In this help text we'd like to explain some of the words frequently used on Biolib.

taxon (plural taxa) - unit of a taxonomic system, can be species, genera, family or any other taxonomic cathegory. Main function of BioLib is a database of taxa - plants, fungi, animals and their taxonomic hierarchical structure.

biotop - basic unit for classification of nature, defines certain type of environment

check-list - list of species of some geographical area

scientific name - latin name used for referencing taxon

authority - contains name of author and year of publication of text in which the taxon was first described. Authority can be in parenthesis which means that the name has changed since.

Taxon portal - function for easier browsing of taxonomic system (accessible through SYSTEM link in menu, or in left menu for important taxa)