Unit 4

Question 1

Phylogenies are an example of what kind of explanation?

Answer 1

Backward-looking

Question 2

What is a phylogeny?

Answer 2

A visual representation of the genealogical relationships of life, like a family tree (a type of conceptual model)

Question 3

Phylogenies represent patterns of ____

Answer 3

relationships

Question 4

Phylogenies depict the evolutionary _____ of species

Answer 4

relatedness

Question 5

Patterns of lineage splitting are produced by ___

Answer 5

speciation

Question 6

Speciation on a phylogeny is represent at

Answer 6

the nodes

Question 7

What are phylogenies used for? (3 examples)

Answer 7

help develop new crops
identify new pathogens that make people sick
conserve endangered species

Question 8

New traits can appear if

Answer 8

heritable variation originates AND becomes common within a species as a result of evolutionary processes (e.g. speciation)

Question 9

Taxa (definition)

Answer 9

refers to the units (e.g. species) that we are studying and representing using the phylogeny

Question 10

The number of taxa we study determines

Answer 10

the number of possible hypothesis

Question 11

Character (definition)

Answer 11

any feature of an organism
the data we use to generate the phylogeny

Question 12

Character State (definition)

Answer 12

describes the types of variation (condition) that we observe in our characters

Question 13

Outgroups (definition)

Answer 13

taxa used to determine the direction, or polarity of character state changes

Question 14

Parsimony (definition)

Answer 14

defined as “the best solution given the data we have” or “the simplest solution is the best solution”
Used to quantify the quality of each hypothesis using the data

Question 15

Minimum state change given a data matrix

Answer 15

sum of the minimum number of character state changes for each character (number of characters minus 1)

Question 16

Consistency index formula

Answer 16

minimum number of changes / tree length

Question 17

The ___ on a phylogeny represent the location of common ancestors

Answer 17

branches

Question 18

Phylogenies are read

Answer 18

chronologically (usually bottom to top)

Question 19

MRCA stands for

Answer 19

most recent common ancestor

Question 20

Can branches on phylogenies be rotated? Why?

Answer 20

Yes. Evolution does not have a goal or direction. Rotation helps address biases in human thinking

Question 21

Phylogenies are used to identify hosts of major diseases (T/F)

Answer 21

True.

Question 22

How are phylogenies used to make predictions about evolution?

Answer 22

They can show how viruses from different people at different times are related to each other

Question 23

Phylogenies are used to guide the conservation of endangered species (T/F)

Answer 23

True.

Question 24

Phylogenies are used to accurately name species (T/F)

Answer 24

True.

Question 25

How are phylogenies used to understand how traits are assembled in a lineage over time?

Answer 25

Use of backward-looking explanations

Question 26

How can phylogenies help correct "naive" explanations for the presence of biological traits

Answer 26

Phylogenetic thinking highlights ancestry and takes the origins and the history of traits into consideration when explaining the presence of a trait in a living taxon

Question 27

Naive explanations focus only on

Answer 27

the current function of a trait as it exists today as the PRIMARY explanation for its existence (usually is not the case)

Question 28

These (7) can be found as fossils

Answer 28

DNA Hard parts & skeletons Soft tissues Proteins + lipids Footprints + traces Embryos Pollen

Question 29

Which kind of rock do fossils usually occur in?

Answer 29

Sedimentary rock

Question 30

Phylogenies and the fossil record help to

Answer 30

reveal how characters are assembled in a taxon reveal stability and change in ecological relationships understand the role that mass extinctions play in the evolution of life

Question 31

Background extinction (definition)

Answer 31

typical rates of extinction (very low level)

Question 32

Mass extinction (definition)

Answer 32

extinction occuring at a significantly higher rate

Question 33

Main result of mass extinction

Answer 33

major changes in earth systems at rapid rates

Question 34

Who survives mass extinction?

Answer 34

geographically widespread taxa tend to have lower extinction rates compared to localized taxa

Question 35

Do factors that impact survival during normal times ensure survival during mass extinction?

Answer 35

No.

Question 36

The fossil record cannot preserve detailed information about the ecological interactions of species from millions of years ago because behaviors cannot be fossilized (T/F)

Answer 36

False

Question 37

Phylogenies can be used to identify which processes caused evolutionary change (T/F)

Answer 37

False

Question 38

The fossil record rarely contains intermediates or "missing links" between different taxa (T/F)

Answer 38

False

Question 39

Phylogenies cannot be used to determine which evolutionary processes cause the evolutionary relationships among a group of taxa (T/F)

Answer 39

True

Question 40

Phylogenies are used to test whether the scientific names that taxa have been given reflect the similarity of their physical features (T/F)

Answer 40

False