Question

Taxonomic hierarchy refers to:
A. Step-wise arrangement of all categories for classification of plants and animals
B. A group of senior taxonomists who decide the nomenclature of plants and animals
C. List of botanists or zoologist who has worked on the taxonomy of a species or group
D. Classification of a species based on the fossil record

Answer 1

Taxonomy is the branch of the science of naming, describing and classifying organisms including plants, animals as well as microorganisms based on shared characters. Organisms are categorised based on their morphology, behaviour, genetics as well as biochemical composition.

Complete answer: Taxonomical studies are divided as microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy based on the taxonomic ranks involved. Carolus Linnaeus is known as the “father of modern taxonomy”.
He divided the organisms into 8 common groups which are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. This division is referred to as the taxonomic hierarchy. Domains are subdivided as Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya. There are five kingdoms namely Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. This categorisation is done on the basis of cell type, mode of nutrition and number of cells. The organisms are further categorised into phylum, class, order, family, genus and species based on the similarities and differences in their characteristics. Species is the lowest taxonomic rank in the five-kingdom classification. The organisms under this taxonomic rank have prominently similar characteristics, however, organisms with different characteristics in the species are further subdivided into subspecies. Therefore, taxonomy is based on the step-wise arrangement of all categories for the classification of plants and animals

Note: The naming of the organisms is done through binomial nomenclature. The first part of the name, known as the generic name, identifies the genus of the organism, while the second part, called the specific name or specific epithet, identifies the species within the genus.