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What are morphological characters?

seo-qna
Last updated date: 15th Sep 2024
Total views: 348.3k
Views today: 5.48k
Answer
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Hint: Any visible characteristic of an organism, whether acquired or inherited, is referred to as a character. An acquired character is a reaction to the environment, whereas an inherited character is the result of genes passed down from one generation to the next (their expressions are often modified by environmental conditions).

Complete answer:
Morphology is derived from a greek word “morphe” which means “form” and “logy” which means “study”. Thus, morphology means study of forms that are physically visible characters which are thus referred to as morphological characters.
Morphological characteristics of an organism or its specific components include shape, size, colour, and so on. Morphology is a term that describes structural characteristics. Morphology differs from physiology in that the latter explains functional characteristics. Internal and external morphology are both investigated; internal morphology is referred to as Anatomy.
Internal morphology is examined in depth for comparative anatomy, whereas external morphology is extensively investigated for categorization and taxonomic studies.
Dealing with morphological characteristics of plants is obviously not the same as dealing with morphological features of animals; similarly, morphological characteristics of hydrophytes and xerophytic plants are vastly different.

Note:
The study of the shape and structure of living creatures is referred to as morphology in its widest sense. It serves as a foundation for learning and interpreting other elements of biology, including as physiology, heredity, ecology, taxonomy, and evolution. The study of the patterns of the location of structures within an organism's body plan is known as comparative morphology.