early name of mainland Southeast Asia was Suvarṇabhūmi ("land of gold"), a toponym, that appears in many ancient Indian literary sources and Buddhist texts, but which, along with Suvarṇadvīpa ("island" or "peninsula of gold"), are also thought to refer to insular Southeast Asia. The origins of the name Indo-China are usually attributed jointly to

1092-497: Is a critical component of the taxonomic process. As a result, it informs the user as to what the relatives of the taxon are hypothesized to be. Biological classification uses taxonomic ranks, including among others (in order from most inclusive to least inclusive): Domain , Kingdom , Phylum , Class , Order , Family , Genus , Species , and Strain . The "definition" of a taxon is encapsulated by its description or its diagnosis or by both combined. There are no set rules governing

1170-400: Is a novel analysis of the variation patterns in a particular taxon . This analysis may be executed on the basis of any combination of the various available kinds of characters, such as morphological, anatomical , palynological , biochemical and genetic . A monograph or complete revision is a revision that is comprehensive for a taxon for the information given at a particular time, and for

1248-458: Is a resource for fossils. Biological taxonomy is a sub-discipline of biology , and is generally practiced by biologists known as "taxonomists", though enthusiastic naturalists are also frequently involved in the publication of new taxa. Because taxonomy aims to describe and organize life , the work conducted by taxonomists is essential for the study of biodiversity and the resulting field of conservation biology . Biological classification

1326-521: Is divided into two botanical continents, 3 Asia-Temperate and 4 Asia-Tropical. The reason for the division was described as largely for convenience. Asia-Temperate borders Europe and Africa; the boundaries are described above. To the south-east, the Indian Subcontinent and the rest of Asia from region 41 Indo-China southwards are placed in Asia-Tropical. Asia-Tropical forms the second part of

1404-419: Is even more important for the second stage of taxonomic activity, the sorting of species into groups of relatives ("taxa") and their arrangement in a hierarchy of higher categories. This activity is what the term classification denotes; it is also referred to as "beta taxonomy". How species should be defined in a particular group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as

1482-428: Is sometimes used in botany in place of phylum ), class , order , family , genus , and species . The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy, as he developed a ranked system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorizing organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms. With advances in the theory, data and analytical technology of biological systematics,

1560-630: Is subdivided into Level 4 "basic recording units", a two letter code is appended; thus "NWG-IJ" represents Irian Jaya , the Indonesian part of New Guinea. Where the Level 3 area is not subdivided, "OO" may be added to create a five letter code to show that the Level 4 unit is identical to the Level 3 area. Thus "BIS" represents the Bismarck Archipelago at Level 3. This area is not subdivided, so "BIS-OO" can be used to represent it at Level 4. As an example,

1638-400: Is the field that (a) provides scientific names for organisms, (b) describes them, (c) preserves collections of them, (d) provides classifications for the organisms, keys for their identification, and data on their distributions, (e) investigates their evolutionary histories, and (f) considers their environmental adaptations. This is a field with a long history that in recent years has experienced

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1716-518: The Aristotelian system , with additions concerning the philosophical and existential order of creatures. This included concepts such as the great chain of being in the Western scholastic tradition, again deriving ultimately from Aristotle. The Aristotelian system did not classify plants or fungi , due to the lack of microscopes at the time, as his ideas were based on arranging the complete world in

1794-651: The Chao Phraya (in Thailand ), and the Mekong (flowing through Northeastern Thailand , Laos , Cambodia and Vietnam ). To the south it forms the Malay Peninsula , located on which are Southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia ; the latter is variably considered part of Mainland Southeast Asia or separately as part of Maritime Southeast Asia . Mainland Southeast Asia contrasts with Maritime Southeast Asia , mainly through

1872-590: The Galapagos . The Antarctic botanical continent consists of continental Antarctica , plus a number of Subantarctic Islands, including the Falkland Islands , South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha . The nine botanical continents (Level 1) are each divided into between two and ten Level 2 regions; see the table above. Each region is given a two digit code, the first digit being that of the Level 1 continent to which it belongs. Altogether, there are 52 regions. Many of

1950-623: The Indochinese Peninsula ) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia . It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It includes the countries of Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar , Thailand and Vietnam as well as Peninsular Malaysia . The term Indochina (originally Indo-China )

2028-689: The Maritime Southeast Asian countries, and straddles the Indomalayan and Australasian realms . The Indochinese Peninsula projects southward from the Asian continent proper. It contains several mountain ranges extending from the Tibetan Plateau in the north, interspersed with lowlands largely drained by three major river systems running in a north–south direction: the Irrawaddy (serving Myanmar ),

