Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a

biochemical Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, ...

variation to occur in a particular

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. Biochemist

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling ( ; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...

stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organisms or constituents of living organisms of being special or doing something special. Each animal or plant species is special. It differs in some way from all other species...biological specificity is the major problem about understanding life."

Biological specificity within ''Homo sapiens''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

'' has many characteristics that show the biological specificity in the form of behavior and morphological traits. Morphologically, humans have an enlarged

cranial capacity The size of the brain is a frequent topic of study within the fields of anatomy, biological anthropology, animal science and evolution. Measuring brain size and cranial capacity is relevant both to humans and other animals, and can be done by wei ...

and more gracile features in comparison to other

hominins The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas), ...

. The reduction of dentition is a feature that allows for the advantage of adaptability in diet and survival. As a species, humans are culture dependent and much of human survival relies on the culture and social relationships. With the evolutionary change of the reduction of the pelvis and enlarged cranial capacity; events like childbirth are dependent on a safe, social setting to assist in the childbirth; a birthing mother will seek others when going into labor. This is a uniquely human experience, as other animals are able to give birth on their own and often choose to isolate themselves to do so to protect their young. An example of a genetic adaptation unique to humans is the gene

apolipoprotein E Apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) is a protein involved in the metabolism of fats in the body of mammals. A subtype is implicated in Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular diseases. It is encoded in humans by the gene ''APOE''. Apo-E belongs to a family ...

(APOE4) on

chromosome 19 Chromosome 19 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 19 spans more than 61.7 million base pairs, the building material of DNA. It is considered the most Gene density, gene-ri ...

. While chimpanzees may have the APOE gene, the study "The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene appears functionally monomorphic in chimpanzees" shows that the diversity of the APOE gene in humans in unique. The polymorphism in APOE is only in humans as they carry alleles APOE2, APOE3, APOE4; APOE4, which allows humans to break down fatty protein and eat more protein than their ancestors, is also a genomic risk factor for

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. There are many behavioral characteristics that are specific to ''Homo sapiens'' in addition to childbirth. Specific and elaborate tool creation and use and language are other areas. Humans do not simply communicate; language is essential to their survival and complex culture. This culture must be learned, is variable and highly malleable to fit distinct social parameters. Humans do not simply communicate with a code or general understanding, but adhere to social standards, hierarchies, technologies, complex system of regulations and must maintain many dimensions of relationships in order to survive. This complexity of language and the dependence on culture is uniquely human. Intraspecific behaviors and variations exist within ''Homo sapiens'' which adds to the complexity of culture and language. Intraspecific variations are differences in behavior or biology within a species. Variation in genetic expression of race and gender and complexities within society lead to social constructs such as roles. These add to power dynamics and hierarchies within the already multifaceted society.

Subtopics

Characteristics may further be described as being interspecific, intraspecific, and conspecific.

Interspecific

Interspecificity (literally ''between/among species''), or being interspecific, describes issues between organisms of separate

. These may include: *

Interspecies communication Interspecies communication is communication between different species of animals, plants, or microorganisms. Although researchers have explored the topic for many years, only recently has interspecies communication been recognized as an establishe ...

, communication between different species of animals, plants, fungi or bacteria *

Interspecific competition Interspecific competition, in ecology, is a form of competition in which individuals of ''different'' species compete for the same resources in an ecosystem (e.g. food or living space). This can be contrasted with mutualism, a type of symbiosis. ...

, when individuals of different species compete for the same resource in an ecosystem * Interspecific feeding, when adults of one species feed the young of another species *

Interspecific hybrid In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two di ...

ization, when two species within the same genus generate offspring. Offspring may develop into adults but may be sterile. * Interspecific interaction, the effects organisms in a community have on one another *

Interspecific pregnancy Interspecific pregnancy (literally ''pregnancy between species'', also called interspecies pregnancy or xenopregnancy)Page 126 in: is the pregnancy involving an embryo or fetus belonging to another species than the carrier. Strictly, it excludes ...

, pregnancy involving an embryo or fetus belonging to another species than the carrier

Intraspecific

Intraspecificity (literally ''within species''), or being intraspecific, describes behaviors,

variations and other issues within members of a single

. These may include: *

Intraspecific antagonism Intraspecific antagonism means a disharmonious or antagonistic interaction between two individuals of the same species. As such, it could be a sociology, sociological term, but was actually coined by Alan Rayner and Norman Kalmer Todd, Norman Todd ...

, when members of the same species are hostile to one another *

Intraspecific competition Intraspecific competition is an interaction in population ecology, whereby members of the same species compete for limited resources. This leads to a reduction in fitness for both individuals, but the more fit individual survives and is able to ...

, when members or groups from the same species compete for the same resource in an ecosystem *

Intraspecific hybrid In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two di ...

ization, hybridization between sub-species within a species. *

Intraspecific mimicry In zoology, automimicry, Browerian mimicry, or intraspecific mimicry, is a form of mimicry in which the same species of animal is imitated. There are two different forms. In one form, first described by Lincoln Brower in 1967, weakly-defended m ...

Conspecific

Two or more

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

s, or

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

are conspecific if they belong to the same

. Where different species can interbreed and their gametes compete, the conspecific gametes take precedence over heterospecific gametes. This is known as conspecific

sperm precedence Sperm precedence, also known as sperm predominance, is tendency of a female who has been bred by multiple males to give birth to their offspring in unequal proportions. Sperm precedence is an important factor in the sperm competition Sperm c ...

, or conspecific pollen precedence in plants.

Heterospecific

The

antonym In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...

of conspecificity is the term heterospecificity: two organisms are heterospecific if they are considered to belong to different biological species.

Related concepts

Congeners are organisms within the same

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, conspecific, confamilial Evolutionary biology concepts