- published: 25 Sep 2014
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Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phylogenies have two components, branching order (showing group relationships) and branch length (showing amount of evolution). Phylogenetic trees of species and higher taxa are used to study the evolution of traits (e.g., anatomical or molecular characteristics) and the distribution of organisms (biogeography). Systematics, in other words, is used to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth.
"Systematic biology" and "taxonomy" (terms that are often confused and used interchangeably) were defined in relationship to one another as follows:
Systematic biology (hereafter called simply systematics) is the field that (a) provides scientific names for organisms, (b) describes them, (c) preserves collections of them, (d) provides classifications for the organisms, keys for their identification, and data on their distributions, (e) investigates their evolutionary histories, and (f) considers their environmental adaptations. This is a field with a long history that in recent years has experienced a notable renaissance, principally with respect to theoretical content. Part of the theoretical material has to do with evolutionary areas (topics e and f above), the rest relates especially to the problem of classification. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics (a) to (d) above.
De Staat is a Dutch alternative rock band, formed in Nijmegen in 2006.
De Staat were started as a one man project by leadsinger, Torre Florim, who later brought the band together. Their first demo was made in 2007 and recorded in Florim's apartment. Before they were even signed they were already a full grown band, because of their well received live performances in the Netherlands. They were also the supporting act of the popular Belgium band dEUS. De Staat were signed by Excelsior Recordings in 2008 and they released their debut album Wait for Evolution early in 2009, all the songs were written and produced by Torre Florim. He wrote the album as a graduating project for a "Music Production" course. Not only did Florim produce his own album, he also produced the debut album EP of another Dutch band Go Back To The Zoo in 2008. Within a year De Staat's popularity rose and they were performing at festivals such as Dot to Dot,Glastonbury,Sziget and Lowlands. When they performed at Lowlands, they were spotted by Chris Goss, a music producer. Goss introduced them to Mascot Records, which released Wait for Evolution internationally in the spring of 2010. After their international debut, they toured extensively. Machinery the band’s second album was released in 2011.