2106-575: The Neomura , the clade that groups together the Archaea and Eucarya , would have evolved from Bacteria, more precisely from Actinomycetota . His 2004 classification treated the archaeobacteria as part of a subkingdom of the kingdom Bacteria, i.e., he rejected the three-domain system entirely. Stefan Luketa in 2012 proposed a five "dominion" system, adding Prionobiota ( acellular and without nucleic acid ) and Virusobiota (acellular but with nucleic acid) to

2184-503: The Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment , categorizing organisms became more prevalent, and taxonomic works became ambitious enough to replace the ancient texts. This is sometimes credited to the development of sophisticated optical lenses, which allowed the morphology of organisms to be studied in much greater detail. One of the earliest authors to take advantage of this leap in technology

2262-446: The scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing ) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given a taxonomic rank ; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a more inclusive group of higher rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy. The principal ranks in modern use are domain , kingdom , phylum ( division

2340-439: The species problem . The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy. By extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at the higher taxonomic ranks subgenus and above, or simply in clades that include more than one taxon considered a species, expressed in terms of phylogenetic nomenclature . While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations,

2418-461: The vertebrates ), as well as groups like the sharks and cetaceans , are commonly used. His student Theophrastus (Greece, 370–285 BC) carried on this tradition, mentioning some 500 plants and their uses in his Historia Plantarum . Several plant genera can be traced back to Theophrastus, such as Cornus , Crocus , and Narcissus . Taxonomy in the Middle Ages was largely based on

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2496-488: The 1960s. In 1958, Julian Huxley used the term clade . Later, in 1960, Cain and Harrison introduced the term cladistic . The salient feature is arranging taxa in a hierarchical evolutionary tree , with the desideratum that all named taxa are monophyletic. A taxon is called monophyletic if it includes all the descendants of an ancestral form. Groups that have descendant groups removed from them are termed paraphyletic , while groups representing more than one branch from

2574-585: The Americas into 7 Northern America and 8 Southern America rather than into the traditional continents of North America and South America . The boundary between Northern America and Southern America was changed from the first edition to the second edition. In the first edition, a south-eastern part of Mexico was included in Southern America, the rest of Mexico being placed in Northern America. This followed

2652-553: The Danish-French geographer Conrad Malte-Brun , who referred to the area as indo-chinois in 1804, and the Scottish linguist John Leyden , who used the term Indo-Chinese to describe the area's inhabitants and their languages in 1808. Scholarly opinions at the time regarding China's and India's historical influence over the area were conflicting, and the term was itself controversial—Malte-Brun himself later argued against its use in

2730-530: The Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the discipline remains: the conception, naming, and classification of groups of organisms. As points of reference, recent definitions of taxonomy are presented below: The varied definitions either place taxonomy as

2808-757: The Mediterranean islands. The eastern boundary places Crimea and European Russia in Europe, with the border defined by the administrative units. Novaya Zemlya is excluded from Europe. The south-eastern boundary excludes the Caucasus and Turkey east of the Bosporus , as well as the Eastern Aegean Islands and Cyprus , which although geopolitically part of Europe are considered floristically part of Western Asia. The botanical continent of Africa corresponds closely to

2886-487: The Origin of Species (1859) led to a new explanation for classifications, based on evolutionary relationships. This was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler (1883) and Engler (1886–1892). The advent of cladistic methodology in the 1970s led to classifications based on the sole criterion of monophyly , supported by the presence of synapomorphies . Since then,

2964-533: The Solomon Islands Archipelago), so that Asia-Tropical consists of four regions. The botanical continent of Australasia, as defined by the WGSRPD, consists only of Australia and New Zealand , plus outlying islands. The name was described as having been "controversial", since it has been used to describe larger areas. Other definitions may include Indonesia , New Guinea and many Pacific islands, which

3042-548: The WGSRPD divides between 4 Asia-Tropical and 6 Pacific. The WGSRPD groups most islands with a nearby continental landmass, usually the closest but may also make a decision influenced by the floristic similarity (hence the placement of the Azores with Africa and not Europe). The exception is the islands of the central part of the Pacific Ocean , which are placed in a separate botanical continent. The largest of these islands include New Caledonia , Fiji and Hawaii . The WGSRPD divides

3120-522: The animal and plant kingdoms toward the end of the 18th century, well before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. The pattern of the "Natural System" did not entail a generating process, such as evolution, but may have implied it, inspiring early transmutationist thinkers. Among early works exploring the idea of a transmutation of species were Zoonomia in 1796 by Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather), and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck 's Philosophie zoologique of 1809. The idea

