Cladograms

the branching point on a cladogram represents what?

a common ancestor

cladogram

a diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms

derived character

a feature that evolved only within the group under consideration

shared character

a feature that is shared by all member in a particular group

clade

a taxonomic group with a single ancestor and all its descendants

what does cladistics use to establish relationships?

shared derived characteristics

phylogenetics

the analysis of evolutionary/ancestral relationships

systematics

the classifying of living organisms by their natural relationships

what must be true of organisms that have the most shared derived characters?

they are the most evolved

what variable is represented on the Y axis of a cladogram

time

what do cladograms represent?

hypothesis about evolutionary relationships

where is the most common derived character on a cladogram?

immediately after the out-group

how is the out-group determined?

it is the first branch of the cladogram with no shared characteristics

why is the out-group needed?

it serves as a basis of comparison between organisms

cladistics helps to classify what?

organisms

what is the in-group in a cladogram?

organisms with shared characters

what else can cladograms be based on?

DNA

shared derived characters are strong evidence of?

common ancestry