Over time, our understanding of the relationships between living things has changed. The greatest change was the widespread acceptance of [[evolution]] as the mechanism of biological diversity and species formation. After this, it became generally understood that classifications ought to reflect the [[phylogeny]] of organisms, where each taxon should originate from a single ancestral form. In some systems it is generally encouraged that taxa should be strictly [[monophyletic]], but this idea is controversial.
OriginallyΑρχικά, Linnaeusο establishedΛινναίος threeίδρυσε kingdomsτρία inβασίλεια]] hisστο schemeβασικό του δομή, namelyδηλαδή τα [[PlantΦυτά]]ae, τα [[AnimalΖωά]]iaandκαι anμια additionalεπιπρόσθετη groupομάδα forγια τα [[minerals]], whichη hasοποία since been abandonedεγκαταλείφθηκε. SinceΑπό thenτότε, variousπολλές lifeμορφές formsζωής haveμετακινήθηκαν beenσε movedτρία intoνέα threeβασίλεια: new kingdoms:τα [[MoneraΜονήρη]], for [[Prokaryote|prokaryotes]] (iπ.eχ., bacteriaβακτήρια);, [[ProtistΠρώτιστα]]a, forγια protozoansτα andπρωτόζωα mostκαι algae;τα περισσότερα φύκια, και τα and [[fungus|Fungi]]. ThisΗ fiveδομή kingdomαυτών schemeτων isπέντε stillβασιλείων farείναι fromακόμα μακριά από την the [[phylogeny|phylogenetic]] idealιδεώδες and has largely been supplanted in modern taxonomic work by a division into three domains: [[Bacterium|Bacteria]] and [[Archaea]], which contain the prokaryotes, and [[Eukaryote|Eukaryota]], comprising the remaining forms. This change was precipitated by the discovery of the Archaea.
''Δείτε'': [[Evolutionary tree]], which has further subdivisions and presents the most current taxonomic viewpoint.
