SYSTEMATICS BASED ON EVOLUTIONARY

GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 RELATIONSHIP

CATEGORIES OF CLASSIFICATION
AND
CONCEPT OF SPECIES
Learning Competency
The learner identifies the unique or distinctive characteristics of a specific taxon relative to other taxa.
(STEM_BIO11/12-IIIh-j-15)

Specific Learning Objectives

 Familiarize with different activities or practices (naming, describing, identifying, classifying) used in
taxonomy.
 Distinguish distinct characteristics of a taxa in relation to other groups.
 Describe species diversity and the procedure of the cladistics system that is used to establish
evolutionary histories.
 Explain how modern systematics uses DNA sequences data to answer the perplexing concepts of
speciation and evolution.

Categories of Classification

Have you ever wondered how you knew that both Labrador
and Chiuhuahua are dogs even though they are different
breeds (Figure 1.1)? What makes a seahorse and a bangus
to be both classified as fishes even if theylive in two
different types of aquatic habitat? And what makes the giant
whale shark Butanding to be classified similar to terrestrial
predators like lions and leopards? Having very diverse
forms of life on earth, classifying is undoubtedly a
meticulous task. It does not only involve one single step but
a method of organized series of sequential steps, in which
taxa show a category. To classify specific organisms,
scientists use the similarities or differences among species.
Sometimes these distinguishing features of species are quite
Figure 1.1 Some of the easy to identify like the presence of scales, feathers or
common breeds of horns, number of legs, food requirements, and
dogs. environmental niche. But nowadays, seeing the differences
can also require special laboratory component when looking at the DNA of a species.

A taxon is a group of one or more populations of an organism

seen to form a unit. A taxon is usually recognized using a
particular name and ranking, especially if and when it is
accepted or becomes established. Generally, a taxon has three
facets:

1. The name of the taxon. The scientific name of a group

is the most important character' used to describe a
group of similar items. Once a Latin or Greek word root
is assigned, complicated names derived from other Figure 1.2 The rare and endemic
languages become simple and easier to assoc The name Philippine mouse deer locally known as
of the taxon iate back to the species (Krempels and Lee, Pilandok.

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2013).For example, the name of Tragulusnigricans, an endemic mouse deer in the Philippines locally
known as Pilandok (Figure 1.2), can be broken down into its Latin origins: Tragulus which means “little
goat" and nigricans which means “black" referring to the dark coloration of this species.
2. The rank of the taxon. Biologist uses the taxon within the hierarchy to locate the organisms grouping.
For example, the taxon "Chordate" is assigned the rank of phylum. The taxon "Pongidae" is assigned
the taxonomic rank of family. However, a taxon's rank is not always similar across all resources. For
instance, some publications reports "Zygomycota "Ascomycota" and "Basidiomycota" as subphyla
within phylum Mycota, whereas others assign each of those three taxa the rank of phylum within
kingdom Fungi (Krempels and Lee, 2013, p. 2)- Thismeans that taxonomic classifications may change
over time as new data become available. Bear in mind that the relative rank of a taxon within its
classification is more important than the relative rank itself. For example, it is important to know that
all members of the larger taxon "Carnivora" are classified within the still larger taxon "Mammalia."
Thus, an author using this classification system will simply write "Mammalia" rather than "Class
Mammalia" to avoid confusion as names change their rank (Krempels and Lee, 2013)
3. The content of a taxon. This is the key aspect of the taxon which uses groupings of specific individuals
within a single species, related species within a single genus, related genera, and so on. This tells us
which of the organisms has a common ancestry (Krempels and Lee, 2013). Systematists use a range of
technique to give a classification to organisms, which include: morphological characters, DNA
sequencing, protein analysis, developmental biology, karyology, ultrastructure and other information
to determine evolutionary relationships (Krempels and Lee, 2013). This scientific field needs more of
the new generation of scientists to go on a quest to name known and unknown species
Concept of Species

Naming, identifying, describing, and classifying biological specimens are just the basic duties of any
young biologist. Ever since Darwin's publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
the scientific community has been arduous to understand how different species are formed. Remember that
because of evolutionary processes that occur on Earth, there will always be a great chance that new species
will arise and are waiting to be discovered, Because of speciation, the task now of any systematist will always
be considered boundless.

