Biology Unit 3

Topic 1- Biodiversity and populations

Describe Genetic Diversity

the range of alleles within a species. i.e. the variation in DNA amongst all the individuals in a species

Describe Species Diversity

is the range of species within an ecosystem

Describe Ecosystem Diversity

is the range of ecosystems in a particular location

Describe the biological species concept

Says that a species is a group of actual, or potentially interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other populations.

Identify the limitations of the biological species concept

•Asexually reproducing organisms

•Fossils of extinct organisms

•Proof of mating

•Hybrids

•Infertile Organisms

Identify the 8 major taxa in the Linnaean system

Domain,

Kingdom

Phylum (animals) or Division (plants)

Class

Order

Family

Genus (plural: genera)

Species.

Explain how it is used to classify and name species

Uses hierarchical structure of classifying organisms

An organism is classified into 8 taxa.

Three domains (Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya), divided into kingdoms, phyla/divisions, classes, orders, families, genera and species

Uses binomial nomenclature to name classified organisms at the Genus species level

Uses morphological features of organisms to create groups according to their similarities/features

What is dichotomous key?

is a key that consists of a sequence of paired statements about an observable trait.

The statements are mutually exclusive