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The Biological Species Concept

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What is a species? Definition: a group of animals of plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants: a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than genus (Merriam – Webster) There are thought to be approximately 1.5 million different types of species worldwide. However, there is currently no one central inventory to record species and no one method used for determining if two beings are from the same or different species. As a result this estimation of 1.5 million may be out by as little as 1 million or as much as 100 million. Therefore this value of 1.5 million is an estimate and may be out by as little as 1 million or as much as 100 million. One of the most predominantly used definitions of a species is the Biological …show more content…

If we go by the Biological Species Concept then we would assume that it does not as this concept relies solely on whether or not organisms can reproduce with each other. With regard to BSC, although appearance may assist in identifying a species it is not accurate to use it to define a species. While some creatures may look alike they may not be from the same species and others may appear to be completely different yet be of the same species. For example, the hydrangea can have blue flowers or pink flowers. Due to this difference in appearance one may assume that these plants are of different species. However, this in fact is not the case and the two different coloured hydrangeas can reproduce together. The colour difference can occur as a result of the pH of the soil and the amount of aluminium taken up by the plants. The Biological Species Concept is not the only concept used to classify species, there are many others and as no one method has been determined to be most accurate, it is largely left up to each taxonomists own judgement to decide which method they prefer. Some of these other concepts …show more content…

Using this concept requires extreme and sometimes trivial sub-divisions of organisms into separate species. An example of where this concept becomes tedious can be seen in the in the many subspecies of Ensatina salamander in California. These salamanders have many sub-species and neighbouring sub-species tend to mate with with each other to produce small genetic and phenotypic dissimilarities. Because each type of salamander was produced from two separate lineages they do not possess a common ancestor separate from other species and therefore they must be divided up into many

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