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Article: Species
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- Plant Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Species
The term
species
, in the most general sense, refers to the various kinds of living things. Thus, species are generally recognized as distinct, fully differentiated groups of organisms. However, most modern definitions of species also recognize them as reproductive communities and acknowledge that mating occurs between members of each species but does not occur (or occurs only rarely) among members of different species. Species are therefore generally recognized as genetically differentiated, reproductive communities within which there is a pattern of ancestry and descent among organisms. Although most scientists accept this general definition, there are two somewhat different ...