Topic 4 - Species & Taxonomy

Question 1

What is a species?

Answer 1

A group of organisms that are able to breed to produce fertile living offspring.

Question 2

What does classification allow scientists to do?

Answer 2

1) Identify new species

2) Study evolutionary relationships

3) Understand shared traits and adaptations

4) Share research globally to identify links with organisms on other continents.

Question 3

What is the Heirachical Taxonomic System?

Answer 3

1) Domain
2) Kingdom
3) Phylum
4) Class
5) Order
6) Family
7) Genus
8) Species

Question 4

What are courtship behaviours?

Answer 4

Courtship behaviours help animals attract mates through displays and signals that are species specific.

Question 5

What are the three benefits of courtship behaviours?

Answer 5

1) It enables recognition of the same species, leading to successful mating, the production of fertile offspring.

2) It prevents wasteful interspecies breeding.

3) It maximises the chance of successful reproduction.

Question 6

What is phylogenic classification?

Answer 6

Phylogenic classification is based on evolutionary relationships between organisms and their ancestors.

Question 7

What are the advantages of phylogenic classification?

Answer 7

1) It produces a continuous tree that doesn’t force organisms into specific taxonomic groups where they don’t quite fit.

2) There is no overlap between the groups produced.

Question 8

What do phylogenic trees show?

Answer 8

Phylogenic trees map evolutionary relationships between organisms and their histones.