THE MEANING OF SPECIES

1. The conventional, present-day understanding of what we mean by species is given in lines 7, 8 & 9. What is that definition? It is a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. 2. As a definition it is quickly destroyed by the reference to Blue Whales and Fin Whales (lines 9-17). How do these two species contest the conventional definition? The Blue Whale and the Fin whales species contradict the conventional definition because they can breed with each other in order and are capable of producing fertile offspring without the necessity of being part of the same species. 3. In the 3rd paragraph, (lines 18-37), the two concepts of what a species is compared. What was the species concept prior to the 1930s? Before the 1930s there was a problem with defining how the animals were different. They were all just considered different kinds of living organism but there was no real classification of the animals themselves. Although not named in the text, who do you think was the greatest advocate of this concept? Charles Darwin. But I believe that it all change with Mayr and Dobzhansky. 4. What was/is the species concept introduced by Dobzhansky and Mayr in the 1930s? Prior 1930s species concept was just different kinds of living things but there was a problem with defining different. The concept that they introduced was the concept that the animals could be classified into artificial collections of individuals. 5. Darwin was not particularly concerned by the concept of a species. Why not? Darwin was not concerned about the concept of species due to the fact that he does not consider species real entities. Because he saw individuals were the units of his new theory of evolution, not species. 6. Given the probable several million of mostly tiny organisms not yet described on this planet, what problems face a natural historian who thinks he/she has found, and wants to name a new species?

The problem with this is that the person who believes that they have found a new species cant be sure because they would have to find another animal of that same species and see if they can breed and produce fertile offspring. If not then it is probably a hybrid. Plus there are probably also millions of other species alike that you would have to try with to see if it is a new species. Only then can u be sure and nobody is going to try something as pointless as seeing a NEW SPECIES mate with a million other species. 7. What do you understand by the term subspecies? (Line 70) A subspecies is a small group belonging to the same group as its big species group but it the animals themselves with different characteristics making them a subspecies of the original species group. 8. Organisms may differ or be similar in their morphology, anatomy and DNA (line 74), and their? Breeding Groups 9. The variation in beaks of the 13 sub species of Darwin finches on Galapagos are cited as a good example of natural selection working to make groups of birds distinct one from another, rather than reproductive isolation (lines 83-98). Explain the argument being used. Darwin explains that the cause of the species remaining different is due to natural selection and due to reproductive isolation. This species of finches owns different characteristics such as their beaks that help them adapt to their environment. For example eating habits. 10. (I) Why do hybridizing species challenge the conventional BSC? (Lines 99-113). These species were ignored because they did not meet the requirements of being a species as cohesive, reproductive units. (II) And why is the US Endangered Species Act (1973) a problem for taxonomists? (Lines 119-120) They exclude hybrids because they are seen as outsiders, which do not truly belong to the environment and natural order. (III) Red wolves and coyotes are known to have hybridized (lines 126-129). (iii) Can you name another two species, which can successfully hybridize? Humans, Orangutans

11. Darwinian evolution theory focuses very much upon species and clusters of related individuals (lines 156-157). What therefore is the evolving unit in Darwinian evolution theory? Species owning different characteristics should be considered different species altogether. 12. Selection forces act upon the small cluster of related individuals but specifically, and in genetic terms, what is it that is being selected for or against? The strongest, superior and most dominant are selected. 13. Given this discussion, what would now be your best definition of a species? Species are a group of individuals which own different characteristics but similar DNA, anatomy, and morphology, they can mate with each other to give a fertile offspring which is capable of reproducing with others of the same species but can also produce a hybrid. 14. What is the fundamental event in the DNA of an organism that ultimately can enable evolution of a new organism with different characteristics to appear? Organisms bond together making new characteristics in their future offspring, which will enable the evolution of the species. 15. For one organism, give a full classification (from Kingdom to species), saying at each point of classification, what characteristics enable the grouping of the organism. Cheetah:
Acinonyx Jubatus

Kingdom: animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Felidae Genus: Acinonyx Species: A. Jubatus Stephen Sheedy