3.4.5 - species and taxonomy

Question 1

what does a phylogenetic tree show?

Answer 1

how organisms are connected by shared common ancestors

Question 2

what is phylogeny?

Answer 2

its the study of the evolutionary history of groups of organisms

Question 3

what is taxonomy?

Answer 3

the science of classification

it involves naming organisms and organising them into groups, making it easier to identify them and study them

Question 4

what are the groups used to classify organisms called and how are they organised?

Answer 4

taxa

each group is called a taxon

they are organised in a hierarchy

Question 5

what are the 8 taxons in the correct order?

Answer 5

domain
kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species

Question 6

what is a species?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

how does the binomial system work?

Answer 7

-the first part of the name is the genus name and has a capital letter
-the second part is the species name and start with a lowercase letter and is written in italics

Question 8

what does phylogeny tell us?

Answer 8

it tells us who’s related to whom and how closely they are related

Question 9

what is courtship behaviour?

Answer 9

it is carried out by organisms to attract a mate of the right species, it can be simple of complex.

Question 10

what are some examples of simple courtship behaviours?

Answer 10

releasing a chemical - e.g. male bumblebees produce chemicals called pheromones to attract a female bumblebee

using sound - e.g. male red deer make a roaring noise to attract a mate

visual displays - e.g. the great tit will attract a mate by puffing out its chest to show off its black stripe

Question 11

what are some examples of complex courtship behaviour?

Answer 11

dancing - e.g. blue footed boobies perform a complex dance involving lifting up their feet to show of the blue colour

building - e.g. bowerbirds construct bowers made of leaves, twigs, flowers, shells, stones and whatever else the male can find

Question 12

how can courtship behaviour be used to classify organisms?

Answer 12

-as courtship behaviour is species specific, the more closely related species are, the more similar their courtship behaviour will be

Question 13

how does courtship behaviour prevent interbreeding?

Answer 13

-it is species specific which means only members of the same species will do and respond to a certain behaviour allowing members of the same species to recognise each other