BIO153H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Carl Linnaeus, Binomial Nomenclature, Formal System
Biology Lecture 3
The Species Concept (What distinguishes a species)
• species is the fundamental unit in classifying the diversity of life
• criteria for recognition of species:
• common descent (must trace ancestry to a common ancestral population)
• smallest distinct grouping
• reproductive isolation from other organisms (responds as a unit to evolutionary
processes)
Phylogenetic Species Concept
• • “the irreducible (basal) grouping of organisms diagnosably distinct from other such
groupings and within which there is a parental pattern of ancestry and descent.” (Cracraft
1989)
• approach focuses on reconstructing the historical pattern of evolution by tracing descent
relationships
Taxonomy = “arrangement law” •
• taxonomy: formal system for naming and classifying species established by Carolus
Linnaeus in 1758
• Linnaean system for naming species: binomial nomenclature
• Form: Genus + species (i.e., a species cannot be properly identified without its genus)
Hierarchical Taxonomy
• Inaccurate ranking, the kingdom should be a larger vessel.
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