Video Transcript
Why is it beneficial for scientists
to classify organisms into distinct groups like kingdoms? (A) It prevents interbreeding
between different groups of organisms. (B) It helps identify the genomes
of extinct species. (C) It allows comparisons between
different groups to be made more easily. Or (D) it helps evolutionary
biologists determine when new species will arise.
This question is asking, why do we
classify organisms into distinct groups? How does science benefit from
organization systems like this? Clearly, systems of classification,
like grouping organisms into kingdoms, is important, which is why they’ve been
reimagined so many times throughout history and continue to be refined today. Let’s take a look at the answer
choices and determine which is the most beneficial reason for grouping organisms
into kingdoms.
Classifying organisms into groups
does nothing to prevent them from interbreeding; it is merely a scientific tool that
categorizes them based on observable features. Therefore, answer (A), it prevents
interbreeding between different groups of organisms, is incorrect.
Answer (B) claims that classifying
organisms into kingdoms helps identify the genomes, in other words all of the
genetic material, of extinct species, but this is not true. Let’s look at an example within
kingdom Animalia, which contains millions of different animals with sometimes very
different genomes. An extinct species might be
classified in the kingdom Animalia because a spine is identified in fossils of
individuals belonging to this species, but this classification does not help us to
identify the genome of the extinct species. Therefore, we can eliminate option
(B).
Scientists, even evolutionary
biologists, cannot accurately predict when a new species will arise. The process of natural selection
takes much time and trial and error to produce new distinct species. We can also eliminate answer (D),
as classifying organisms won’t necessarily help us to determine when new species
will arise.
What classifying organisms based on
meaningful similarities or differences in their observable characteristics allows us
to do is to more easily compare and contrast them. The correct answer to the question
about the benefits of classification is therefore (C). It allows comparisons between
different groups to be made more easily.
