Question

Taxonomic key is one of the taxonomic tools in the identification and classification of plants and animals. It is used in the preparation of
A) Monographs
B) Flora
C) Both (a) and (b)
D) None of these.

Answer 1

Hint: Keys are the tools used in the identification of class, order, family, genus, and species of an organism, and separate taxonomic keys are required for the identification of each category.

Complete answer:
A taxonomic key is a simple tool that is used to identify a living organism. The keys are used in the preparation of both, monographs and flora. The monograph includes detailed information of one taxon that may be a family, genus, order, class, etc. while flora represents the naturally occurring plants in a particular region or time. It considers mainly indigenous plants.
The keys are artificial devices in the form of a dichotomic table of alternate characteristics that are used in the identification of class, order, family, genus, and species of an organism. Separate taxonomic keys are required for the identification of each category. The keys are of two types – indented and bracketed. An example of a bracketed key is given below –
1. External ears absent – 2
2. Wings present – Bird
Wings absent – 3
3. Gills present – Fish
Gills absent – 4
4. Limbs absent – Snake
Limbs present – Frog
In this way, a large number of characters are considered in the keys that help to identify the organisms and to determine whether the organism is new or is related to some already discovered and studied organism.

So, the correct answer is ‘Both (a) and (b)’.

Note: As the key is used in the identification of organisms considering various aspects like habitat, climate, distribution, and other taxonomic information like family, genus, etc., monographs and flora both can be prepared using the keys as they have all the information needed for the two.