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Unit 4: Living organisms and classification

What is a species? — HIA International - Grade 6 Revision Notes & Topical Questions

5 min read 6 parts Lesson 5 of 8 3 quizzes

📚 HIA International - Grade 6 Hub / Topical Revision
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Lesson summary

4.3 What is a species? — HIA INTERNATIONAL notes: Define a species and explain how scientists decide whether two organisms belong to the same species.Species — each kind of organism is a species, and scientists group living organisms into speciesSame species — organisms share the…

  • Different species
  • Own species only
  • Fertile offspring
  • Definition
  • How they arise
  • Biologists disagree

Section 1 of 6Species and variation

Species
  • Species each kind of organism is a species, and scientists group living organisms into species
Same species
  • Same species organisms share the same characteristics but are not identical
  • For example, some Indian elephants have straighter tusks than others and different pink skin markings.
Variation
  • Variation differences between individuals of the same species
  • Variation can make it difficult to decide if two organisms are the same species.
Different species
  • Different species look different from each other, for example the Indian elephant and the African elephant

Section 2 of 6Species and reproduction

Own species only
  • Own species only each species reproduces only with other members of its own species, and the offspring belong to the same species as their parents
Fertile offspring
  • Fertile offspring offspring that can also produce offspring
Different species
  • Different species organisms from different species cannot usually reproduce with one another
Definition
  • Definition a species is a group of organisms that can reproduce together to produce fertile offspring

Section 3 of 6Ligers

Ligers
How they arise
  • How they arise very rarely two species reproduce together, for example a male lion and a female tiger put in the same zoo enclosure with no member of their own species
Liger
  • Liger the young animal produced is healthy but infertile, so it cannot have offspring
Why lions and tigers are different species
  • Why lions and tigers are different species their offspring are infertile

Section 4 of 6Disagreement about species

1Biologists disagree
  • Biologists disagree they sometimes disagree about whether two kinds of organism are the same species or different species
2Consequence
  • Consequence this affects arguments about whether to save a particular organism or protect a habitat
  • For example, in a rainforest, some biologists say there are 200 bird species while others say that 100 of these are not different species.

Section 5 of 6Key terms

TermMeaning
SpeciesA group of organisms that can reproduce together to produce fertile offspring.
VariationDifferences between individuals of the same species.
OffspringThe young produced by organisms.
FertileAble to produce offspring.
InfertileNot able to produce offspring.
SpecimenA sample of an organism.

Section 6 of 6Exam technique

1
Saying organisms of one species are identical — there is variation between individuals
2
Saying lions and tigers are one species because they can reproduce — their offspring (ligers) are infertile
3
Saying fertile means able to be born — fertile means able to produce offspring
4
Saying all scientists agree on every species — biologists sometimes disagree

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