Biology 1001A Lecture 21: Species Concept and Speciation Lecture Nov 30
19 Mar 2016
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Why does it matter why we define a species: Serious implications: conservation of species (endangered species) and legal protection many subspecies are not protected: e. g. Savannah elephants vs. forest elephants independent species decline of population of forest elephants need protection: e. g. Lumping: classifying two together as one species. 150+ years after origin of species, still no definition of species: E. g. mallard ducks male and females look different. In case of mallard ducks breeding does happen = same species. Offspring also good fitness can reproduce. E. g. lion and tiger breed for the sake of desperate breeding and offspring are most likely to be sterile not the same species. Horse and donkeys make mules: more than happy to mate consider same species by biological, but we don"t consider them the same species: difficult to use if they don"t encounter each other in natural environment. Phylogenetic species concept: species = irreducible clade of organisms diagnosibly distinct from other such groups .