3198-502: The boundary of Mesoamerica in Flora Mesoamericana . However, it proved unpopular, especially with Mexican botanists, so in the second edition, all of Mexico is placed in Northern America, which thus consists of Mexico, the contiguous United States plus Alaska, Canada, and Greenland , together with associated offshore islands. As noted above , the Americas are divided into 7 Northern America and 8 Southern America rather than into

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3276-717: The complete division of the Level 2 Papuasia region is shown below. 43 Papuasia Organizations and works using the scheme include the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), and the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, which supports Plants of the World Online , published by Kew . Thus in the GRIN Taxonomy for Plants database,

3354-533: The course of history and share a number of typological similarities. The countries of mainland Southeast Asia received cultural influence from both India and China to varying degrees. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are all influenced by Indian culture , only Vietnam is influenced by Chinese culture but still has minor influences from India, largely via the Champa civilization that Vietnam conquered during its southward expansion. Overall, Mainland Southeast Asia

3432-542: The definition of taxa, but the naming and publication of new taxa is governed by sets of rules. In zoology , the nomenclature for the more commonly used ranks ( superfamily to subspecies ), is regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN Code ). In the fields of phycology , mycology , and botany , the naming of taxa is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants ( ICN ). The initial description of

3510-678: The distribution categories used in works like the Flora Europaea , Flora Malesiana , or Med-Checklist. This approach occasionally leads to departures from political boundaries. Thus the scheme follows Flora Europaea in placing the eastern Aegean islands (such as Lesbos , Samos and Rhodes ) in the West Asia region, rather than in Europe where they belong politically as part of Greece. The scheme defines geographic places at four scales or levels, from "botanical continents" down to parts of large countries: Standardized codes are used to represent

3588-399: The distribution of Magnolia grandiflora is given in terms of WGSRPD botanical continents and regions as: Below the Level 2 regions, the Level 3 areas in this case are US states, which are then listed. Taxonomy (biology) In biology , taxonomy (from Ancient Greek τάξις ( taxis )  'arrangement' and -νομία ( -nomia )  ' method ') is

3666-881: The division of largely land-based lifestyles in Indochina and the sea-based lifestyles of the Indonesian archipelago and Philippine archipelago , as well as the dividing line between the Austroasiatic , Tai–Kadai , and Sino-Tibetan languages (spoken in Mainland Southeast Asia) and the Austronesian languages (spoken in Maritime Southeast Asia). The languages of the mainland form the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area : although belonging to several independent language families, they have converged over

3744-399: The entire world. Other (partial) revisions may be restricted in the sense that they may only use some of the available character sets or have a limited spatial scope. A revision results in a conformation of or new insights in the relationships between the subtaxa within the taxon under study, which may lead to a change in the classification of these subtaxa, the identification of new subtaxa, or

3822-489: The evidentiary basis has been expanded with data from molecular genetics that for the most part complements traditional morphology . Naming and classifying human surroundings likely began with the onset of language. Distinguishing poisonous plants from edible plants is integral to the survival of human communities. Medicinal plant illustrations show up in Egyptian wall paintings from c.  1500 BC , indicating that

3900-516: The exception of spiders published in Svenska Spindlar ). Even taxonomic names published by Linnaeus himself before these dates are considered pre-Linnaean. Modern taxonomy is heavily influenced by technology such as DNA sequencing , bioinformatics , databases , and imaging . A pattern of groups nested within groups was specified by Linnaeus' classifications of plants and animals, and these patterns began to be represented as dendrograms of

3978-486: The first modern groups tied to fossil ancestors was birds. Using the then newly discovered fossils of Archaeopteryx and Hesperornis , Thomas Henry Huxley pronounced that they had evolved from dinosaurs, a group formally named by Richard Owen in 1842. The resulting description, that of dinosaurs "giving rise to" or being "the ancestors of" birds, is the essential hallmark of evolutionary taxonomic thinking. As more and more fossil groups were found and recognized in

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4056-682: The formal naming of clades. Linnaean ranks are optional and have no formal standing under the PhyloCode , which is intended to coexist with the current, rank-based codes. While popularity of phylogenetic nomenclature has grown steadily in the last few decades, it remains to be seen whether a majority of systematists will eventually adopt the PhyloCode or continue using the current systems of nomenclature that have been employed (and modified, but arguably not as much as some systematists wish) for over 250 years. Well before Linnaeus, plants and animals were considered separate Kingdoms. Linnaeus used this as

4134-466: The islands in the Pacific Ocean are allocated to 6 Pacific; and the division of the Americas into 7 Northern America and 8 Southern America differs from the traditional North America and South America . The botanical continent of Europe is defined broadly in line with Flora Europaea and with the traditional geographical definition . To the north-west it includes Iceland and Svalbard (Spitsbergen). The southern boundary with Africa encloses most of

