Q. Outline three kinds of situations in which strict application of the BSC causes difficulties;explaining the difficulty of each situation.

Explain how such difficulties lead some to prefer an alternative concept of the nature of the species. A. According to Mayr, the Bsc define a species as a member of a population that potentially interbreeds in nature and not in accordance to morphological similarities; morphospecies must be reproductively isolated from other such groups. Success of a species depends on the ability to interbreed to produce fertile offspring however in some cases, although organisms are virtually indistinguishable, they cannot interbreed due to differences in genotypes. For example, Quiscalus, a genus of black grackles consist of seven different species; however due to radiation Quiscalus lugubris cannot interbreed with Quiscalus quiscala thus exemplifying the BSC as two virtually identical species with the inability to interbreed due to reproductive isolation. There are four types of difficulties with the BSC: Sibling species, genetic distinction without reproductive isolation, Occasional hybridization and Parthenogentic organisms. Sibling species are species that have little or no morphological distinctions but are unable to produce fertile offspring due to reproductive isolation. Sibling species are due to sympatric speciation; the process where a new species evolve from a single lineage while inhabiting that same geographic range. For example, the American gray treefrogs, the Hyla chryscelis and Hyla vesicolor are physically indistinguishable. However on is diploid and the other is tetraploid and therefore due to inconsistencies in the chromosomes, the hybrid offspring are not viable. Scientists can only distinguish sibling species via genotypic analysis, thus the cost to distinguish the ethospecies become a problem. However, behavioral traits are an effective means of distinguishing between the species. This too is a problem because observing for behavioral traits is time consuming and if noticed by the species distinctive behavioral traits may not be exhibited. In the phenotypic species concept, the sibling species difficulty is defined as out of existence but within BSC such a solution is not acceptable. In phenetic distinction without reproductive isolation organisms are clearly morphologically distinct but are infertile. They are polymorphic species, as two or more different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species. The problem exist in determining which species are BSC associated, that is, morphospecies or whether they are polymorphic species. IN terms of taxonomy, distinguishing the genes that code for each individual of a species in a population is a major problem. The occasional hybridization occurs when some distinct organisms form a hybridized offspring in rare cases, for example, lions and tigers can produce a liger, a hybrid offspring. Problems exist as two distinct species produce a hybrid offspring. The only solution is to observe the parents as separate species that mostly not interbreed over more of their range overlap.