Biodiversity Species And Their Value

Question 1

What is a species ?

Answer 1

This refers to a group of organisms that share genetic heritage, can interbreed and produce offspring that are fertile . These organisms are usually reproductively isolated from other groups

Question 2

How do new species form ?

Answer 2

Essentially speciation is the formation of new species from existing ones . However this is is triggered when barriers prevent gene flow through reproduction.

Question 3

These barriers cause reproductive isolation. Define reproductive isolation?

Answer 3

This is when two populations of the same species can no longer interbreed to produce fertile offsprings .

Question 4

What are the two main barriers that can cause reproductive isolation

Answer 4

Prezygotic isolation
Postzygotic isolation

Question 5

What is prezygotic isolation

Answer 5

This is a Barrie’s that prevents mating / fertilization from occurring in the first place.

This could be from :
Mechanical isolation: where physical differences in reproductive structure make it difficult/impossible to mate.
Differences in mating ritual/signals which make it difficult for populations to recognize potential partners.
Temporal isolation : if two populations mate at different times of the year it becomes difficult to interbreed
Habitat isolation: even two populations live on the same geographic location but in fr.habitats it might make it difficult to interbreed .

Question 6

What can you say about post zygotic isolation

Answer 6

These are barriers that come in after mating/fertilization has occurred preventing formation of a viable ,fertile offspring.

This includes :
Hybrid inviability: this is when offsprings do not Mae it to reproductive ages .
Hybrid sterility:this is when even if the offspring reaches reproductive as they are infertile and therefore cannot pass down genes .

Question 7

What do we call natural selection that directly favors the evolution of prezygotic isolation?

Answer 7

Reinforcements

Question 8

THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN SPECIATION
What are the three main types of speciation

Answer 8

Allopatric Speciation
Sympatric speciation
Parapatric speciation

Question 9

What is allopatric speciation

Answer 9

This is when populations are separated by a physical barrier, like a mountain, water body(larger),etc that prevents gene flow between two populations. They then evolve individually and eventually become two distinct species.

Question 10

What is sympatric speciation?

Answer 10

This is when populations on the same geographic location without any physical barriers to separate them strongly isolate . This could be due difference in mating preferences or resource use .

Question 11

What is parapatic speciation ?

Answer 11

This is speciation that occurs as a result from partial separation of two diverging species . Individuals may come into contact occasionally but but selection for behaviors /mechanisms prevent interbreeding . Leading to eventual distinction.

Question 12

Why do species matter ?

Answer 12

They are the fundamental units of comparison across all sub fields of biology and are the building blocks of biological research.

Question 13

What are the economic and social importance of species ?

Answer 13

Consumed as food and form the foundation of global food production.
Medicinal functions
Raw materials used as part of industrialization processes
..

Question 14

True or false : identifying species by their name is important to help combat their negative effects.

Answer 14

True . And example would be some years back there were insects attacking corn plants nut they were difficult to identify because of how similar they looked and so mitigation measures were difficult

Question 15

What is species delimitation?

Question 16

What is species delimitation?

Answer 16

This is the process of identifying evolutionary boundaries.normally involves examining lines evidence to determine whether a species comes from an existing. Revolutionary lineage or warrant to be called a separate species

Question 17

What is the importance of species delimitation?

Answer 17

It can affect conservation of biodiversity : if there is little known about what constitutes a distinct a particular species , then conservation efforts , strategies cannot be carried out properly.
It can help in research, understanding these factors about species can help scientists know and undeerstand organisms and the relationship between organisms