Systematics and Phylogenetics

Flashcards for reviewing key vocabulary related to systematics, taxonomy, phylogenetics, and cladistics.

Systematics

The scientific study of biological diversity and the evolutionary relationships among organisms (both living and extinct).

Taxonomy

Naming, describing, and classifying organisms.

Phylogenetics

Reconstructing the evolutionary history and relationships among organisms.

Taxonomy

The science of classifying organisms into hierarchical categories (Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, etc.).

Phylogenetics

Study of evolutionary relationships using data such as DNA, proteins, and morphology.

Phylogenetic Tree

Diagram that represents evolutionary relationships among organisms. They are hypotheses, not definitive facts.

Internal Node

Branch point on a phylogenetic tree representing a divergence event, or splitting apart of a single group into two descendant groups.

Clade

Consists of an ancestral organism and all of its evolutionary descendants.

Cladistics

A method of classification that aims to identify shared characteristics which originated in the common ancestor of a group of species during evolution.

Cladistics

Groups organisms based on shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies).

Synapomorphies

Shared derived characteristics.

Taxonomy

Organizes the names and groups.

Phylogenetics

Explains how those groups are evolutionarily connected.

Cladistics

A method used within phylogenetics to build relationships based on shared derived traits.