We love and appreciate nature one way or another. Peculiar
shapes, attractive colors, and curious daily activities of
many life forms occurring around us, plants and animals
alike, greatly stir our curiosity. We have learned to know
many of these life forms through observation and experience.
In order to be able to recognize these living organisms
again and again, we have to apprehend and record
characteristics of their appearance, habits and various
other aspects, and give each a unique name. In fact,
everyone of us, in this context, is a "biosystematist".
What is
Biosystematics?
Biosystematics is the science through which life forms are
discovered, identified, described, named, classified and
catalogued, with their diversity, life histories, living
habits, roles in an ecosystem, and spatial and geographical
distributions recorded. In essence, it is biosystematics,
the science that provides indispensable information to
support many fields of research and beneficial applied
programs (see chart beside).
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