aka Terminal bud

The bud at the very top of a plant.

aka Lateral bud

A bud in the axil.

aka Monophyletic clade

"One lineage". Any group of species that includes the last ancestor that they shared and all its descendants. Imagine cutting a branch off a phylogeny. If the cut can be made with one "snip", then the group is a clade.

aka Gymnosperms

Trees that have ovules and seeds borne on scales. Lack flowers; instead they have strobili. Have wind pollination only. Reproduce slower than flowering plants. Fertilization may take up to a year and seed development up to three years. Almost all conifers have evergreen leaves, usually needles, that are present all year round. Needles are replaced constantly.

aka K-T

A mass extinction event that occured 65 million years ago. The best known extinction event. Caused by a meteorite that hit near to the Gulf of Mexico, causing environmental changes that affected the entire planet. Dinosaurs as well as many other groups went extinct. Dinosaurs had been successful for 150 million years prior to K-T. Mammals were small and nocturnal during this period, and were able to survive the event.

aka The Great Dying

A mass extinction event that took place 250 million years ago. The event was about 1 million years long. The most severe mass extinction in history. 95% of all species went extinct. Multicellular life very nearly disappeared. Cause is debated, but most scientists believe it was caused by a meteorite that hit near Antarctica, causing the air to fill with ash, blocking out sunlight and killing plants, causing volcanoes to erupt, global warming, and releasing hydrogen sulfide which poisoned the oceans. It took 100 million years for biodiversity levels to recover.

aka Angiosperm

Ovules and sees are enclosed in a carpel. Has flowers and may have animal-assisted pollination. Quicker to reproduce than conifers; reproduction may be complete in under a few weeks. Most flowering plants are deciduous and lose their leaves every autumn.

aka Polyploidy

A type of mutation. A complete replication of the genome cused by hybridization or errors in meiosis or mitosis. All genes are duplicated; this can create a new species.

aka Convergent evolution

When two separate branches of a phylogeny develop similar adaptations independently. The trait is not shared with a common ancestor.

Danaus plexippus

A poisonous species of butterfly. The poison is derived from their diet of milkweed. Have a distinctive orange and black wing pattern with white spots.

aka Scale-less bud

A bud that does not have bud scales.

Relies on four postulates:

1. Offspring are overproduced.

2. There is variation of traits.

3. Varition is heritable.

4. Variation of traits causes differences in survival and reproduction.

These four things causes changes in genetic variation in a population over many generations, leading to adaptations. Usually genetic variation is decreased. Natural selection is not random; it is steered by the environment. Includes artificial selection.

aka Family tree

A diagram of the relationships within a family of individuals.

aka Phylogenetic trees

aka Evolutionary trees

A depiction of the phylogenetic ancestry of a clade of species. There are some misconceptsion about how to read phylogenies, such as reading across the tips. There are a variety of styles phylogenies may be drawn. Much of the evolution that has occurred is not depicted in the phylogeny. All species in a phylogeny have been evolving for the same amount of time. 

Dreissena rostiformis

An invasive, epifaunal species native to the Black and Caspian Seas that invaded the Great Lakes.

aka Human beings

A species in the genus Homo.

aka Cones

The "flowers" of conifers. Male strobili produce pollen and disintigrate after pollination. Female strobli develop into scaly cones.

aka Tips

The ens of branches of a phylogeny. Usually represent living species.

Limenitis archippus

A non-poisonous species of butterfly that closely resembles the Monarch butterfly, which is poisonous.

aka Liana

Includes grapeines. A woody plant not stiff enough to hold its stem upright. Climes onto other structures such as trees, poles, and fences.

Dreissena polymorpha

Within the genus Dreissena. An invasive, epifaunal species that invaded the Great Lakes in 1988, starting in Lake St. Clair and rapidly spread. Native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea in Eastern Europe. Transported as larvae in the ballast of ocean liners. Epifaunal. Their shells are sharp, making them hazards to swimmers. They can clog up pipes. As large volumes of dead zebra mussels decompose, oxygen is depleted from the water, which may kill fish. Have external fertilization of egges, producing veliger larvae which do not require a fish host.