Q.What do we learn from identification of individuals and populations?

Correctly identifying individuals and populations is the essential first step in the whole scheme of taxonomy, and it teaches us a great deal about the living world.

From identification we learn:

• Exactly which organism we are dealing with, so that it can be named correctly and given a standard scientific name recognised everywhere.
• The characters an organism possesses, which reveal similarities and differences among individuals of the same kind and between different kinds.
• Where the organism belongs in the taxonomic hierarchy — its species, genus, family and higher categories.
• The relationships an organism shares with others, since grouping depends on the characters identification uncovers. …

Before an organism can be named or grouped, we must first know precisely which organism it is. Identification is the process of establishing this — of knowing exactly what a name belongs to. Naming is only possible once an organism has been correctly described and identified, so identification stands right at the start of the taxonomic process, alongside characterisation, classification and nomenclature.

From identifying individuals and populations we learn several important things:

• What the organism actually is. Identification pins down the exact organism, which is what allows a correct, standardised scientific name to be assigned — a name that means the same thing to biologists everywhere.
• The organism's characters. To place an organism we must know its characters, and this knowledge reveals both the similarities and the differences among individuals of the same kind and between different kinds of organisms.
• Its place in the hierarchy. Knowing the characters lets us position the organism within the ascending scheme of species, genus, family, order, class and so on — giving it a definite place in classification.
• Its relationships. Because grouping rests on shared characters, identification is what reveals how one organism is related to others, which is the very concern of systematics. …