Basis of classification

Attempts at classifying living things into groups have been made since time immemorial. Greek thinker Aristotle classified animals according to whether they lived on land, in water or in the air. This is a very simple way of looking at life, but misleading too. For example, animals that live in the sea include corals, whales, octopus, starfish and sharks.

The diversity shown among present day living organisms is an outcome of the past 3.5 billion years of organic evolution. During this time a great number of new species originated and many more became extinct. Science of Palaeontology studies evidences of the past life, in the form of fossils. with such a huge repository of organisms, it would be almost impossible to study each and every living form separately at an individual level. So, to study the diversity among living organisms is an effective way, we need to arrange various kinds of organisms in an orderly or systematic manner. The method of arranging organisms into groups or sets on the basis of similarities and differences is called classification.

Importance of classification

The science of classification is known as taxonomy. It is an important branch of biological science. Classification of living organisms has the following advantages:-

• Classification makes the study of a wide variety of organisms easy.
• Classification projects before us a picture of all forms at a glance.
• Classification is essential to understand the interrelationships among different groups of organisms.
• Classification forms a base for the development of other biological sciences.