What is taxonomy
-it is the science of naming and organizing organisms into their related groups
Why is the Linnaeus system unique
- before this guy, we didn’t have an agreed upon system for naming organisms
- > this has led to considerable confusion
- > under this unique system, every organisms is given a binomial name
Describe the binomial name of a species. What it consists of
- it consists of the genus and the specific epiphet
- > eg; Homo= genus and Sapiens=epiphet, or Tyrannosaurus=genus and rex=epiphet
- note the genus is always capitalized and the epiphet is not
- > also note that a binomial name is always italicized
Is a specific genus and epiphet allowed to be shared by two organisms
- no
- > they can either both share the genus or the epiphets
- > but not both
What does the rule of priority state
- once a species has been given a binomial name
- > the name cannot be changed
- > unless it turns that the organism is not really a new species, in which case the binomial name is abandoned
How does a new species get a binomial name
- a biologist must publish a description of the species in a widely distributed and peer reviewed scientific publication
- > they must also designate a holotype specimen
-note the published description must include a list of characteristics or combination of characteristics that makes the new species uniq
What is a peer-reviewed scientific publication
-one that is not published until it has been reviewed by other scientists to verify that the content of the publication are legitimated and scientifically reasonable
What is a halotype specimen
- physical example of the new species
- > it must be kept in a research institution
- > eg; university or museum
Why must a halotype specimen be presented
- so that other scientists may study it and be able to both verify that it is a distinct species
- > also so that other scientists can compare it to other potentially new species that are later discovered
Does a halotype specimen need to be complete
- no
- > it can be a broken or partial specimen
- as long as it shows unique characteristics that make it a distinct species
- note holotype specimens of dinosaur species are hardly ever complete
- eg; Hesperonychus
- > small carnivorous dinosaur about the size of a chicken
- > all of the other theropod dinosaurs from Dinosaur Provincial Park are much larger than Hesperonychus as adults
- > indicating that this organism is new and unique
What is the definition of interspecific variation
-they are individuals that differ in morphology they belong to different species
What is the definition of intraspecific variation
- individuals that belong to the same speices
- >but have different morphologies
What are the different sources of intraspecific variation that we need to take into account
- males and females of the same species can look different
- > this is known as sexual dimorphism or sexual variation
- > eg; male deer that have antlers and female deers that don’t have antlers
- ontogenic variation
- > variation that you can see between young individuals and old individuals of the same species
- > eg; young males haven’t developed antlers
- individual variation
- > this is the normal variation that exists among individuals of a given species
- > eg; humans(we come in a variety of different sizes as adults)
- > antlers of the deer come in different shapes as well
- taphonomic variation
- > this is geological in variation
- > eg; plastic deformation
What is the biological species concept
- a species is a group of organisms that can successfully interbreed
- > it works well when applied to most modern animals and many plants
- > but it cannot be applied to asexual organisms
- > this definition also cannot be applied to extinct organisms of any kind, since testing if fossils can mate is impossible
- for any two individuals of a species to reproduce
- > they need to be living in the same place at the same time
- > they do not need to look the same
What is a population
- it is the grouping of any organism that lives in the same geographic area and interbreeds
- > one or more populations make up a single species
What is a morphological species concept
- it is defines a species as a:
- > group of organisms that share a certain degree of physical similarity
- > for dinosaurs, fossil specimens are assumed to belong to the same species if their physical similarities are consistent with the similarities that would be expected between members of a group that can interbreed
- essentially, organisms that all look the same are considered a single species
- > eg; there are four separate Tyrannosaur species
-the problem with this concept is that members of one species may be split up because they look different
What are lumpers
-they are paleontologists that require more differences before they consider two species to be distinct
What are splittters
-these are palentologists who require fewer differences between organisms before considering them distinct species
Why does it matter if you are a lumper or a splitter
-because that can impact the number of dinosaur species you recognize and on your interpretations of dinosaur species diversity
How many species are there on Earth
- recent estimates suggest that there are between five and 30 million species on Earth
- > we don’t really know and may never know the exact number
Which is a reliable feature or characteristic that a scientist can use to divide up organisms into separate species?
- the number of fingers on the hand is the most reliable characteristic to use to separate species from one another
- the number of fingers is overwhelmingly constant within a species
