Characteristics that are used to establish species include a. morphological traits. b. reproductive isolation. c. molecular features. d. ecological factors. e. evolutionary relationships. f. all of the above.
Characteristics that are used to establish species include a. morphological traits. b. reproductive isolation. c. molecular features. d. ecological factors. e. evolutionary relationships. f. all of the above.
Chapter17: Processes Of Evolution
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 11SA
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Question
Characteristics that are used to establish species include
a. morphological traits.
b. reproductive isolation.
c. molecular features.
d. ecological factors.
e. evolutionary relationships.
f. all of the above.
Expert Solution
Step 1: Introduction
There are 7 different taxonomical ranks in which organisms are grouped : kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus, species.
Species is considered as a basic unit of classification.
Step 2: Explanation
There are different concepts which explains concept of a species.
- Morphological concept of species: This concept states that organisms can be differentiated as species based on their physical features. And these morphological features can be used to identify a particular species.
- Biological species: This concept was introduced by Ernst Meyer in 1940s. According to this concept a species is a group of organisms which can interbreed and give fertile offspring. Thus, here reproductive isolation was considered as basis for species.
- Molecular species concept: This is based on molecular structure of an organism like particular marker genes, small subunit ribosomal RNA. It states that species can be distinguished on basis of molecular characterization.
- Ecological species concept: This concept states that a particular set of species is adapted to a particular set of environment in which it can feed and reproduce. This particular set of environment is called as niche of that species.
- Phylogenetic concept of species: In this concept species is defined as a group of organisms which have shared and unique evolutionary history. It is believed that members of a species have been descended from a common ancestor and posses certain defining traits.
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