Title: systematics
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - systematics
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.15088
Status: current

Definition
Study of the diversity of past and present life forms and of relationships among them through time.

Note
Relationships are visualized in cladograms (evolutionary trees, phylogenetic tree phylogenies). Systematics is used to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth.

Related Terms
- cladograms: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/14527
- evolution: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/14667
- phylogenetic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/14913

Source
- PAC, 2009, 81, 829. 'Glossary of terms used in ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)' on page 953 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-08-07-09)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15088/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15088/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15088/xml

Citation: Citation: 'systematics' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.15088
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-05-30T16:49:48+00:00