The Concept of Species

Paper Summary:

In this report the author looks at ways to define the concept of species. He considers that in a biological sense, it is a difficult task, considering that so many different organisms and variations of organisms exist. This author looks at the concept of species as having been pursued since the time of Aristotle and how it has consistently been revised, scrutinized, rejected and accepted by different disciplines and schools since the birth of western science. He then proceeds to suggest ways of defining species whether it be as an organism that can reproduce or the essential concept. The paper concludes with the summation that whether or not species is a convention created by humans, it has become an integral and fundamental unit of science.

From the Paper:

"If two individuals in nature can produce fertile offspring, they are of the same species, and the opposite is true if offspring are produced but are infertile. The interbreeding of a horse and donkey is an excellent example of reproductive isolation. The individuals can successfully reproduce, but the offspring that is produced is not fertile. Therefore, the horse and donkey are not of the same species. With this, and the concept of reproductive isolation in mind, a species can then be defined as a group of reproductively isolated individuals. However there is a group of organisms to which this does not properly apply; those that reproduce asexually."

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