Biological species is a central concept in evolutionary biology and anthropology, defined most famously by Ernst Mayr’s Biological Species Concept (BSC). It emphasizes reproductive isolation as the key criterion for distinguishing species.

🌍 Definition

• Biological Species: A group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, and are reproductively isolated from other such groups.
• Core Principle: Species are maintained by barriers to gene flow (behavioral, ecological, genetic, or geographic).
• Contrast:
  • Morphological Species Concept: Based on physical traits.
  • Phylogenetic Species Concept: Based on evolutionary lineage.
  • Ecological Species Concept: Based on niche occupation.

🔑 Biological & Anthropological Contexts

• Evolutionary Biology:
  • The biological species concept explains speciation as the development of reproductive barriers.
• Anthropology & Paleoanthropology:
  • Applied to fossil hominins, though challenging because reproductive isolation cannot be directly tested.
  • Example: Debates over whether Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens were separate species or subspecies.
• Genetics:
  • Modern DNA analysis helps clarify species boundaries by measuring gene flow.
• Limitations:
  • Difficult to apply to asexual organisms, fossils, or cases of hybridization.

📚 Importance in Anthropology

• Human Evolution: Understanding species boundaries among hominins clarifies evolutionary relationships.
• Cultural Identity: The concept of species shapes how humans classify themselves and other organisms.
• Comparative Value: Highlights differences between biological species and cultural classifications of living things.
• Material Culture Link: Fossil species definitions influence how artifacts and skeletal remains are grouped in archaeological contexts.

In short: A biological species is a group of interbreeding organisms reproductively isolated from others, central to evolutionary biology but with limitations in fossil and asexual contexts.