By Mohammed Fahad

Biology unit 2 topic 4

Species
A species is a group of organism with similar

morphology, physiology and behaviour that can interbreed with each other to produce fertile offspring

DNA Analysis

DNA analysis are increasingly important in identifying species. E.g. the British and Northern brown Argus butterfly was thought to be a different species although analysis of the mitochondrion shows that they are the same species.
DNA bar codes are being developed to identify species without the need to look at their phenotypes, these work a bit like DNA fingerprints.

Species and communities

A habitat is place where an organism lives.

Each population is the group of similar species

found in an area Various population in an area make up the community

Adaptations
Behavioural adaptations-any actions that will help

an organism to survive. Physiological adaptations-any internal workings of an organism that will help them to survive Anatomical adaptations-structures of an organism what will aid it to survive.

4.2 How did organisms become so well adapted

Natural selection- is the theory proposed

by Charles Darwin, by which organisms change over time as they adapt to their changing environments.

Survival of the fittest-the more physical active or

fit an organism is the more likely it is to survive.

Evolution

Evolution is more precisely known as the change in allele frequency in a population over time. This occurs in the following process: A population has some naturally genetic variation (mutation).

A change in the environment causes a change in the selection pressure.

An allele becomes favourable

Organisms with this allele are more likely to survive

Their offspring are likely to have the allele and becomes more common in the population.

Being adaptable
The

ability of a population to adapt new conditions will depend on:

The

strength of the selection pressure The size of the gene pool The reproductive rate

4.3 Quantifying Biodiversity

Biodiversity relates to the variety of life and the

wealth of different species. All organisms are given a scientific name to avoid confusion. This is known as the Binomial system The first part of the name is genus and the second is the species it belongs to.

The Hierarchical system

Placing organisms into organisms are based on shared features known as classification or taxonomy.

This system is known as: Kingdom Phylum Class Order family Genus Species

New Classification