Classification

Question 1

What is a species?

Answer 1

a group of organisms that are able to reproduce to produce fertile offspring

Question 2

Name the 3 domains?

Answer 2

archaea, eukarya and bacteria

Question 3

Why do scientists classify organisms? (3)

Answer 3

identification of species, prediction of characteristics and finding evolutionary links

Question 4

What are the original 5 kingdoms?

Answer 4

Prokaryotae, protoctista, fungi, plantae and animalia

Question 5

What are the 4 types of evidence used to show similarities between organisms?

Answer 5

molecular (similarities between protein and DNA), embryological (similarities in early stage of development), anatomical (similarities in body plan) and behavioural

Question 6

Why are domains now used at the top of the classification hierarchy?

Answer 6

differences found in the sequences of nucleotides in rRNA and the cell membranes lipid structure

Question 7

What are the two types of bacteria?

Answer 7

archae-bacteria and eubacteria

Question 8

Advantages of phylogeny over classification?

Answer 8

phylogeny produces a continuous tree where as classification requires discrete groups so scientists have to put each organism into a specific group even if it doesn’t quite fit.
Classification can be misleading as it implies different groups within the same rank are equivalent when there are not but phylogeny shows closer together species are more closely related.