But probably, the basic questions that you need to ask yourselves upon understanding these roles are:
What does the word "species" in essence really mean? How can one say categorically that a "species" is really
a new species to science? Despite the fact that "species" is one of the most important units in biology, the
definition as remains controversial up to the present. Most biological information is given with reference to a
species. There is a whole discipline called taxonomy that is dedicated to the delimitation of species, which
requires a species concept. Species concepts do not only define what a species is; but by defining what a species
is, they also define what speciation really is. For the past centuries, different biological disciplines created
different concept about the word "species" Species concepts are neither right nor wrong. In principle almost
every species concept is usable. However, acceptance of a species concept entails an appropriate adaptation of
the use of the term "species" and of species delimitation (Hausdorf, 2011, p. 923).

Pattern-Based Definitions

1.The Darwinian definition (Darwin, 1859). A simple definition during the time of Darwin was created,
which simply noted that a species is a term "arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals
closely resembling each other, and that it does not essentially differ from the term variety, which is given to
less distinct and more fluctuating forms."

2. Morphological/phenetic species concept. A more clarifying definition was presented in 1978 wherein a
species is "the smallest group that are consistently and persistently distinct, and distinguishable by ordinary
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means" (Cronquist,1978). So basically, the main criterion of

this definition is that for as long as there is a clear
morphological distinction from another group, it is a separate
species. However, the problem with this definition is that. It
cannot address cryptomorphic(sibling) species, which are
morphologically similar looking species but are genetically
unrelated (Bickford et al., 2007).This concept also
undermines morphological intra-colony variation among
insects, for example, since most of them live in communities
or colonies but some have morphological alteration (i.e., size
or number of legs).
Figure 1.3 The Perichares philetes, a butterfly
3.Phylogenetic species concept. Based on this definition, a
in northwestern Costa Rica, which 2008 was
phylogenetic species is "an irreducible (basal) cluster of found to actually consist of four species
organisms, coming from a bunch of different specimen
diagnosable distinct from other such clusters,
that and within
really looked which there is
the same.
a parental pattern of ancestry and descent"(Cracraft, 1989). This
concept has also been recommended for prokaryotes (Staley, 2006) and
has recently been referred to in several DNA barcoding and DNA
taxonomy studies. However, there are problems with this concept in
asexual as well as in sexual reproduction. In asexual reproduction in
which there is no or little gene exchange, each clone with a mutation
would be classifieds do as a separate species (Coyne and
Orr,efine2004). In organisms that utilize sexual reproduction,
substitution will have its own particular distribution and little of or no
Figure 1.4 Cladogram of the concordance might exist among and the sets of individuals diagnosable
primates, showing a monophyletic
with independently derived mutations except those bounded by barriers
taxon (a clade: the simians or
to gene flow. Moreover, polyphyletic species (Figure1.4) originating by
Anthropoidea, in light gray), a
paraphyletic taxon (the
parallel speciation will also not show a "parental patterns of ancestry and
prosimians, in gray, including the descent" separate from that of the ancestral species and would have to be
dark gray patch), and polyphyletic lumped under the phylogenetic species concept too (Aviseand Ball,
taxon (the nocturnal primates - the 1990).
lorises and tarsiers - in the dark
gray). 4.Genotypic cluster species concept. Just as the phylogenetic species
concept, this concept in principle is applicable for asexual organisms as
well since it defines species as a genotypic cluster that can overlap without fusing with its sibling. However,
acceptance of the genotypic cluster definition would result in the undesirable consequence that each genetically
different clone would be identified as a separate species (Mallet,
19951

Process-Based Definitions

1.Biological species concept (isolation concept) (Mayr, 1942).

Probably the well-known concept of species is this definition,
which states that species are "group of actually or potentially
interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively
isolated from other such groups" More simply, two organisms
can be considered members of the same species if they can breed Figure 1. 4 Peacock (right), courting a
and produce fertile, viable offspring under natural Figure 1.4 peahen (left).
(Krempels and Lee, 2013), The idea of exclusive reproduction

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among the same groups makes this definition to be the most influential concept however the findings that
reproductive barriers are semipermeable to gene flow that species can differentiate despite on-going
interbreeding challenges this definition. Moreover, this definition cannot address organisms that are asexually
reproducing their clones like bacteria or hybridization, which is a common
phenomenon among plants

2.Mate recognition species concept (Peterson, 1985). This is a concept of

species, which defines species as a "'set of organisms that recognize one
another as potential mates: they have a shared mate recognition system" The
recognition concept should define very similar species to the biological
concept: an isolation mechanism to keep species apart and a recognition
mechanism to ensure breeding takes place within a species are, to a large
extent, two sides of the same coin. For this reason, this is sometimes jointly Figure 1. 5 Mating houseflies
referred to as the reproductive species concept (Figure1.5).

3.Cohesion species concept (Templeton, 1989). According to this definition, a species is "the most inclusive
group of organisms having the potential for genetic and/or demographic exchangeability" This is ideally like
an expansion of the mate-recognition species concept to allow for post-mating isolation mechanisms: whether
populations can hybridize successfully, they are still distinct cohesion species if the amount of hybridization is
insufficient to completely mix their respective gene pools.

4.Genic species concept (Wu, 2001). This is still quite a novel model
of speciation based on a consideration of the genetic processes
happening during speciation. This concept explains why and what kind
to gene exchange does not affect the tenacity of differentiated species
and the further differentiation of species(Figure 1.6). According to this
model, the whole process of speciation apparently depends on the
genes responsible for differential adaptation natural or sexual to
different environments called the "speciation genes" However, this
concept just focuses on exclusively differential adaptation caused by
mutations in gene since even if differential adaptation would be the Figure 1.6 Two different species of
most frequent process resulting in speciation, other processes that Ixora with almost similar
might also cause the formation of species such as genetic drift should characteristics but displays different
not be excluded a priori in a species concept. intensity color

Modes of Speciation

Given the philosophical and scientific definitions of species, the simplest way
to explain that for one species to become two (insipient species) is that separate
populations of the same species must become reproductively isolated. For
reproductive isolation to evolve, some change must occur in one or both
lineages in ecology, behavior, physiology, biochemistry, or genetic system that
will make them reproductively incompatible (De Queiroz, 2005). The process
on how one lineage becomes incompatible with its closest relative lineage is the
key question of how new species are formed.

1.Allopatric speciation (Figure 1.7) is the evolution of reproductive barriers

Figure 1.7 Diagram of allopatic between populations that are geographically separated Speciation occurs
and sympatric speciation because a given group has been separated from the parent group usually
because of a geographical event (i.e., mountain building, land fragmentation
etc.) as time goes by. The isolated populations then undergo genotypic and/or phenotypic divergence as: (a)they
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become exposed to dissimilar selective pressures; (b) they

undergo genetic drift independently; and/or (c) different
mutations arise in the two populations (Hoskin et al.,2005).
When the populations comeback into contact, they have
evolved such that they are reproductively isolated and are
no longer capable of exchanging genes.

This speciation mechanism explains how the

expedition of Charles Darwin to the Galapagos islands went
through especially when he noticed that the tortoises could
be distinguished on each island and the finch birds (known
now as the Darwin finches) differed from one island to
another (Figure 1.8).

There are two types of allopatric speciation:

a. Peripatric speciation (Figure 1.9) involves new species

that developed from reproductive isolation in small
marginal populations of a species that are prevented from
exchanging genes with the main population. It is generally
hypothesized that founder populations, because they are
small, may have reduced genetic variation and low fitness
due to genetic drift. Genetic drift increases the frequency of
alleles that were documented to be rare in the ancestral
population. Selection for new combinations of alleles that
are compatible with the newly fixed alleles may occur and
allow increased fitness in the new conditions. This results
to reorganization of the genome that makes it incompatible
with the ancestral population(Templeton, 1980). A famous
case study that explains this mode of speciation was the
Australian bird Petroica multicolor.
Figure 1.9 A summary of the different
modes of speciation

b. Parapatric speciation (Figure 1.10) involves the origin of new species over the former range of the
ancestral species. The populations can only diverge if there1s relatively strong selection across the
geographic range of the species. A stable hybrid zone may result if there is
moderate selection against the hybrids. When a strong selection against the
hybrid occurs, complete divergence can occur similar to reinforcement of
reproductive isolation in formerly allopatric populations. In the case of
parapatric speciation, population of plants on contaminated soils is one
example. Hybrids are formed in an environment with contaminated soils that
are unfit in either environment Selection against hybrids has resulted in
divergence in flowering time in adjacent populations and selection for self-
pollination in the population on the contaminated soil (Banket al, 2012). A
good example is Plantago major common European plant (Figure 5.14).
2.Sympatric speciation (Figure1.7, 1.9) refers to the formation of two or
more descendant species from a single ancestral species all occupying the
Figure 1.10 Plantago Major
same geographic location. Habitat change and difference in reproductive
cycle is a strong disruptive selection that may result in divergent phenotypes.
This produces hybrids that are unfit for the same environment for which the parental types are well suited. A

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common example of sympatric speciation is found in insects that become dependent on different host plant in
the same area.

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