4.5 Taxonomy

Question 1

1. What is the definition of a species?

Answer 1

A group of similar organisms which are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 2

2. What is meant by ‘courtship behaviour’?

Answer 2

Behaviours shown between male and female organisms which can lead to copulation / mating

Question 3

3. Give 4 reasons that courtship behaviour is a necessary precursor to successful mating?

Answer 3

• It allows organisms to identify other individuals of the same species
• It allows organisms to select suitable, healthy, attractive mates to parent their offspring
• It allows pair bond formation (which is often necessary so that organisms approach each other without becoming aggressive)
• It allows organisms to synchronise their breeding behaviour (so that males and females are ready to mate at the same time)

Question 4

4. What is meant by a hierarchical classification system?

Answer 4

Small groups are placed within larger groups, with no overlap between groups

Question 5

5. Complete the list of hierarchical taxa starting with Domain…

Answer 5

• Domain
• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

Question 6

6. How is genome sequencing useful in clarifying evolutionary relationships between organisms?

Answer 6

You can compare the sequence of bases of the same gene in different organisms
The more similar the sequence of bases the more closely related the organisms are to each other (because it means that they ‘diverged’ from each other more recently)

Question 7

7. State 3 comparisons of genetic diversity that scientists can use in order to clarify evolutionary relationships

Answer 7

1. Comparing base sequence of DNA
2. Comparing base sequence of mRNA
3. Comparing amino acid sequence of proteins