Taxonomy We have Swedish botanist Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778) (see Figure 1) to thank for the system we use today to identify each life form. According to this “taxonomy” created by Linnaeus, each living thing is classified according to various characteristics, moving from the most general, shared characteristics, to the most specific, individual characteristics seen in just one type of living thing. This taxonomic hierarchy has seven levels of classification: kingdom, phy