BIO 1130 Study Guide - Final Guide: Synapomorphy, Trochophore, Allantois

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIO 1130
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Biological species a group of organisms that can successfully interbreed and produce fertile offspring. *problems: - interbreeding only applies to eukaryotes and not prokaryotes. We can"t apply this to fossils (the fossil record) Ecological species a group of organisms that share a distinct ecological niche (habitat) Phylogenetic species a group of organisms bound by a unique ancestry (evolutionary trees) at the tips of the tree where no further branching occurs, we have a phylogenetic species: extremely problematic. All 4 concepts fail to solve problem with prokaryotes. Biologists cannot decide exactly what a species is and therefore they tend to use all the concepts to isolate a species. * no universal way to define a species. Elaphe oboleta (rat snake) ecologically isolated they can however interbreed in the zone of mixing we get subspecies (in the process of becoming a new species) * dogs are subspecies of wolves (they can interbreed)