[OLD] Taxonomy - Classification

Question 1

what is phylogeny?

Answer 1

the study of the evolutionary history of groups of organisms

Question 2

what does phylogeny tell us?

Answer 2

who’s related to whom and how closely related they are

Question 3

what have all organisms evolved from?

Answer 3

a common ancestor

Question 4

what is taxonomy?

Answer 4

the science of classification

Question 5

What does taxonomy involve

Answer 5

naming organisms and organising them into groups

Question 6

why classify organisms?

Answer 6

it makes it easier to identify and study organisms

Question 7

what is a taxon?

Answer 7

a group used to classify organisms

Question 8

plural of taxon

Answer 8

taxa

Question 9

what are the three domains?

Answer 9

eukarya, bacteria, archaea

Question 10

name the eight taxa

Answer 10

domain
kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species

Question 11

what happens as you move down the hierarchy?

Answer 11

there are more groups but fewer organisms in each group.

the organisms in each groups also become more closely related.

Question 12

what is a species?

Answer 12

a group of similar organisms able to reproduce to give fertile offspring

Question 13

why are classifications systems constantly updated?

Answer 13

scientists constantly discover new species and new evidence about known organisms

Question 14

what is the nomenclature used for classification?

Answer 14

binomial system

Question 15

what is the binomial system?

Answer 15

all organisms are given one internationally accepted scientific name in Latin that has two parts

Question 16

what is the part of the binomial?

Answer 16

the genus name with a capital letter

Question 17

what is t he second part of the binomial

Answer 17

the species name beginning with a lower case letter

Question 18

how are binomials always written?

Answer 18

in italics

underlined if handwritten

Question 19

why use binomials?

Answer 19

it helps to avoid the confusion of using common names. e.g over 100 different plant species are called raspberries and one species of buttercup has over 90 different common names

Question 20

can courtship behaviour be used to help classify species?

Answer 20

yes

Question 21

what is courtship behaviour for?

Answer 21

it is carried out by organisms to attract a mate of the right species

Question 22

how does courtship behaviour help prevent interbreeding?

Answer 22

courtship behaviour is species specific so only members of the same species will do and respond to that courtship behaviour, allowing species of the same species to recognise each other and therefore prevent interbreeding and make reproduction more successful.

Question 23

more similar courtship behaviour is seen from what?

Answer 23

more closely related species

Question 24

four example of courtship behaviour

Answer 24

fireflies give off pulses of light. the pattern of flashes is specific to each species.
crickets make sounds that are similar to morse code, the code being different for different species.
male peacocks show off their colourful tails. this tail pattern is only found in peacocks.
male butterflies use chemicals to attract females. only those of the correct species respond.