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Dictionary definition: species

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A Dictionary of Biology
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species
1. A group of organisms that resemble each other more than they resemble members of other groups and cannot be subdivided into two or more species. The precise definition of what constitutes a species differs depending on which species concept is applied. According to the biological species concept , a species comprises a group of individuals that can usually breed among themselves and produce fertile offspring. However, many other species concepts have been proposed, including the phylogenetic species concept and various typological species concepts . ...

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Encyclopedia entry: species concept
The Oxford Companion to the Earth;      700+ words ...species concept The definition of a species is a problem that has exercised ... the other morphological or shape-related. The reproductive species concept states that species are communities of interbreeding organisms. One definition ...

Dictionary definition: typological species concept
A Dictionary of Biology;      330 words ...typological species concept The concept of a species as a group whose ... other concepts, notably the biological species concept . These could better account for the many ... agamospecies ). See also phylogenetic species concept .

Dictionary definition: phylogenetic species concept
A Dictionary of Biology;      342 words ...phylogenetic species concept ( PSC ) The concept of a species as an irreducible group whose members are descended ... history. It is less restrictive than the biological species concept , in that breeding between members of different species ...

Dictionary definition: recognition species concept
A Dictionary of Zoology;      282 words ...recognition species concept The concept that a species is characterized by a unique fertilization system (the ... species. This changes the emphasis in the biological species concept from negative (not interbreeding with other species ...

Dictionary definition: biological species concept
A Dictionary of Biology;      365 words ...biological species concept ( BSC ) The concept of a species as a group of populations whose members are capable ... early 20th centuries, largely replacing the typological species concept favoured by pioneer naturalists. Central to the concept ...

Dictionary definition: evolutionary species concept
A Dictionary of Zoology;      259 words ...evolutionary species concept A suggestion made by G. G. Simpson for adapting the biological species concept for a palaeontological context: ‘a species is a lineage with its own evolutionary role and tendencies’.

Dictionary definition: cohesion species concept
A Dictionary of Zoology;      272 words ...cohesion species concept A proposal, made by Alan R. Templeton in 1989, to broaden the biological species concept by including asexual organisms and ... sexually reproducing organisms. A species, in this view, is a population ...

Dictionary definition: internodal species concept
A Dictionary of Zoology;      263 words ...internodal species concept The notion that a species exists between two branching points in a fossil lineage; it is based on a fiction, maintained as a convenience by Willi Hennig , that a species ceases to exist as soon as it branches into two daughter species.

 
 
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