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6 Cards in this Set

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What are the 3 species concepts?
1) Morphospecies concept
2) Biological species concept (BSC)
3) Phylogenetic species concept (PSC)
What is the morphospecies concept?
Species are recognized by fixed phenotypic differences.

What are the pros and cons?
Pros: applicable to extinct and extant; sexual or asexual; inexpensive and relatively fast
Cons: Arbitrary and inconsistent, difficult for simply morphology (e.g. bacteria); problem of cryptic species
What is the Biological Species Concept (BSC)?
Species are reproductively isolated in nature, usually don't exchange genes, produce infertile or no offspring when hybridized

Pros and cons?
Pros: Confirms lack of gene flow, evolutionary independence of species, reflects evolutionary process
Cons: Can only confirm in lab for geographically non-overlapping species, cannot be tested with extinct species (fossils), irrelevant to asexual species
What is the phylogenetic species concept? (PSC)
Species are the smallest identifiable monophyletic group; diagnosable by one or more genetic or phenotypic derived character

Pros and cons?
Pro: Widely applicable - fossils, sexual and asexual, bacteria, cryptic species
Cons: few phylogenies available, expensive, time-consuming
What are the steps for the phylogenetic species concept designation of species?
1) Make phylogenetic tree
2) Identify smallest monophyletic groups diagnosable by one or more synapomorphies
Give an example of species concepts in use
-E. affinis (marine copepod) described as a single species based on morphospecies concept
-Phylogenetic tree and mating experiments revealed 8 cryptic species from 38 populations