Phylogeny

Question 1

What is Systematics?

Answer 1

reconstruction of evolutionary history and classification of species

Question 2

how do phylogenetic trees come about?

Answer 2

through successive events of speciation in which one species gives rise to two or more
requires comparison of traits in multiple species

Question 3

What is binary nomenclature?

Answer 3

Genus and species

Question 4

what are the three taxon designations?

Answer 4

name-what group does to belong to
rank - where does it fit
content - relevant to species concept

Question 5

what is a homologous trait?

Answer 5

inherited trait be a common ancestor

Question 6

what is a homoplasties trait?

Answer 6

similarity due to selective environmental conditions

Question 7

what does selection act on?

Answer 7

the phenotype

Question 8

what is a homology structure?

Answer 8

development of an individual “recreates” its own evolutionary history

Question 9

what are ancestral structures?

Answer 9

combinations of ancestral and derived characteristics in evolutionary history

Question 10

what is a derived structure?

Answer 10

determined from fossils and embryos
appear later in development
outgroup comparison for derived characteristics

Question 11

what is it called when no homologies exist?

Answer 11

the trait is analogous

Question 12

why do analogous structures evolve?

Answer 12

adaptation to similar selection pressures

Question 13

what is parallel evolution?

Answer 13

ancestors looked similar and end species look similar
start relatively the same, end relatively the same

Question 14

what is convergent evolution?

Answer 14

species start at two different ends and finish with relatively the same

Question 15

what determines the success of regulatory genes?

Answer 15

natural selection

Question 16

what is the principle of monophly?

Answer 16

all groups in a clade includes a common ancestor and all of its descendants
what we want

Question 17

what is the principle of parsinomy?

Answer 17

simplest explanation most likely to be correct due to evolutionary change being an unlikely event

Question 18

what is a polyphyletic taxon?

Answer 18

taxon includes species from different evolutionary lineages

Question 19

what is a paraphyletic taxon?

Answer 19

includes an ancestorial species and only some of its descendants
don’t want

Question 20

what is molecular characters?

Answer 20

allows independent testing of evolutionary hypothesis based on fossils

Question 21

what are the advantages of molecular characters?

Answer 21

abundant data
easier to comparison of distant or very close relations

Question 22

what are the disadvantages of

Answer 22

only four states of nucleotides, 20 amino acids
based changes may have evolved independently