A-Level Biology Specification

AQA 7402

Section 4.5: Species and taxonomy

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#4.5.1

Two organisms belong to the same species if they are able to produce fertile offspring. Courtship behaviour as a necessary precursor to successful mating. The role of courtship in species recognition.

#4.5.2

A phylogenetic classification system attempts to arrange species into groups based on their evolutionary origins and relationships. It uses a hierarchy in which smaller groups are placed within larger groups, with no overlap between groups. Each group is called a taxon (plural taxa).

#4.5.3

One hierarchy comprises the taxa: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species.

Recall of different taxonomic systems, such as the three domain or five kingdom systems, will not be required.

#4.5.4

Each species is universally identified by a binomial consisting of the name of its genus and species, eg, Homo sapiens.

#4.5.5

Students should be able to appreciate that advances in immunology and genome sequencing help to clarify evolutionary relationships between organisms.