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Questions and Answers
What is the term for the process of evolutionary diversification?
What is the term for the process of evolutionary diversification?
In phylogenetic systematics, what is referred to as the shared, derived character?
In phylogenetic systematics, what is referred to as the shared, derived character?
What is the term for a group of organisms at any level in the systematic hierarchy?
What is the term for a group of organisms at any level in the systematic hierarchy?
Which technique may or may not reflect phylogenetic relationships depending on the constancy of evolutionary rates?
Which technique may or may not reflect phylogenetic relationships depending on the constancy of evolutionary rates?
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What is the term for the geometric form of a cladogram showing branching and nested hierarchical relationships?
What is the term for the geometric form of a cladogram showing branching and nested hierarchical relationships?
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What is the property of being group-defining in the context of systematics?
What is the property of being group-defining in the context of systematics?
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What term is often misused to refer to the inferred pattern of genealogical relationships among a set of taxa?
What term is often misused to refer to the inferred pattern of genealogical relationships among a set of taxa?
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In systematics, what is the practice of recognizing taxa, determining hierarchic relationships among those taxa, and formally specifying those relationships referred to as?
In systematics, what is the practice of recognizing taxa, determining hierarchic relationships among those taxa, and formally specifying those relationships referred to as?
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What is the least inclusive taxon in the systematic hierarchy?
What is the least inclusive taxon in the systematic hierarchy?
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Which term relates to the pattern of branching and nested hierarchical relationships in a cladogram?
Which term relates to the pattern of branching and nested hierarchical relationships in a cladogram?
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What type of character is a synapomorphy in systematics?
What type of character is a synapomorphy in systematics?
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Which term refers to the set of organisms at any level in the systematic hierarchy?
Which term refers to the set of organisms at any level in the systematic hierarchy?
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What is the term for the process of determining hierarchical relationships among taxa in systematics?
What is the term for the process of determining hierarchical relationships among taxa in systematics?
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'Cladistics' is often outlined by whom to refer to a particular approach within phylogenetic systematics?
'Cladistics' is often outlined by whom to refer to a particular approach within phylogenetic systematics?
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'Cladistics' is frequently used in reference to which level taxon subject to analysis?
'Cladistics' is frequently used in reference to which level taxon subject to analysis?
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Study Notes
Biological Systematics Glossary
- Taxonomy is the theoretical study of classification, including its bases, principles, procedures, and rules.
- Systematics is the scientific study of the kinds and diversity of organisms and of any and all relationships among them.
- Classification represents the nomenclatural or hierarchic formalization of systematic studies.
- Identification usually means "to place a name on."
Key Terms
- Apomorphy: an advanced character state; a group-defining feature.
- Autapomorphy: a derived feature (character state) unique to a taxon.
- Character: a feature that can be compared among taxa.
- Character state: one of the various conditions of a feature (character) observed across a group of taxa.
- Cladist: one who practices systematics using the methods of cladistics.
- Cladistics: grouping by synapomorphy through the application of the parsimony criterion.
- Cladogram: a depiction of hierarchic relationships among taxa in the form of a treelike diagram.
Additional Concepts
- Classification (biological): a subordinated list of names of taxa, usually with assigned ranks as used in the Linnaean hierarchy.
- Distance: a measure of similarity (or divergence) among taxa.
- Evolutionary taxonomy: a school of systematic (taxonomic) practice that believes that taxa should be recognized on the basis of combinations of apomorphies and plesiomorphies.
- Genealogy: phylogeny; relationships of ancestry and descent.
- Neighbor joining: a phenetic method that sequentially clusters most similar terminal taxa, frequently used for the analysis of DNA sequence data.
Phenetics and Phylogenetics
- Numerical taxonomy: the name originally attached to phenetics; the theory and practice of grouping by overall similarity with the attendant assumption of uniform rates of change.
- Overall similarity: the concept of relationship based on sameness and difference averaged across all characters.
- Pheneticist: one who practices phenetics.
- Phenetics: the method(s) of classifying organisms whereby rank and relationship are determined on the basis of overall similarity.
- Phenogram: a hierarchic diagrammatic representation of overall similarity derived from the application of phenetic techniques.
- Phylogenetic systematics: cladistics, often more particularly as outlined by Willi Hennig.
- Phylogeny: the process of evolutionary diversification; misused by many to refer to the inferred pattern of genealogical relationships among a set of taxa.
Taxa and Systematics
- Species: in cladistics, often used in reference to the minimal-level taxon subject to analysis.
- Synapomorphy: shared, derived character; group-defining trait; the property of being group-defining.
- Systematics: the practice of recognizing taxa, determining hierarchic relationships among those taxa, and formally specifying those relationships.
- Taxon (plural taxa): a group of organisms at any level in the systematic hierarchy; in systematics, the least inclusive taxon is the species.
- Topology (of a cladogram): the geometric form of a cladogram; the pattern of branching and nested hierarchic relationships.
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Description
Learn about the core difference between taxonomy and systematics according to Simpson's definitions in 1961. Taxonomy focuses on the theoretical study of classification, while systematics delves into the scientific study of organisms and their relationships.
