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The biological species concept cannot be applied to fossils. Which alternate approach to identifying species would be most useful for classifying fossil organisms?

User Victor Di
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Answer:

The phylogenetic species concept.

Step-by-step explanation:

The biological species concept states that a species is a group of individuals that can breed together, that is a group of individuals reproductively isolated from other groups of individuals. According to this concept it is impossible to classify fossils since fossils are just traces of any once-living organism (no longer alive). However in order to classify taxonomically fossils , the phylogenetic species concept can be used.

The phylogenetic species concept, which is not based on breeding but in evolutionary relationships. If a fossil group share a common ancestor and are evolutionarily distinct from all other groups, the group then recognized as a species. Morphological and / or genetic analysis of fossils are used to determine the evolutionary relationships and establish if te group is or is not a species.

User Pavan Tiwari
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