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BIOSYSTEMATIC PATHWAYS ANNO 1969
Author(s) -
Stafleu Frans A.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1218377
Subject(s) - systematics , biology , taxon , ethology , evolutionary biology , zoology , field (mathematics) , ecology , taxonomy (biology) , mathematics , pure mathematics
Summary A review of some of the most recent developments in systematic biology. The present abundance of symposia in the field reflects the systematists' attempt to master an explosive development of knowledge in which many techniques and methods are used which formerly found little, if any, application in comparative biology. The information challenge is discussed with reference to modern processing methods and to abstracting. A shift in systematics from direct and visual characters to indirect, non‐visual data is apparent in many fields. The relation between numbers of known and possibly unknown taxa is illustrated by means of examples from the recent literature showing the rate of growth of our knowledge in various groups. The contributions by ultrastructural research, chemosystematics and molecular systematics are projected towards the future; other modern approaches in systematics (from ethology, ecology, micropaleontology, caryology, genecology) are mentioned briefly. The term biosystematics is used for evolutionary systematics of all living beings in the widest sense.