Features and Evidence

Question 1

What is a Biological Species?

Answer 1

• is a group of similar organisms that can breed together to produce infertile organisms.

Question 2

What is the definition of phylogenetic species?

Answer 2

• the smallest group of organisms that are descended from a single common ancestor.

Question 3

FOSSIL RECORD

Answer 3

• occurs in particular conditions
• where hard tissue (such as bones and teeth) are replaced with minerals in sedimentary rock.
• Useful to see how organisms have evolved over time and when different species started to appear.
• it is incomplete, some gaps in what we know.

Question 4

DNA EVIDENCE

Answer 4

• Comparing DNA can help determine how closely related different species.
• The fewer genetic similarities, the more distantly related the species are.

Question 5

MOLECULAR EVIDENCE

Answer 5

• Other molecules can be compared for similarities