Study Guide
Chapter 23 - Systematics, Phylogenies, and Comparative Biology
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Understand what a phylogeny represents.
What is systematics?
Explain why phenotypic similarity does not necessarily indicate close
evolutionary relationship.
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Describe the difference between ancestral and derived similarities.
Explain why only shared, derived characters indicate close evolutionary
relationship.
Understand how a cladogram is constructed.
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Differentiate among monophyletic, paraphyletic, and polyphyletic groups.
Explain the meaning of the phylogenetic species concept and why it is
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controversial.
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Explain the importance of homoplasy for interpreting patterns of
evolutionary change.
Describe how phylogenetic trees can reveal the existence of homoplasy.
Discuss how a phylogenetic tree can indicate the timing of species
diversification.
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Discuss how phylogenetic analysis can help identify patterns of disease
transmission.