Species and Taxonomy Flashcards
What is a species
A species is a group of individuals capable of breeding to produce living and fertile offspring
anatomical adaptation
body structure e.g. long ears in the desert and short in the arctic
physiological adaptation
how the body works e.g. oxidizing of fat in camels to produce water
behavioral adaptation
adapted to act in a certain way e.g hibernation, migrations
binomial naming system
universal and in italics or underlined
first name order system
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
Specific name order system
Animalia Chordata Mamalia Carnivora Felidae Felix Panthera Pardus
Courtship displays
brightly colored feathers insects dance bird song animal noises vocalizations display areas of beauty and strength
How to courtship behaviors evolve?
stimulus - male communicates a courtship signal
visual stimulus for female
CNS sends message to female nervous system
effector contracts or releases a hormone
female responds
her response is a stimulus to the male
male responds
how do courtship behaviours ensure that an organism can reporduce
enables an organism to recognise one of their own species
identify if a male is capable of breeding
forming pair bonds (life long partners)
synchronizing mating season
classification
organisation of living organisms into groups
taxonomy
the theory and practice of biological classification
what is artificial classification
based on analogous characteristics (appearance)
not based on evolutionary relationships
e.g. bats and butterflies
sharks and fish
penguins and birdswhat is phylogenetic classification
arranges groups of organisms into a hierarchy
classifies species based on shared features
characteristics are derived from ancestors
based on evolutionary relationships
partly based on homologous characteristics
what is a hierarchy
smaller groups within larger groups with no overlap between the groups
each group is called a taxon (taxa) and they are based on ancestry/evolutionary relationships history
