Biologists have established certain procedures and techniques to store and preserve the information as well as
the specimens. some of these are explained to help you understand the usage of these aids.

(1) Herbarium :- Herbarium is a store house of collected plant specimens that are dried and preserved on sheet. Standard size of herbarium sheet is 11.5X16.5 inches. The herbarium sheets also carry a label providing information about date and place of collection , English, local and botanical name, family collector's name etc. Herbaria also serve as quick referral system in taxonomic studies.

(2) Botanical Gardens :- Plant species in these gardens are grown for identification purposes and each plant is labelled indicating its botanical/scientific name and its family.

(3) Museum :- Museum have collections of preserved plant and animal specimens for study and reference. Specimens are preserved in the containers or jars in preservative solutions.

(4)Zoological Parks :- These are the places where wild animals are kept in protected environments under human care and which enable us to learn about their food habits and behaviour.

(5) Key :- Keys is used for identification of plants and animals based on the similarities and dissimilarities.
# The keys are based on the contrasting characters generally in a pair called couplet . It represents the choice made between the two opposite options. This result in acceptance of only one and rejection of the other.
# Separate taxonomic keys are required for each taxonomic category such as family, genus and species for identification purpose.
# Each statement of couplet in the key is called a lead.
# Keys are generally analytical in nature.

Catalogue -It is a small booklet which gives account for books related to botanical titles, full name of authors and their publication.
Flora - It contains the actual account of habitat and distribution of plants of a given area.
Manuals- They are useful in providing information for identification of names of species found in an area.
Monographs -They contain information on any one taxon.
ICNB = International Code of Nomenclature for Bacteria
ICTV = International Commitee for the Taxonomy of Virus
ICVN = International code of viral nomenclature
ICNCP =International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants