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Biology vocabulary · Evolution and Classification

Species

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˈspiːʃiːz/nounCore term

In biology, species means: A group of similar organisms that can breed with each other and produce fertile offspring. It is the basic unit used to classify living things.

In Turkish: tür

How it is used

The same form is used for singular and plural: one species, two species. Scientific names have two parts, genus and species, as in Homo sapiens. Ecologists talk about native, endangered, invasive and keystone species.

Example sentences

  1. More than 30 species of orchid grow wild in this valley.

  2. Lions and tigers are different species, although they can produce hybrids in captivity.

Common collocations

  • endangered species
  • native species
  • new species
  • species diversity
  • closely related species
  • evolutionThe change in the inherited traits of populations over many generations. It explains how all living species descend from earlier forms of life.
  • taxonomyThe science of naming, describing and classifying organisms into groups based on their shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships.
  • populationAll the members of one species that live in the same area at the same time and can breed with each other.
  • invasive speciesA species brought by humans, on purpose or by accident, to a region where it does not naturally live, and which spreads and harms native species or the ecosystem.
  • biodiversityThe variety of life in a particular place or on Earth as a whole, including the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems.

More terms: Evolution and Classification

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