Chapter 1: Introduction

Question 1

Analogous

Answer 1

Structures in two or more organisms that perform a similar function but the similarity is not the result of descent from a common ancestor.

Question 2

Ancestral

Answer 2

Of, or pertaining to, or inherited from, a common ancestor.

Question 3

Apomorphy

Answer 3

In cladistics, a derived character state, modified from the ancestral state.

Question 4

Biodiversity

Answer 4

The variety of living organisms considered at all levels in all habitats and ecosystems.

Question 5

Camera Trap

Answer 5

A noninvasive capture technique that uses a camera placed in a field location to remotely photograph wild animals.

Question 6

Character States

Answer 6

One of two or more alternative forms of a character. For example, incisor enamel (a character) with no pigmentation, slight orange pigmentation, or heavy brown pigmentation (character states).

Question 7

Characters

Answer 7

A feature of an organism that can be described, measured, or effectively communicated between scientists. For example, pigmentation of incisor enamel.

Question 8

Citizen Science

Answer 8

The collection of scientific data by interested members of the public (as volunteers) or students for the public good. Such projects when mammal-related often pertain to issues of ecological restoration, conservation, natural resource management, or wildlife monitoring.

Question 9

Clade

Answer 9

A group of species or higher taxa consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.

Question 10

Cladist

Answer 10

A person who practices the cladistic approach to phylogenetic reconstruction.

Question 11

Cladistics

Answer 11

A method od reconstructing a phylogeneitic hypothesis that is based on grouping taxa solely by their shared derived character states.

Question 12

Cladogram

Answer 12

A branching diagram that illustrates hypothetical relationships between taxa and shows the evolution of lineages of organisms that have diverged from a common ancestor.

Question 13

Convergence

Answer 13

The evolution of similar characteristics for similar functions in unrelated animals as a result of adaptation to similar environmental conditions or natural selection pressures.

Question 14

Crown Group

Answer 14

Term used in phylogeny reconstruction to designate the smallest monophyletic group of organisms that includes the last common ancestor of all extant members of the group, and all of that ancestor’s descendants. An example within mammals is Rodentia, which includes all living rodents and fossil rodents that are descended from the hypothetical ancestor of Rodentia.

Question 15

Cryptic Species

Answer 15

Biological species that are morphologically indistinguishable, but are genetically and reproductively distinct.

Question 16

Derived

Answer 16

Refers to a character state that is a modified version of, and differs from, that in the ancestral stock.

Question 17

Geochronological

Answer 17

The measurement of geological time as recorded in the Earth’s rock layers.

Question 18

Homologous

Answer 18

Pertaining to structures or properties having a similar phylogenetic origin but not necessarily retaining a similar function, behavior, or identical structure.

Question 19

Homoplasy

Answer 19

A similarity in a character in two different species that arises from evolutionary convergence or parallelism, not from common ancestry.

Question 20

Ingroup

Answer 20

A group of organisms that is under cladistic analysis; a set of taxa that are presumed to be more closely related to one another than any is to an outgroup.

Question 21

Molecular Clock

Answer 21

A hypothetical means of measuring evolutionary time that is based in the assumption that the rate at which mutational changes accumulate is relatively constant over time and therefore the changes are useful for dating the divergence of lineages. Also, a self-sustaining, autonomous, genetically regulated timekeeper within the hypothalamus of the brain that can be adjusted by daylight as sensed by the retina and perhaps by other environmental cues.

Question 22

Molecular Phylogeny

Answer 22

A hypothetical representation of the evolutionary history of a group of organisms based on characters defined at the molecular level.

Question 23

Monophyletic

Answer 23

Refers to a group of organisms whose members are all descended from (and including) a common ancestor.

Question 24

Nodes

Answer 24

Refers to the place on a cladogram where two lineages diverge.

Question 25

Outgroup

Answer 25

In phylogeny reconstruction, a group used for comparison that is related to but not part of the group under study.

Question 26

Parallelism

Answer 26

Evolutionary change in two or more related lineages such that the corresponding features undergo equivalent alterations.

Question 27

Phylogenetic Relationship

Answer 27

see Phylogeny.

Question 28

Phylogeny

Answer 28

The evolutionary history of an organism or group of organisms with respect to ancestor-descendant relationships; also, a hypothesis graphically describing such relationships, usually in a treelike or bushlike diagram.

Question 29

Plesiomorphy

Answer 29

A character state that is ancestral for the organism under study.

Question 30

Polarity

Answer 30

The direction of evolutionary transformation in a phylogenetic character.

Question 31

Sister Group

Answer 31

In a phylogeny, the monophyletic group most closely related to a monophyletic group under study. One of two clades that resulted from the splitting of a single lineage.

Question 32

Species

Answer 32

A named kind of organism; the basic unit of biological classification. A group of potentially interbreeding natural populations that are capable of producing viable offspring, but not capable of reproducing with other such groups.

Question 33

Stable Isotope

Answer 33

One of two or more nondecaying (i.e., nonradioactive) atomic versions of a chemical element, each of which has a different atomic mass. In natural Earth systems, stable isotopes can provide clues to past atmospheric temperatures, plant photosynthetic pathways, animal diets and migration, and other phenomena. Some common stable isotopes in natural systems include isotopes of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen.

Question 34

Subspecies

Answer 34

A relatively uniform and genetically distinct population of a species, often in a specific geographic region.

Question 35

Symplesiomorphy

Answer 35

In phylogenetics, an ancestral character shared by two or more groups.

Question 36

Synapomorphy

Answer 36

In phylogenetics, a derived, homologous character shared by two or more groups.

Question 37

Systematics

Answer 37

The study of patterns and processes of evolution that are used to construct phylogenies and classify organisms.

Question 38

Taxon

Answer 38

A named group of organisms of a given category (such as of a species, genus, family, etc.) of classification; e.g., dogs, Artiodactyla, Myotis lucifugus. Plural: taxa.

Question 39

Taxonomy

Answer 39

The practice of naming and classifying organisms.