Term | Definition |
Properties of Life | Order and structure, energy processes, reproduction, growth and development, response to environment, homeostasis, evolution |
Adaptation | A feature common in a population because it is advantageous, a process of natural selection |
Natural Selection | Process by which organisms with favourable traits are more likely to survive to reproduce. |
Evolution | Descent with modification from small scale (change in gene frequency between 2 generations) to large scale (descent of different species from common ancestor)*speciation |
Tree of Life | |
| Way of organizing relationships between species, based off a universal common ancestor and branching off from there. |
Homology | Similarities in traits due to a common ancestor, don't need to have the same function, but has to have a similar structure |
Analogy | Similarities in traits due to environment, may have the same function, but doesn't have the same structure |
Old approach to phylogeny | Looking at the morphology (bone structure) |
New approach to phylogeny | Look at DNA and genetic similarities |
Outgroup | An organism that does not belong to the group whose evolutionary relationships are being investigated |
Maximum Parsimony | The rule which says the tree with the least amount of assumptions or changes is most likely the most correct one |
Apomorphy | A character trait that evolved from a pre-existing characteristic |
Taxonomy | The science of naming and classifying organisms based on similarities. |
Taxonomic Structure | Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species |
Systematics | Organization of organisms based on evolutionary relationships. Approaches: Phenetics (similar traits), Cladistics (common ancestor), Synthetic (combination of both) |
Phenetics | Based on overall character similarities, impartial, but can lead to more broken-up trees. Usually faster. |
Cladistics | Based on evolutionary relationships. All species that share a common ancestor are part of a group. |
Monophyletic group | A taxon in which all species share a common ancestor |
Polyphyletic group | Derivation from 2 or more ancestral sources |
Paraphyletic group | A taxon in which all share a common ancestor but not all species are used |
Synthetics | Based on evolutionary similarities and genetic differences. Can be subjective because analogous traits are discarded. |
Eukaryotes | Most are simgle-celled and called Protists. Has organelles in cytoplasm. DNA and cytoplasm are separated by nucleus. |
Protists | Has a flexible cell surface, dynamic flow of membrane (endo/exocytosis), differentiated cell surface (microtubules, microfilaments, flagella) |
Primary Endosymbiosis | The theory that Eukaryotes evolved from the union between a cyanobacteria and an archea. The cyanobacteria became mitochondria. |
Protist Locomoty | |
Unikonta | Amoebozoa, Plasmodial Slime Mold, Opisthokonta |
Excavata | Euglenozoanes, Diplomonads/Parabasalids, Kinetoplastidia |
Archaeplastida | Red Algae, Glaucophytes, Green Algae |
Chromalveolates | Alveolata (ciliates, dinoflagellates, apicomplexans), Stramenopiles (diatoms, golden algae, brown algae, oomycetes) |
Rhizaria | Radiolarians, Foraminifera |
Amoebozoa | Free-living. Move through pseudopodea and eat through phagocytosis |
Opisthokonta | Ancestors of animals and fungi. Have 1 flagellum with microvilli. Non-motile |
Euglenozoans | Have a flagella with a crystalline rod inside it |