BIOL 190 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Killer Whale, Ensatina, California Towhee

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Biology Courses
• Course: BIOL 190
• Professor: Leavitt, Dean

Document Summary

What is a species: why do species matter permits identi cation and understanding of biodiversity taxonomic status often dictates conservation priority. Conceptualization philosophical side de ning what a species is. Survey morphological or molecular variation within and among populations: group individuals into groups (taxa, rank taxa in taxonomic hierarchy (species and subspecies) Actual or potential interbreeding populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups most widespread de nition. Cannot tell if two organisms could mate or not not useful in plant groups where hybridization is common. Searching for clusters of organisms that have shared histories. Overcomes many problems with biological species concept asexual organisms may have dna traced. Hybridization should be detectable recognize any new characters, not just reproductive isolation. Testable, no need to predict what might happen. Ex: brown towhee was declared two different species, california. Species speci c traits may be trivial, increasing power of molecular methods. Subspecies not recognized legal rami cations for wildlife protection.