Phylogeny and Systematics

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to phylogeny, systematics, taxonomy, and molecular evolution as outlined in the lecture notes.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.

Systematics

A discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships.

Binomial Nomenclature

A two-part naming system for species formalized by Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th century.

Genus

The first part of a scientific name, which is capitalized.

Specific Epithet

The second part of a scientific name, unique for each species within a genus.

Hierarchical Classification

A system of organizing taxonomy from broad groups like Domain down to Species.

Taxon

A group at any level of hierarchy in taxonomy.

Phylogenetic Tree

A branching diagram representing hypotheses about the evolutionary relationships among species.

Sister Taxa

Groups that share a common ancestor not shared by any other group.

Homologies

Phenotypic and genetic similarities due to shared ancestry.

Analogy

Similarity due to convergent evolution, not shared ancestry.

Clade

A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.

Monophyletic Group

A group consisting of an ancestor and all of its descendants.

Paraphyletic Group

A group that consists of an ancestral species and some, but not all, descendants.

Polyphyletic Group

A group that includes distantly related species but not their most recent common ancestor.

Shared Ancestral Characters

Characters that originated in an ancestor of the taxon.

Shared Derived Character

An evolutionary novelty unique to a particular clade.

Outgroup

A species or group closely related to but not part of the group being studied.

Molecular Clock

An approach used to estimate the absolute time of evolutionary changes based on genetic differences.

Orthologous Genes

Genes whose homology results from a speciation event and exist in different species.

Paralogous Genes

Genes whose homology results from gene duplication and exist within the same species.

Horizontal Gene Transfer

The movement of genes between the domains through gene transfer.