Species And Taxonomy Flashcards
how can we know that two organisms belong to the same species?
- if they are able to breed to produce fertile offspring
why is courtship behaviour necessary?
courtship behaviour is a necessary precursor to successful mating
what is meant by a precursor?
a thing that needs to take place in order for something else to happen
what is the role of courtship in species recognition?
courtship behaviour stimulates specific response in organisms from the same gene pool
what does the phylogenetic classification system attempt to arrange species into?
phylogenetic classification system attempts to arrange species into groups based on their evolutionary origins and relationships
what does the phylogenetic classification system use?
hierachies
what is a hierarchy?
smaller groups are placed within larger groups, with no overlap between groups
what is each group in a hierarchy called?
taxon(plural taxa)
what does one hierarchy comprise of?
the taxa: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species
how are each species universally identified?
- a binomial
what does a binomial consist of?
name of its genus and species
what has to be capitalised in the taxa?
the Latin (phylum and genus)
what two taxa have to be written in italics?
- genus
- species
what are the three domains?
- eukaryota//eukarya
- bacteria
- archaea
what is meant to be given when the question asks for the scientific name of an organism?
the binomial
what is bacteria?
- a group of single celled prokaryotes
what are the features of bacteria?
- absence of membrane-bound organelles (e.g. nuclei and mitochondria)
- unicellular
- smaller ribosomes (70s) than eukaryotes
- cell wall is made of murein
- single loop of DNA, not associated with proteins
what is archaea?
group of single celled prokaryotes
how does archaea differ from bacteria?
- genes and protein synthesis are more similar to eukaryotes
- membranes contain fatty acid chains attached to glycerol by ether linkages
- no murein on cell walls
- more complex form of RNA polymerase
what is eukarya?
group of organisms made up of one or more eukaryotic cells
what are the features of eukarya?
- have membrane-bound organelles (mitochondria and chloroplasts)
- larger ribosomes (80s) than bacteria and archaea
- membranes contain fatty acid chains attached to glycerol by ester bonds
- if they have a cell wall it doesn’t contain murein
how does phylogenetic system differ to a hierarchy?
- hierarchy is based on shared characteristics from today
- phylogenetic system is evolutionary relationships and origins
how does standard deviation help us to interpret data?
- overlap = no significant difference or due to chance
- shows the spread of data
