Question
Try to collect all the currently accepted meanings for the word ‘species’. Discuss
with your teacher the meaning of species in case of higher plants and animals on one hand, and bacteria on the other hand.
Solution
Species is the basic unit of taxonomy. It can be defined as a group of individual organisms capable of interbreeding freely among themselves under natural conditions to produce fertile offsprings. Therefore, a group of similar individuals that are reproductively isolated from the other group of individuals form species. Species can also be defined as a group of individuals that share the same gene pool.
