Biology 1500 Exam 4 (Nathan Mills)
Questions and Answers 100% Pass
what is systematics - ✔✔the scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and
determining their evolutionary relationships
who was Carolus Linnaeus and what did he do - ✔✔early taxonomist whose
classification scheme laid the foundation for modern systematics
specifically, what did Linnaeus do - ✔✔-created the Linnaean classification system
-classified organisms on "important" characteristics
-believed he was revealing God's divine pattern
what did the Linnaean classification system use - ✔✔-binomial nomenclature for
species' names
-hierarchical classification scheme which includes taxonomic levels
what is binomial nomenclature - ✔✔naming system: genus and specific epithet
what are the taxonomic levels - ✔✔domain
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
,kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species
how did Linnaeus classify organisms - ✔✔according to overall similarity
based on characteristics he believed were important (ignored trivial characteristics)
what was Linnaeus NOT looking for - ✔✔evolutionary relationships
Darwin's theory of __________ added a new significance to Linnaeus'
_________________ - ✔✔evolution
classification system
what did Darwin believe regarding species and genus - ✔✔species in the same genus
were similar because they stem from a recent common ancestor rather than because
they were created according to the same divine blueprint
what did Darwin propose - ✔✔-a hypothetical phylogenetic tree
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, -our classifications actually reflect evolutionary relationships
what is a phylogeny - ✔✔a history of descent of a group of taxa from their common
ancestors (includes order of branching & sometimes absolute ages of divergence)
what is a branch point - ✔✔a common ancestor from which different lineages diverged
what is a basal taxon - ✔✔a lineage that diverged from all others early in the history of
the taxon (generally shares the fewest derived characteristics with the rest of the clade)
what are sister taxa - ✔✔taxa that share an immediate common ancestor & thus are
more closely related to each other than to any other taxa
what is polytomy - ✔✔a branch point from with more than 2 lineages diverge
-indicates evolutionary relationships between the taxa has not yet been determined
what are phylogenies intended to do - ✔✔to show patterns of descent, NOT phenotypic
similarity
when reading a phylogeny, what is important and what is not important -
✔✔important: the order of branching
not important: the order in which the taxa are listed along the right side
how do taxa evolve in relation to phylogenies - ✔✔-related taxa evolved from a
common ancestor
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 3
Questions and Answers 100% Pass
what is systematics - ✔✔the scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and
determining their evolutionary relationships
who was Carolus Linnaeus and what did he do - ✔✔early taxonomist whose
classification scheme laid the foundation for modern systematics
specifically, what did Linnaeus do - ✔✔-created the Linnaean classification system
-classified organisms on "important" characteristics
-believed he was revealing God's divine pattern
what did the Linnaean classification system use - ✔✔-binomial nomenclature for
species' names
-hierarchical classification scheme which includes taxonomic levels
what is binomial nomenclature - ✔✔naming system: genus and specific epithet
what are the taxonomic levels - ✔✔domain
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
,kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species
how did Linnaeus classify organisms - ✔✔according to overall similarity
based on characteristics he believed were important (ignored trivial characteristics)
what was Linnaeus NOT looking for - ✔✔evolutionary relationships
Darwin's theory of __________ added a new significance to Linnaeus'
_________________ - ✔✔evolution
classification system
what did Darwin believe regarding species and genus - ✔✔species in the same genus
were similar because they stem from a recent common ancestor rather than because
they were created according to the same divine blueprint
what did Darwin propose - ✔✔-a hypothetical phylogenetic tree
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
, -our classifications actually reflect evolutionary relationships
what is a phylogeny - ✔✔a history of descent of a group of taxa from their common
ancestors (includes order of branching & sometimes absolute ages of divergence)
what is a branch point - ✔✔a common ancestor from which different lineages diverged
what is a basal taxon - ✔✔a lineage that diverged from all others early in the history of
the taxon (generally shares the fewest derived characteristics with the rest of the clade)
what are sister taxa - ✔✔taxa that share an immediate common ancestor & thus are
more closely related to each other than to any other taxa
what is polytomy - ✔✔a branch point from with more than 2 lineages diverge
-indicates evolutionary relationships between the taxa has not yet been determined
what are phylogenies intended to do - ✔✔to show patterns of descent, NOT phenotypic
similarity
when reading a phylogeny, what is important and what is not important -
✔✔important: the order of branching
not important: the order in which the taxa are listed along the right side
how do taxa evolve in relation to phylogenies - ✔✔-related taxa evolved from a
common ancestor
100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 3