4212-466: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, palaeontologists worked to understand the history of animals through the ages by linking together known groups. With the modern evolutionary synthesis of the early 1940s, an essentially modern understanding of the evolution of the major groups was in place. As evolutionary taxonomy is based on Linnaean taxonomic ranks, the two terms are largely interchangeable in modern use. The cladistic method has emerged since

4290-401: The merger of previous subtaxa. Taxonomic characters are the taxonomic attributes that can be used to provide the evidence from which relationships (the phylogeny ) between taxa are inferred. Kinds of taxonomic characters include: The term " alpha taxonomy " is primarily used to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa , particularly species. In earlier literature,

4368-434: The possibilities of closer co-operation with their cytological, ecological and genetics colleagues and to acknowledge that some revision or expansion, perhaps of a drastic nature, of their aims and methods, may be desirable ... Turrill (1935) has suggested that while accepting the older invaluable taxonomy, based on structure, and conveniently designated "alpha", it is possible to glimpse a far-distant taxonomy built upon as wide

4446-774: The rank of Order, although both exclude fossil representatives. A separate compilation (Ruggiero, 2014) covers extant taxa to the rank of Family. Other, database-driven treatments include the Encyclopedia of Life , the Global Biodiversity Information Facility , the NCBI taxonomy database , the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera , the Open Tree of Life , and the Catalogue of Life . The Paleobiology Database

4524-405: The regions are geographical divisions of the continents, e.g. 12 Southwestern Europe, 34 Western Asia or 77 South-Central U.S.A. Others are whole countries within the continents, e.g. 36 China, 79 Mexico or 84 Brazil. Some less well-known regions include: Levels 3 and 4 are identified by letter codes. Three letter codes are used for Level 3; e.g. "NWG" stands for New Guinea . Where the Level 3 area

4602-407: The same, sometimes slightly different, but always related and intersecting. The broadest meaning of "taxonomy" is used here. The term itself was introduced in 1813 by de Candolle , in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique . John Lindley provided an early definition of systematics in 1830, although he wrote of "systematic botany" rather than using the term "systematics". Europeans tend to use

4680-593: The term became more restricted to the French colony, and today the area is usually referred to as Mainland Southeast Asia. In biogeography , the Indochinese bioregion is a major region in the Indomalayan realm , and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Oriental Paleotropical Kingdom . It includes the native flora and fauna of all the countries above. The adjacent Malesian Region covers

4758-472: The term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, and the products of research through the end of the 19th century. William Bertram Turrill introduced the term "alpha taxonomy" in a series of papers published in 1935 and 1937 in which he discussed the philosophy and possible future directions of the discipline of taxonomy. ... there is an increasing desire amongst taxonomists to consider their problems from wider viewpoints, to investigate

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4836-482: The terms "systematics" and "biosystematics" for the study of biodiversity as a whole, whereas North Americans tend to use "taxonomy" more frequently. However, taxonomy, and in particular alpha taxonomy , is more specifically the identification, description, and naming (i.e., nomenclature) of organisms, while "classification" focuses on placing organisms within hierarchical groups that show their relationships to other organisms. A taxonomic revision or taxonomic review

4914-505: The three-domain method is the separation of Archaea and Bacteria , previously grouped into the single kingdom Bacteria (a kingdom also sometimes called Monera ), with the Eukaryota for all organisms whose cells contain a nucleus . A small number of scientists include a sixth kingdom, Archaea, but do not accept the domain method. Thomas Cavalier-Smith , who published extensively on the classification of protists , in 2002 proposed that

4992-427: The top rank, dividing the physical world into the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms. As advances in microscopy made the classification of microorganisms possible, the number of kingdoms increased, five- and six-kingdom systems being the most common. Domains are a relatively new grouping. First proposed in 1977, Carl Woese 's three-domain system was not generally accepted until later. One main characteristic of

5070-477: The traditional continents of North America and South America, with the precise boundary between the two having changed between the first and second editions of the WGSRPD. Southern America consists of the Caribbean , the WGSRPD definition of Central America (those countries south of Mexico and north of Colombia ), and the traditional geographical continent of South America, together with some offshore islands, such as

5148-478: The traditional geographical continent of Asia. Its western and northern boundaries are formed by the two regions 40 Indian Subcontinent and 41 Indo-China. The southern boundary separates Asia-Tropical from Australia . The south-eastern boundary was changed between the first edition of 1992 and the second edition of 2001. In the first edition, Asia-Tropical was divided into three regions: 40 Indian Subcontinent, 41 Indo-China and 42 Malesia. The eastern boundary of Malesia

