Ecology L2 Phylogeny

Systematics

Field that names and classifies organisms and determines how they are evolutionarily related

Taxonomy

Naming and classifying of organisms

Phylogenetics

Determines how organisms are evolutionarily related

Phylogeny

History of the events by which species or other taxa have successively arisen from common ancestors

Cladogenesis

Branching of lineages into two or more descendant lineages, forming a clade

Anagenesis

Evolutionary change of features within a species (single lineage)

Homologous traits

A trait that has been inherited from a common ancestor

Apomorphic trait

Derived characteristics that has evolved from its ancestral state or form

Autapomorphic trait

Apomorphic trait unique to a single group (ex. speech in humans)

Synapomorphic trait

apomorphic trait unique among multiple groups (a clade; ex mammary glands in all mammals, synapsids!)

Homoplasy

Traits that are similar but found in unrelated species; convergent evolution

Where does the data to make phylogenetic trees come from?

DNA analysis

Fossil records

Comparative anatomy

Parsimony

Simplest scientific explanation is probably the correct one; simplest evolutionary tree with the least amount of evolutionary events is the most likely tree.

5 insights phylogenies provide

It can infer the history of character evolution

Most characteristics are modifications of existing characteristics
Rates of character evolution differ (Mosaic evolution)

Evolution is gradual, not by saltation

Homoplasy is common