What is the evolutionary species concept?

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Evolutionary species concept. An evolutionary species “is a single lineage of ancestor-descendant populations of organisms which maintains its identity from other such lineages [in space and time] and which has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate” (Wiley, 1981).



Considering this, what is the species concept?

The biological species concept defines a species as members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in nature, not according to similarity of appearance. Organisms may look different and yet be the same species.

Furthermore, what is species in evolution? A species is often defined as a group of individuals that actually or potentially interbreed in nature. Also, many plants, and some animals, form hybrids in nature. Hooded crows and carrion crows look different, and largely mate within their own groups — but in some areas, they hybridize.

In this way, what are the 3 species concepts?

Some major species concepts are:

  • Typological (or Essentialist, Morphological, Phenetic) species concept.
  • Evolutionary species concept.
  • Biological species concept.
  • Recognition concept.

What are the 4 species concepts?

The important species concept are: 1. Typological or Essentialist Species Concept 2. Nominalistic Species Concept 3. Biological Species Concept 4. Evolutionary Species Concept.

36 Related Question Answers Found

Who gave the concept of species?

"The words 'reproductively isolated' are the key words of the biological species definition". Ernst Mayr. According to Ernst Mayr, a new species forms when an existing species splits. A similar idea had been suggested in the 19th century by Moritz Wagner.

What are the different types of species concepts?

In the following a discussion of several species concepts known:
  • 4.1. Biological species concept.
  • 4.2. Morphological species concept (MSC)
  • 4.3. Ecological species concept (ESC)
  • 4.4. Evolutionary species concept.
  • 4.5. Cohesion species concept.
  • 4.6. Phenetic species concept.
  • 4.7. Phylogenetic species concept (PSC)
  • 4.8.

What is recognition species concept?

Recognition species concept. The recognition species concept is a concept of species, according to which a species is a set of organisms that recognize one another as potential mates: they have a shared mate recognition system.

How many species concepts are there?

There is one species concept (and it refers to real species). There are two explanations of why real species are species (see my microbial paper, 2007): ecological adaptation and reproductive reach. There are seven distinct definitions of "species", and 27 variations and mixtures.

What is the best species concept?

Hybridization and gene transfer are today very important topics in conservation and economic biology. Although the biological species concept has long been accepted by many evolutionary biologists (especially zoologists) as the best species concept, these kinds of problems have led to increasing attacks.

What is taxonomic species concept?

Taxonomic species concept Also called essentialistic or topological species concept and originated in ancient Greece with Aristotle. In this concept, every natural taxon/group has a generalised pattern or plan that does not change which is shared by every member of the group.

What is the concept of speciation?

Speciation, the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution. Speciation involves the splitting of a single evolutionary lineage into two or more genetically independent lineages.

What is phylogenetic species concept?

phylogenetic species concept (PSC) The concept of a species as an irreducible group whose members are descended from a common ancestor and who all possess a combination of certain defining, or derived, traits (see apomorphy).

What are the biological concepts?


All groups of living organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or response to stimuli, reproduction, adaptation, growth and development, regulation, homeostasis, and energy processing. When viewed together, these eight characteristics serve to define life.

What causes speciation?

Scientists think that geographic isolation is a common way for the process of speciation to begin: rivers change course, mountains rise, continents drift, organisms migrate, and what was once a continuous population is divided into two or more smaller populations.

Why are species concepts important?

Why are species so important? Not just because they exist in huge numbers, and because each species, when prop- erly studied, turns out to be different from every other, morphologically and in many other respects. Species are important because they represent an important level of integration in living nature.

How does sympatric speciation occur?

Sympatric speciation occurs when populations of a species that share the same habitat become reproductively isolated from each other. This speciation phenomenon most commonly occurs through polyploidy, in which an offspring or group of offspring will be produced with twice the normal number of chromosomes.

What is cohesion species concept?

cohesion species concept A proposal, made by Alan R. Templeton in 1989, to broaden the biological species concept by including asexual organisms and downplaying interbreeding in sexually reproducing organisms. A species, in this view, is a population, or series of populations, that has genetic or demographic cohesion.

What are the different types of speciation?


There are four major variants of speciation: allopatric, peripatric, parapatric, and sympatric. Speciation is how a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and develops its own unique characteristics.

What produces gene flow?

Gene flow is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. Gene flow can take place between two populations of the same species through migration, and is mediated by reproduction and vertical gene transfer from parent to offspring.

What is the process of succession?

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. It is a phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following a disturbance or the initial colonization of a new habitat.