Exam 24: Systematic Biology: Phylogeny and Classification

A plant systematist studies the physiological systems of plants.

In the absence of evidence from fossils, systematists frequently use a technique called ____ to identify ancestral and derived character states.

The best outgroup to use for resolving phylogenetic relationships of vascular plants is the ____ because all of its character states are considered ancestral.

The systematics of today is very different from the systematics learned a generation ago. As a result, which statement is the least accurate?

On a phylogenetic tree, two clades that emerge from the same node are called ____ because they are each other's closest relatives.

Explain how systematists commonly identify ancestral and derived character states in the absence of fossil evidence.

The closest living relatives of birds are ____.

The organisms included within any category of the taxonomic hierarchy comprise a(n) ____.

Figure 24.3 -Answer the question using the accompanying figure. In the figure, letter C represents a ____ taxon, which includes ____.

The scientific approach that classifies organisms based on evolutionary relationships is known as ____.

Analyses of molecular sequences for study of evolutionary relationships are constrained by ____.

When systematists compare vertebrates to all other animals, the absence of a vertebral column is the ____ character state, and the presence of a vertebral column is the ____.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has advanced our understanding of systematics because it allows for ____.

On which continent are introduced mosquito species absent?