Q. Illustrate Numerical Taxonomy?
Taxonomy today is, in many dctails, different from what it was a generation ago. The use of computers by taxonomists has established an interesting modern trend called Numerical ' t'axonomy or Taximetrics. Mathematical and statistical evaluation of taxonomic information and computation of this data has provided taxonomists with new approaches to understand classification, in this section, you shall learn about the fundamentals of numerical taxonomy; know the principles and important terms used in this science; and understand the procedures adopted by numerical taxonomists in arriving at a classification.
You had studied in Block I, units 1 and 2, that organisms re classified on the basis of evidence obtained from their characters. You have also studied that different kinds of classifications can be designed by ,using a few or many characters. M. Adanson (1763) proposed that a classification should use a vast range of characters covering all aspects of the plants, and in construction of a classification all characters must be given equal importance. This idea forms the basis of modern numerical taxonomy, also called Neo-Adansonian Taxonomy. So far as the character number is concerned there is no limitation but larger the number better is the approach for generalisation of the taxa. You should remember that numerical taxonomy is not a totally new approach, but it is an organised method of evaluating data with computers in an objective and repeatable manner enabling comparison of many characters from many populations of plants.