Phylogeny and Cladistics

Question 1

What is phylogenetics?

Answer 1

The study of evolutionary relationships between organisms
The study of phylogenies
hypotheses about how the species got to where they are

Question 2

What are phylogenies?

Answer 2

Evolutionary histories of species or lineages(how species got to where they are now)

Question 3

what are the lines of evidence used to make hypotheses for phylogenetics?

Answer 3

Homologous morphology (shape form (bone arrangement between species)
The fossil record
Behaviour and habitat
Molecular sequences (protein or DNA sequences)

Question 4

Phylogenetic trees

Answer 4

A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of a group of organisms
can be drawn to show relationships
between closely related species
can be drawn to show “all” known species
allow us to classify organisms into different hierarchical groups

Question 5

Domain

Answer 5

taxonomic category above level of kingdoms

Question 6

Kingdom

Answer 6

taxonomic category above level of phylum

Question 7

Phylum

Answer 7

taxonomic category above level of classes

Question 8

Class

Answer 8

taxonomic category above level of order

Question 9

Order

Answer 9

taxonomic category above level of family

Question 10

Family

Answer 10

taxonomic category above level of genus

Question 11

Genus

Answer 11

taxonomic category above the species level- to which the species belongs to (plural is genra)

Question 12

Species

Answer 12

a population or group of populations whose members have the potential to interbred in nature and produce viable fertile offspring but not produce viable fertile offspring with members of other such groups

Question 13

Taxon/taxa

Answer 13

a named taxonomic unit at any given level of classification

Question 14

Basal taxon

Answer 14

in a specified group of organisms, a taxon whose evolutionary lineage diverged early in the history of the group

Question 15

Sister taxa

Answer 15

group of organisms that share an immediate common ancestor and are each others closest relative

Question 16

Outgroup

Answer 16

A species or a group of species from an evolutionary lineage that is known to have diverged before the lineage that contains the group of species being studied
is selected so that its members are closely related to the group of species being studied but not as closely related as any study group members are to each other

Question 17

Clade

Answer 17

a group of species that includes an ancestral species and all of its descendants

Question 18

Grade

Answer 18

a group of organisms that share the same level or organization complexity or share a key adaptation

Question 19

Monophyletic

Answer 19

a group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and all of its descendants
(Any species by itself is monophyletic, Taxon is equivalent to clade)

Question 20

Paraphyletic

Answer 20

a group of taxa

that consists of a common ancestor and some but not all of its descendants

Question 21

Polyphyletic

Answer 21

a group of taxa

which includes distantly related species but not their most recent common ancestor

Question 22

Ancestral character

Answer 22

a character shared by members of a particular clade that originated in an ancestor that is not a member of that clade

Question 23

Derived character

Answer 23

an evolutionary novelty unique to a clade

traits are only found in clade in question

Question 24

Arrange the taxa in their proper Linnaean hierarchy

Answer 24

species 
genus 
family 
order 
class 
phylum 
kingdom 
domain 
life

Question 25

Branch point

Answer 25

(internal node) represents common ancestor of the 2 evolutionary lineages

Question 26

Taxonomy

Answer 26

a scientific discipline concerned with naming and classifying the diverse life forms

Question 27

Cladistics

Answer 27

organisms are placed into groups called clade based primarily on common descent

Question 28

Ingroup

Answer 28

species or group of species whose evolutionary relationships we seek to determine

Question 29

Cladogram

Answer 29

a branching diagram that is used to show phylogenetic relationships among organisms

Question 30

Phylogram

Answer 30

a phylogenetic tree wherein the branch lengths are proportional to the amount of change seen in species characteristics
Usually display time or molecular difference

Question 31

What is the best evidence to male a phylogenetic tree?

Answer 31

molecular sequences because they show concrete differences

Question 32

homologies

Answer 32

Phenotypic and genetic similarities due to shared ancestry

Question 33

Binomial

Answer 33

the two-part Latin format of the scientific name of a species

Question 34

How is the binomial arranged?

Answer 34

1st part is genus

2nd part is the specific epithet

Question 35

How did Linnaeus group species?

Answer 35

grouped species into a hierarchy of increasingly inclusive categories
Species that are appeared to be closely related are grouped into the same genus

Question 36

Principle of maximum parsimony

Answer 36

1st investigate the simplest explanation that is consistent with the facts (occams razor- the simplest solution is the best/correct one)

Question 37

Principal of Maximum likelihood

Answer 37

a principal that states that when considering multiple phylogenetic hypotheses one should take into account the hypothesis that reflects the most likely sequence of evolutionary events given certain rules about how DNA changes over time

Question 38

Do branch lengths matter in a cladogram?

Answer 38

Branch lengths don’t matter
Only branching order is important
Usually all drawn same length branches
Chronology represented by branching pattern is important- earlier vs later

Question 39

What is the issue with the tree of life?

Answer 39

issue is prokaryotes include bacteria and archaea but this is problematic because in this current hypothesis the group prokaryote is not a monophyletic group so it couldn’t have just evolved just this way it must have had to evolve 2 groups that look similar that were both prokaryotes.(prokaryote is a descriptive term not a ture clade.
Some scientists argue there’s 2 domains bacteria and everything else but this is still problematic because the same problem explained above applies here to