What term describes a group of organisms capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring?

• A. Species
• B. Population
• C. Genus
• D. Family

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that a species is defined by the ability to interbreed and produce fertile offspring. In biology, a species is a group of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups, so gene flow occurs within the group but not with others. This reproductive compatibility keeps members of the same species capable of producing fertile offspring, while barriers to mating or fertility separate different species. A classic example is horses and donkeys; they can mate, but their offspring (mules) are typically sterile, illustrating that they are separate species due to reproductive isolation. Within a species you can have different populations in various places, but they can still interbreed. The terms population, genus, and family refer to smaller or larger groupings of organisms relative to the species level, with population being a local group within a species, and genus and family being higher taxonomic ranks.