Biology 1500 Exam 4 (Nathan Mills)
UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions and
CORRECT Answers
what is systematics - CORRECT ANSWER - the scientific discipline focused on
classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships
who was Carolus Linnaeus and what did he do - CORRECT ANSWER - early taxonomist
whose classification scheme laid the foundation for modern systematics
specifically, what did Linnaeus do - CORRECT ANSWER - -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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -binomial
nomenclature for species' names
-hierarchical classification scheme which includes taxonomic levels
what is binomial nomenclature - CORRECT ANSWER - naming system: genus and
specific epithet
what are the taxonomic levels - CORRECT ANSWER - domain
kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
,species
how did Linnaeus classify organisms - CORRECT ANSWER - according to overall
similarity
based on characteristics he believed were important (ignored trivial characteristics)
what was Linnaeus NOT looking for - CORRECT ANSWER - evolutionary relationships
Darwin's theory of __________ added a new significance to Linnaeus' _________________ -
CORRECT ANSWER - evolution
classification system
what did Darwin believe regarding species and genus - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -a hypothetical phylogenetic tree
-our classifications actually reflect evolutionary relationships
what is a phylogeny - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - a common ancestor from which different
lineages diverged
what is a basal taxon - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - taxa that share an immediate common
ancestor & thus are more closely related to each other than to any other taxa
what is polytomy - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - to show patterns of descent,
NOT phenotypic similarity
when reading a phylogeny, what is important and what is not important - CORRECT
ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -related taxa
evolved from a common ancestor
-taxa did not evolve from the taxa next to them on the phylogeny
most phylogenies show what timing - CORRECT ANSWER - relative timing
if absolute time is added to phylogenies, what are the major sources of information - CORRECT
ANSWER - fossil record
molecular clocks
which is more important: the order in which the species diverge or the order in which the species
are listed - CORRECT ANSWER - the order in which the species diverge
traditionally, how were phylogenies built? - CORRECT ANSWER - they were built using
homologous morphological characteristics
UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions and
CORRECT Answers
what is systematics - CORRECT ANSWER - the scientific discipline focused on
classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships
who was Carolus Linnaeus and what did he do - CORRECT ANSWER - early taxonomist
whose classification scheme laid the foundation for modern systematics
specifically, what did Linnaeus do - CORRECT ANSWER - -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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -binomial
nomenclature for species' names
-hierarchical classification scheme which includes taxonomic levels
what is binomial nomenclature - CORRECT ANSWER - naming system: genus and
specific epithet
what are the taxonomic levels - CORRECT ANSWER - domain
kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
,species
how did Linnaeus classify organisms - CORRECT ANSWER - according to overall
similarity
based on characteristics he believed were important (ignored trivial characteristics)
what was Linnaeus NOT looking for - CORRECT ANSWER - evolutionary relationships
Darwin's theory of __________ added a new significance to Linnaeus' _________________ -
CORRECT ANSWER - evolution
classification system
what did Darwin believe regarding species and genus - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -a hypothetical phylogenetic tree
-our classifications actually reflect evolutionary relationships
what is a phylogeny - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - a common ancestor from which different
lineages diverged
what is a basal taxon - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - taxa that share an immediate common
ancestor & thus are more closely related to each other than to any other taxa
what is polytomy - CORRECT ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - to show patterns of descent,
NOT phenotypic similarity
when reading a phylogeny, what is important and what is not important - CORRECT
ANSWER - 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 - CORRECT ANSWER - -related taxa
evolved from a common ancestor
-taxa did not evolve from the taxa next to them on the phylogeny
most phylogenies show what timing - CORRECT ANSWER - relative timing
if absolute time is added to phylogenies, what are the major sources of information - CORRECT
ANSWER - fossil record
molecular clocks
which is more important: the order in which the species diverge or the order in which the species
are listed - CORRECT ANSWER - the order in which the species diverge
traditionally, how were phylogenies built? - CORRECT ANSWER - they were built using
homologous morphological characteristics
