Species And Taxonomy Flashcards
Definition of a species
a group of similar organisms
that can breed to make fertile
offspring
Binomial system
a universal naming system
individuals are named after
their genus and species
Courtship behaviour
different sequences of
behaviours that animals
demonstrate to attract a mate
each species demonstrates its
own unique behaviour
essential for successful mating
Importance of courtship
helps to synchronise mating
behaviour so that the animals
are more likely to mate when
the female is releasing eggs
increases the likelihood of
successful mating
enables individuals to recognise members of the same species and opposite sex
What is meant by hierarchy
smaller groups arranged within
larger groups
there is also no overlap between
groups
Phylogenetics
the study of species’ evolutionary origins and relationships
Common ancestor
the species from which another
species evolved
Taxon
the term for each group in
classification
What are the taxa in the Linnaeus
classification system?
domain
kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species
Species diversity
the number of different species
and the number of individuals
within each species in a community
Species richness
the number of different species
in a particular area at the same
time
Index of diversity
a measure of species diversity a calculation to measure the relationship between the number of species in a community and the number of individuals in each species
Community
all the species in a particular
area at a particular time
Environment
the abiotic (non-living) factors in an area
Habitat
The range of physical, biological and environmental factors in which a species can live
Which farming techniques reduce biodiversity
destruction of hedgerows
selective breeding
monocultures
over-grazing
filling in ponds and draining wetlands
Biodiversity
a measure of the range of habitats
from a small local habitat to the entire Earth
a measure of species diversity
a measure of genetic diversity
How is standard deviation more useful than a mean
it gives you the spread of data
(variance) around the mean\
overlaps in standard deviation
indicate no significant difference in the means
How do you make sure your sampling is representative of a population
take a large sample (at least 30)
randomly sample to avoid bias
How can you measure genetic diversity
by comparing the base sequence of DNA, mRNA and the amino acid sequence of the proteins