5226-436: The traditional three domains. Partial classifications exist for many individual groups of organisms and are revised and replaced as new information becomes available; however, comprehensive, published treatments of most or all life are rarer; recent examples are that of Adl et al., 2012 and 2019, which covers eukaryotes only with an emphasis on protists, and Ruggiero et al., 2015, covering both eukaryotes and prokaryotes to

5304-514: The tree of life are called polyphyletic . Monophyletic groups are recognized and diagnosed on the basis of synapomorphies , shared derived character states. Cladistic classifications are compatible with traditional Linnean taxonomy and the Codes of Zoological and Botanical nomenclature , to a certain extent. An alternative system of nomenclature, the International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature or PhyloCode has been proposed, which regulates

5382-407: The units at each level. Numerical codes are used for Levels 1 and 2, alphabetic codes for Levels 3 and 4. For more botanically oriented classifications using phytogeography, the scheme's documentation endorses the use of floristic kingdoms , floristic regions , and floristic provinces , as classified by Armen Takhtajan . The WGSRPD defines nine botanical continents (Level 1), each assigned

5460-638: The uses of different species were understood and that a basic taxonomy was in place. Organisms were first classified by Aristotle ( Greece , 384–322 BC) during his stay on the Island of Lesbos . He classified beings by their parts, or in modern terms attributes , such as having live birth, having four legs, laying eggs, having blood, or being warm-bodied. He divided all living things into two groups: plants and animals . Some of his groups of animals, such as Anhaima (animals without blood, translated as invertebrates ) and Enhaima (animals with blood, roughly

5538-731: The usual geographical definition. It excludes the Sinai Peninsula , politically a part of Egypt , which is placed in region 34 Western Asia. To the west, it includes islands grouped as Macaronesia , comprising the Azores , Madeira , the Canary Islands , the Savage Islands and the Cape Verde islands. To the east, it includes Madagascar and other Indian Ocean islands out as far as the island of Rodrigues . The geographical continent of Asia

5616-486: Was Methodus Plantarum Nova (1682), in which he published details of over 18,000 plant species. At the time, his classifications were perhaps the most complex yet produced by any taxonomist, as he based his taxa on many combined characters. The next major taxonomic works were produced by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (France, 1656–1708). His work from 1700, Institutiones Rei Herbariae , included more than 9000 species in 698 genera, which directly influenced Linnaeus, as it

5694-445: Was coined in the early nineteenth century, emphasizing the historical cultural influence of Indian and Chinese civilizations on the area. The term was later adopted as the name of the colony of French Indochina (today's Cambodia , Laos , and Vietnam ). Today, the term Mainland Southeast Asia , in contrast to Maritime Southeast Asia , is more commonly referenced. In Indian sources, the earliest name connected with Southeast Asia

5772-551: Was entitled " Systema Naturae " ("the System of Nature"), implying that he, at least, believed that it was more than an "artificial system"). Later came systems based on a more complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as "natural systems", such as those of de Jussieu (1789), de Candolle (1813) and Bentham and Hooker (1862–1863). These classifications described empirical patterns and were pre- evolutionary in thinking. The publication of Charles Darwin 's On

5850-641: Was placed between the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands Archipelago , which were put into region 60 Southwest Pacific. It was subsequently argued that it made more "floristic sense" to link the Solomon Islands with the Bismarck Archipelago and the island of New Guinea . Accordingly, in the second edition, a new region 43 Papuasia was created within Asia-Tropical, comprising New Guinea, Near Oceania (the Bismarck Archipelago and

5928-597: Was popularized in the Anglophone world by the speculative but widely read Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation , published anonymously by Robert Chambers in 1844. With Darwin's theory, a general acceptance quickly appeared that a classification should reflect the Darwinian principle of common descent . Tree of life representations became popular in scientific works, with known fossil groups incorporated. One of

6006-532: Was the Italian physician Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), who has been called "the first taxonomist". His magnum opus De Plantis came out in 1583, and described more than 1500 plant species. Two large plant families that he first recognized are in use: the Asteraceae and Brassicaceae . In the 17th century John Ray ( England , 1627–1705) wrote many important taxonomic works. Arguably his greatest accomplishment

6084-429: Was the text he used as a young student. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) ushered in a new era of taxonomy. With his major works Systema Naturae 1st Edition in 1735, Species Plantarum in 1753, and Systema Naturae 10th Edition , he revolutionized modern taxonomy. His works implemented a standardized binomial naming system for animal and plant species, which proved to be an elegant solution to

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