Q. Principles of Numerical Taxonomy?
Numerical taxonomy is based on the following 7 principles.
1) The greater the content of information in the taxa of a classification is and the more characters on which it is based, the better a given classification will be.
2) Every character is of equal weight in creating natural taxa.
3) The overall similarity between any two ,entities is a function of their individual similarities in each of the many characters for which they are being compared.
4) Distinct taxa can be recognised because correlations of characters differ in the groups of organisms under study.
5) Phylogenetic inferences can be made from the taxoriomic structure of a group and from character correlations, given certain assumptions about evolutionary pathways and mechanisms.
6) Taxonomy is viewed and practised as an empirical science. Classifications are based on phenetic similarity.
7) Classifications are based on phenetic similarity.