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Chapter 26
Phylogeny and the Tree of Life - Campbell & Reece 8th Ed.
37
Biology
Undergraduate 2
05/04/2010

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Term
Phylogeny
Definition
The evolutionary history of species or group of related species.
Term
Systematics
Definition
A scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships.
Term
Taxonomy
Definition
A scientific discipline concerned with naming and classifying the diverse forms of life.
Term
Binomial
Definition
The two-part latinized name of a species, consisting of the genus and specific epithet.
Term
Genus
Definition
A taxonomic category above the species level, designated by the first word of a species' two-part scientific name.
Term
Family
Definition
In classification, the taxonomic category above genus.
Term
Order
Definition
In classification, the taxonomic category above the level of family.
Term
Class
Definition
In classification, the taxonomic category above the level of order.
Term
Phylum
Definition
In classification, the taxonomic category above class.
Term
Domain
Definition
A taxonomic category above the kingdom level.The three domains are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.
Term
Taxon
Definition
A named taxonomic unit at any given level of classification.
Term
Phylogenetic Tree
Definition
A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of a group of organisms.
Term
PhyloCode
Definition
System of classification of organisms based on evolutionary relationships
Term
Branch Points
Definition
The representation of a phylogenetic tree of the divergence of two or more taxa from a common ancestor.Most branch points are shown as dichotomies in which a branch representing the ancestral lineage splits (at the branch point) into two branches, one for each of the twodescendant taxa.
Term
Sister Taxa
Definition
Groups of organisms that share an immediate common ancestor and hence are each other's closest relatives.
Term
Rooted
Definition
Describing a phylogenetic tree that contains a branch point (typically, the one farthest to the left) representing the last common ancestor of all taxa in the tree.
Term
Polytomy
Definition
In a phylogenetic tree, a branch point from which more than two descendant taxa emerge.A polytomy indicates that the evolutionary relationships among the descendant taxa are not yet clear.
Term
Analogy
Definition
Similarity between two species that is due to convergent evolution rather than to descent from a common ancestor with the same trait.
Term
Homoplasy
Definition
Similar (analogous) structure or molecular sequence that that has evolved independently in two species.
Term
Molecular Systematics
Definition
A scientific discipline that uses nucleic acids or other molecules in different species to infer evolutionary relationships.
Term
Cladistics
Definition
An approach to systematics in which organisms are placed into groups called clades based primarily on common descent.
Term
Clade
Definition
A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.
Term
Monophyletic
Definition
Pertaining to a group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and all its descendants.A monophyletic taxon is equivalent to a clade.
Term
Paraphyletic
Definition
Pertaining to a group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and some, but not all of its descendants.
Term
Polyphyletic
Definition
Pertaining to a group of taxa derived from two or more different ancestors.
Term
Shared Ancestral Character
Definition
A character, shared by members of a particular clade, that originated in an ancestor that is not a member of that clade.
Term
Shared Derived Character
Definition
An evolutionary novelty that is unique to a particular clade.
Term
Outgroup
Definition
A species or group of species from an evolutionary lineage that is known to have diverged before the lineage that contains the group of species being studied.An outgroup is selected so that its members are closely related t the group of species being studied, but not as closely related as any study-group members are to each other.
Term
Ingroup
Definition
A species or group of species whose evolutionary relationships we seek to determine.
Term
Maximum Parsimony
Definition
A principle that states that when considering multiple explanations for an observation, one should first investigate the simplest explanation that is consistent with the facts.
Term
Maximum Likelihood
Definition
As applied to systematics, a principle that states that when considering multiple phylogenetic hypotheses, one should take into account the phyothesis that reflects the most likely sequence of evolutionary events, given certain rules about how DNA changes over time.
Term
Phylogenetic Bracketing
Definition
An approach in which features shared by two groups of organisms are predicted (by parsimony) to be present in their common ancestor and all of its descendants.
Term
Orthologous Genes
Definition
Homologous genes that are found in different species because of speciation.
Term
Paralogous Genes
Definition
Homologous genes that are found in the same genome as a result of gene duplication.
Term
Molecular Clock
Definition
A method for estimating the time required for a given amount of evolutionary change, based on the observation that some regions of genomes appear to evolve at constant rates.
Term
Neutral Theory
Definition
The hypothesis that much evolutionary change in genes and proteins has no effect on fitness and therefore is not influenced by Darwinian natural selection.
Term
Horizontal Gene Transfer
Definition
the transfer of genes from one genome to another through mechanisms such as transposable elements, plasmid exchange, viral activity, and perhaps fusion of different organisms.
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