Natural classification

Question 1

An unnatural or artificial classification
ex?

what is problem with example

Answer 1

to group species together simply based on what they all do

ex) grouping birds, bats and insects together because they all fly.
 Flight evolved separately in these groups and they do not share a
common ancestor in many different ways.
 The closest level of shared classification is phylum Chordata for
birds and bats (they both have notochords – a “nerve cord”)

Question 2

what are the problems with artificial classifying organisms

Answer 2

• convergent evolution can make distantly related organisms appear similar
• divergent evolution/adaptive radiation can make closely related organisms appear
  different.

Question 3

Advantages of Natural Classification

Answer 3

Advantages of Natural Classification

 Allows for easier identification of species since you use its features to assign its Domain, Kingdom, etc. down to species level. This is made easier by using dichotomous keys

 Because all members of a group evolve from a common ancestor, they will
have similar characteristics, which allows for predictions about species within that group
Example: If a new species of bat was discovered, we could make
predictions with reasonable certainty that it would have hair,
mammary glands, a placenta, a four-chambered heart, and
other mammalian features. These would not be able to have
been made if bats were simply classified with all other flying
organisms.

Question 4

What is natural classification

Answer 4

it states that

All members of a genus or higher taxon should have a common
ancestor, which means that we can expect members of a natural
group to have similar characteristics.