phylogeny/life history Flashcards
1
Q
what is phylogeny?
A
- the evolutionary history of a group of organisms
2
Q
what is a phylogenetic tree?
A
- a model of how a group of organisms descended from a common ancestor
3
Q
what is a monophyletic group?
A
- a group defined by a common ancestor
4
Q
what are sister taxa?
A
- two taxa that share a common node
5
Q
what is cladistic analysis?
A
- inferring phylogenetic relationships based on how evolution occurs on a tree
6
Q
what is phenetic analysis?
A
- uses the measures of distance (branch lengths) between organisms to infer phylogenetic relationships
7
Q
what are synapomorphies?
A
traits/characters that are derived and shared
8
Q
what is convergent evolution?
A
two species that have the same trait because the trait evolved twice independantly
9
Q
what is secondary loss?
A
a trait lost in the organism that it’s ancestor once had
10
Q
what are homoplasies?
A
a character shared by species that isn’t present in the common ancestor
11
Q
what is the concept of parsimony?
A
species evolve using the simplest route possible, essentially the fewest evolutionary changes
12
Q
what is a derived character/trait
A
a character that is shared by the common ancestor
