The Concept of Species
THE CONCEPT OF SPECIES
What are species? Species are the basic taxonomic units of biological classification. This grouping of organisms of "like kind" into discrete and stable units has been traced at least from the time of Plato and Aristotle.
The term derives from the Latin "specere" (to look at, to behold), with the meaning of "kind,“ "quality," "appearance," "shape," or "a peculiar sort.“
In the past, species were classified according to their shape. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the Swedish botanist, naturalist and explorer proposed a method of classification known as the binomial system, which assigns a pair of names to each species: The name of the genus which it shares with other related species and the species name, which is unique.
The rules of scientific nomenclature are specified in five codes: animals, plants, cultivated plants, bacteria and viruses
Subspecies
Subspecies, varieties, species or geographical races are emerging species, i.e. species in formation. They possess features of anatomy, physiology or behavior, normally appropriate to the environment in which they live, but which differ from the average characteristics of the species to which they belong.
In scientific classification these are distinguished by a third name that designates the subspecies.
The idea of species has a long history. It is one of the most important levels of classification, for several reasons:
It often corresponds to what lay people treat as the different basic kinds of organisms—dogs are one species, cats another.
It is the standard binomial nomenclature (or trinomial nomenclature) by which scientists typically refer to organisms. It is the only taxonomic level that has empirical content, in the sense that asserting that two animals are of different species is saying something more than classificatory about them.
How do species form?
English naturalists Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913),
What are species? Species are the basic taxonomic units of biological classification. This grouping of organisms of "like kind" into discrete and stable units has been traced at least from the time of Plato and Aristotle.
The term derives from the Latin "specere" (to look at, to behold), with the meaning of "kind,“ "quality," "appearance," "shape," or "a peculiar sort.“
In the past, species were classified according to their shape. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the Swedish botanist, naturalist and explorer proposed a method of classification known as the binomial system, which assigns a pair of names to each species: The name of the genus which it shares with other related species and the species name, which is unique.
The rules of scientific nomenclature are specified in five codes: animals, plants, cultivated plants, bacteria and viruses
Subspecies
Subspecies, varieties, species or geographical races are emerging species, i.e. species in formation. They possess features of anatomy, physiology or behavior, normally appropriate to the environment in which they live, but which differ from the average characteristics of the species to which they belong.
In scientific classification these are distinguished by a third name that designates the subspecies.
The idea of species has a long history. It is one of the most important levels of classification, for several reasons:
It often corresponds to what lay people treat as the different basic kinds of organisms—dogs are one species, cats another.
It is the standard binomial nomenclature (or trinomial nomenclature) by which scientists typically refer to organisms. It is the only taxonomic level that has empirical content, in the sense that asserting that two animals are of different species is saying something more than classificatory about them.
How do species form?
English naturalists Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913),