Phylogeny Vocab

Question 1

Phylogeny

Answer 1

Evolutionary history of a species or group.

Question 2

Systematics

Answer 2

Classifies organisms and determines their evolutionary relationships

Question 3

Taxonomy

Answer 3

The ordered division and naming of organisms

Question 4

Binomial Nomenclature

Answer 4

two name naming system

Question 5

Binomial

Answer 5

Two part specific name

Question 6

Classification

Answer 6

genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, and domain

Question 7

Domain

Answer 7

many kingdoms in a domain, many phylums in a kingdom, many classes in a phylum, many orders in a class, many families in a order, many genuses in a family

Question 8

Taxon

Answer 8

a taxonomic unit at any level of hierarchy

Question 9

Phylogenetic trees

Answer 9

the branching of common ancestry

Question 10

Branch Point

Answer 10

represents the divergence of two species

Question 11

Sister taxa

Answer 11

groups of organisms that share an immediate common ancestor

Question 12

Rooted tree

Answer 12

includes a branch to represent the last common ancestor of all the taxa in the tree

Question 13

Basal Taxon

Answer 13

a lineage that diverges early from all the other lineages in the history of a group

Question 14

Polytomy

Answer 14

a branch point from which more than two descendant groups emerge

Question 15

Monophology

Answer 15

classifying things based on their structures

Question 16

Homology

Answer 16

genetic similarities due to shared ancestry

Question 17

Analogy

Answer 17

similarity due to convergent evolution

Question 18

Convergent evolution

Answer 18

evolution toward similar characteristics in unrelated species

Question 19

Cladistics

Answer 19

Classifications based on common ancestry

Question 20

Clades

Answer 20

ancestral species and all of its descendants

Question 21

Monophyletic

Answer 21

an ancestral species and all of its descendants

Question 22

Paraphyletic

Answer 22

an ancestral species and some of its descendants

Question 23

Shared ancestral character

Answer 23

a character that originated in an ancestor of the taxon (jaw)

Question 24

Shared derived character

Answer 24

evolutionary novelty unique to a clade (hair in mammals)

Question 24

Shared derived character

Answer 24

evolutionary novelty unique to a clade (hair in mammals)

Question 25

Outgroup

Answer 25

group of species that is closely related to the ingroup

Question 26

Ingroup

Answer 26

the various species studied

Question 27

Maximum parsimony

Answer 27

assumes that the tree requires the fewest evolutionary events is the most likely

Question 28

Molecular clock

Answer 28

Model that uses DNA comparisons to estimate the length of time that two species have been evolving independently

Question 29

Horizontal gene transfer

Answer 29

the transfer of genes from one one genome to another through mechanisms such as transposable elements, plasmid exchange, viral activity, and perhaps fusions of different organisms

Question 30

Convergent Evolution

Answer 30

different species evolve similarity in the same type of environment (eg, sharks & dolphins have similar traits, but evolved independently)

Question 31

Homoplasy

Answer 31

similar (analogous) structure or molecular sequence that has evolved independently