3.4.5 Species and taxonomy

• Species 


  A population of organisms, capable of breeding with each other to produce fertile offspring
• Courtship behavior ensures that...


  A mate of the opposite gender is attracted

  A member of the same species is attracted

  The female is ready to mate/fertile
• Taxonomy 


  The science of classification - A system of grouping and naming species
• Taxonomic hierarchy

  Domain

  Kingdom

  Phylum

  Class

  Order

  Family

  Genus

  Species
• Taxonomic hierarchy 


  Smaller groups are placed within larger groups where there is no overlap between groups

  As we ascend, there are more species present in each taxa
• Evidence used to classify organisms

  Phylogenetic relationships

  • Evolutionary relationships
  • Compare amino acid sequence in a shared protein
  • Compare DNA/mRNA base sequence in a shared gene
  • Courtship behavior