SPECIES

Question 1

What is a species?

Answer 1

Group of organisms which are able to breed freely to produce fertile offspring

Question 2

How are you able to tell if two organisms belong to the same species?

Answer 2

Two organisms belong to the same species if they are able to produce
fertile offspring.

Question 3

What is courtship behaviour?

Answer 3

precursor behaviour to mating. Courtship behaviours are often
species-specific and therefore aid in species recognition.

Question 4

How does courtship behaviour aid in species recognition?

Answer 4

Courtship behaviours are often

species-specific and therefore aid in species recognition.

Question 5

What is classification?

Answer 5

• Process by which we allocate living things to groups

* Arranged into groups of increasing similarity

Question 6

What are the two types of classification?

Answer 6

• Natural

* Artificial

Question 7

What is natural classification?

Answer 7

○ Basic unit of natural classification is species
○ Natural classification reflects evolutionary relationships
○ Closely related species can be grouped together
○ These groups can be grouped together
○ These groups are then arranged into a series of ranked and interconnected groups
○ Forms a hierarchy

Question 8

Why may artificial classification be done?

Answer 8

For convenience

Question 9

What is phylogeny?

Answer 9

Study of evolutionary relationships

Question 10

How is phylogeny arranged?

Answer 10

Group of organisms arranged by how closely related they are
• The closer they are related, the closer they are on the tree
• Common ancestors are shared by groups
○ The closer the lines, the more recent the ancestor
○ All common ancestors are extinct

Question 11

What are monophyletic species?

Answer 11

Species that belong to the same phylogenetic group

Question 12

What is the heirarchy of phylogeny?

Answer 12

It uses a hierarchy in which smaller groups are placed within larger
groups, with no overlap between groups. Each group is called a
taxon

Question 13

What is the order of taxa?

Answer 13

domain, kingdom, phylum, class,

order, family, genus and species

Question 14

What is each species identified by?

Answer 14

Binomial system consisting of name and genus of its species

Question 15

Why are things classified?

Answer 15

• To order them
• For our convenience
• To make studying them easier
• To make identification easier
• To help us to see relationships

Question 16

How does the current classification system work?

Answer 16

• Species is basic unit of classification

* As you rise through hierarchy, more variation is shown

Question 17

How does classifying a species work in the current classification system?

Answer 17

• At higher levels, differences are greatest
• It is easiest to distinguish between these groups
• As you move to lower groups, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate closely related
species accurately
• More and more detailed description is needed

Question 18

How is biochemistry used in classification?

Answer 18

• Determines the degree of relation

* Differences reflect evolutionary relationships

Question 19

How is DNA used in classification?

Answer 19

○ DNA
– DNA found in all living organisms
– Always provides the genetic code
– More similar the sequence the more closely related the species

Question 20

How is cytochrome C used for classification?

Answer 20

○ Cytochrome C
– Use in most organisms for respiration
– Made from smaller sequences of amino acids
– If the sequence is similar, two organisms are closely related
– If it is different, they are not