Chapter 15 Flashcards
Padeomorphosis
The retention in an adult of juvenile features of its evolutionary ancestors.
Stromatolite
Layered rock that results from the activities of prokaryotes that bind thin films of sediment together.
Exaptation
Structures that evolve in one context but become co-opted for another function.
Phylogeny
The evolutionary history of a species or group of species. (Pylon: tribe, genesis: origin).
Homologies
Similarities due to shared ancestry.
Convergent Evolution
The evolution of similar features in different evolutionary lineages, which can result from living in very similar environments.
Analogy
Similarity due to convergent evolution rather than descent from a common ancestor with the same trait.
Systematics
A discipline of biology that focuses on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships.
Taxonomy
System of naming and classifying species.
Binomial
2 part scientific name for a species.
Genus
First part of binomial, it is a group of closely related species.
Specific Epithet
second part of binomial, distinguishes species within a genus.
Clade
A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.
Monophyleytic
Pertaining to a group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and all its descendants, equivalent to a clade. (Single tribe).
Outgroup
A species from a lineage that is known to have diverged before the lineage that includes the species we are studying, the ingroup.
Parsimony
The adoption of the simplest explanation for observed phenomena.
Molecular Systematics
Uses DNA or other molecules to infer relatedness.
Molecular Clock
A method for estimating the time required for a given amount of evolutionary change, based on the observation that some regions of genomes evolve at constant rates.
Horizontal Gene Transfer
A process in which genes are transferred from one genome to another through mechanisms such as plasmid exchange and viral infection.
Homeric Genes
master control gene that controls overall body plan by controlling developmental fate of groups of cells.
Allometric Growth
The variation in the relative rates of growth of various parts of the body, which helps shape the organism.
