Taxonomy and biodiversity.

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When we talk about biodiversity, we frequently encounter strange-sounding or looking words that stand for the names of plants or animals. They are Latin words and the whole shebang is called taxonomy. Since Treasure Nature will be covering more stuff about plants and animals, let’s have a run down of the relevant topics.

According to my textbook on the history of taxonomy, a dude named Carl Linnaeus was flabbergasted at the old way of naming organisms which was quite disorganized, to say the least. So he thought of a way to classify all organisms so each will belong to a certain branch of the tree of life and will be known by a name that will be accepted and recognized everywhere. BTW, Carl was, and still is, known as the Father of Taxonomy but this cool chap officially started his business with nature at the age of 24.

He thought about using Latin for his nomenclature because it is a dead language. By dead, he didn’t mean anything that smell awful but something that won’t change in all eternity and from culture to culture. Carl had a bright idea but the only thing I hate about nature is memorizing her Latin names.

Every known and classified organism has 2 Latin names, much like a surname and a first name (in that order). The first name is the Genus and the second is the Species Name (BTW, species is both singular and plural). Officially, they are written this way… Genus species. A Genus is a group. Much like the family Doe, which is the Genus while John, Jane, and baby are the species name.

For instance, the domestic cat belongs to the Genus Felis, 7 members in all. They belong to the biological family Felidae. Remember, whenever we see the suffix ceae or ae, it means a family. Daisy the Curly Cat and Chica and Pumuckl are breeds of Felis catus, members of the sub-family Felinae and family Felidae, under the order of Carnivora.

For a basic idea on how this naming system works, let’s take a look at the confusing taxonomy of the vanda orchid. The Vanda belongs to the family Orchidaceae. That should be easy enough. The problem lies in the fact the the term Vanda is actually the Genus name of approximately 50 species of orchids, not counting the hybrids.

So when we tell a horticulturist we want a Vanda, we’d best expect a blank stare. It’ll be of no help if we say Tiger Vanda as many flowers of the Genus bears the markings. Besides what we call a tiger might be a kitten to another. Interested to know the different species of Vanda? Here’s a list at Wikipedia.

Did Carl Linnaeus simplified things?

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