Courtship Behaviour, Diversity And Classification

Question 1

Species and taxonomy?

Answer 1

• Two organisms belong to the same species if they are able to produce fertile offspring
• must reproduce to pass on advantageous alleles
• courtship behaviour essential for successful mating and for species recognition

Question 2

Courtship behaviour?

Answer 2

• sequence of actions which is unique to each species
• how animals identify mates
• mostly performed by males (dance, sounds, feathers)
• females observe ritual and decide if they want to mate with the male

Question 3

Importance of courtship behaviour?

Answer 3

Ensures successful reproduction:
- enables them to recognise own species and opposite sex
- synchronises mating behaviour - indicates sexually mature and in season

Ensures survival of offspring:
- form a strong bond
- strong healthy mate

Question 4

Phylogenetic Classification?

Answer 4

• arrange species into groups according to their evolutionary origins and relationships
• tells us how closely related species are and how recent their shared common ancestors are

Question 5

Hierarchy?

Answer 5

• smaller groups arranged within larger groups
• no overlap between groups
• (e.g. classification systems)

Question 6

Stages of hierarchy?

Answer 6

Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
-Each group called a taxa

Question 7

Binomial system?

Answer 7

• each species universally identified using the binomial (two name)
• first name = genus
• second name = species
• (e.g. homo sapiens)

Question 8

Biodiversity?

Answer 8

• variety of living organisms within a particular habitat, ecosystem, biome, or earth

Question 9

Species diversity?

Answer 9

• number of different species and individuals within each species in a community

Question 10

Genetic diversity?

Answer 10

• variety of genes amongst all the individuals in a population of one species

Question 11

Species richness?

Answer 11

• number of different species in a community

Question 12

Index of diversity?

Answer 12

• relationship between number of species in a community (species richness) and number of individuals in each species (population)
• Formula - D=N(N-1)/Total(n-1)
• D - Simpsons diversity index
• N - total number of organisms of all species
• n - total number of organisms of particular species
• Larger value - greater species richness

Question 13

Farming techniques?

Answer 13

• can reduce biodiversity, so balance must be found between conservation and farming
  1. Destruction of hedgerows
  2. Selective breeding
  3. Monocultures
  4. Over-grazing

Question 14

Investigating diversity?

Answer 14

Genetic diversity within or between species can be made by comparing:
- frequency of observable characteristics
- base sequence of DNA
- base sequence of mRNA
- amino acid sequence