Evolutionary Relationships Vocabulary Flashcards
1
Q
Clade
A
A group of organisms that includes an ancestor and all of its descendants
2
Q
Cladistics
A
A method of classifying species based on evolutionary relationships
3
Q
Cladogram
A
A branching diagram that depicts evolutionary relationships among species
4
Q
Derived Characteristics
A
Characteristics that appear in recent parts of a lineage, but not in its ancestors
5
Q
Molecular Clock
A
A tool that uses DNA comparisons to estimate the amount of time that two species have been evolving independently
6
Q
Node
A
A point in a cladogram where a single ancestral lineage breaks into two or more descendant lineages
7
Q
Phylogenic Tree
A
A chart that depicts an evolutionary relationship among organisms
8
Q
Taxa
A
Any named groups of organisms, whether they form a clade or not (singular: taxon)
