Question

The term Taxonomy was coined by
(a) Linnaeus
(b) De Candolle
(c) Lamarck
(d) Aristotle

Answer 1

Hint: This Scientist was a Swiss botanist who established scientific structural criteria for determining natural relations among plant genera.

Complete Step by Step Answer:
AP De Candolle was a Swiss Botanist and he coined the term "Taxonomy". He also proposed a natural method to classify plants and also was one of the first people to distinguish between the morphological and physiological characteristics of organs in plants.
- Kingdom: It is the highest category in the taxonomic hierarchy. It is a group of phyla or divisions, which have certain basic common characteristics. - Phylum/ Division: It is a category higher than class. The term “Phylum” is used for animals whereas the term “division” is used for plants. Different classes, comprising animals like fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals together constitute the phylum Chordata in kingdom Animalia. - Class: A class is a group of one or more related orders. Class is an assemblage of order with similar characteristics. For example, the order Rodentia, Primata, and Carnivora are all placed together under the class Mammalia as they have milk- producing glands and hair on their skin. - Order: It is a group of families that means related families are kept in the same order. For example, the family Felidae and family Canidae are placed under the order Carnivora. - Family: The next category after the genus is family. It includes various groups of related genera, which share less number of similarities as compared to that of genus and species. For example, the genus Felis of cats and the genus Panthera including lion, tiger, and leopard are placed under the family Felidae. - Genus: It is a group of related species, which has more characters in common in comparison to species of other genera. For example, the genus Panthera involves species like leo, tigris, pardus. - Species: A species is a group of actually or potentially interbreeding populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups. All the species represent the different organisms that are kept in the same genus due to some similarities in their morphological features.
So, the correct answer is, ‘(b) De Candolle.’

Note: The process of classification of living organisms is not a single step process but it involves several steps i.e., a hierarchy of steps in which each step represents a rank or category. Since the category is a part of the overall taxonomic arrangement, it is called a Taxonomic Category.
The diverse kinds of organisms are classified into seven obligate categories in which all living organisms are classified in a descending sequence starting from kingdom to species or in ascending sequence starting from species to kingdom.
The hierarchical arrangement is as follows: - Kingdom - Phylum (for animals) or Division (for plants) - Class - Order - Family - Genus - Species