Chapter 8, Processes of Macroevolution

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Chapter 8, Processes of Macroevolution

• Key Terms

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• metazoaMulticellular animals a major division
  of the animal kingdom.
• chordataThe phylum of the animal kingdom that
  includes vertebrates.

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• vertebratesAnimals with bony backbones includes
  fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
• homologies Structures that are shared through
  descent from a common ancestor.

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• analogies Structures in organisms that are used
  for the same function, but have developed
  independently and are not the result of common
  descent.
• homoplasyThe process by which similarities can
  develop in different groups of organisms.

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• evolutionary systematicsA traditional approach
  to classification in which presumed ancestors and
  descendents are traced in time by analysis of
  homologous characters.
• Cladistic taxonomyAn approach to taxonomy that
  groups species according to shared derived
  characteristics.

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• ancestral (primitive) Referring to
  characteristics that are inherited by a group of
  organisms from a remote ancestor.
• derived (modified)Referring to characteristics
  that are modified from the ancestral condition
  and thus are diagnostic of particular
  evolutionary lineages.

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• therapodsSmall to medium-sized ground-living
  dinosaurs, dated to approximately 150 m.y.a. and
  thought to be related to birds.
• phylogenetic treeA chart showing evolutionary
  relationships as determined by phylogenetic
  systematics.

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• cladogramA chart showing evolutionary
  relationships as determined by cladistic
  analysis. It is based solely on interpretation of
  shared derived characteristics.
• biological species conceptA depiction of species
  as groups of individuals capable of fertile
  inbreeding but reproductively isolated from
  other such groups.

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• speciationThe process where a new species
  evolves from a prior species.
• recognition species conceptA depiction of
  species where the key aspect is the ability of
  individuals to identify members of their own
  species for purposes of mating.

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• ecological species conceptThe concept that a
  species is a group of organisms exploiting a
  single niche.
• allopatricA model of speciation that emphasizes
  complete reproductive isolation of divergent
  populations from their ancestral population.

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• intraspecificWithin species, refers to variation
  seen within the same species.
• interspecificBetween species refers to
  variation beyond that seen within the same
  species to include additional aspects between
  two different species.

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• PaleospeciesSpecies defined from fossil
  evidence, often covering a long time span.
• genusA group of closely related species.

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• geological time scaleThe organization of earth
  history into eras, periods, and epochs.
• continental driftThe movement of continents on
  sliding plates of the earths surface.

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• ecological nichesThe positions of species within
  their physical and biological environments,
  together making up the ecosystem.
• epochsCategories of the geological time scale
  subdivisions of periods.

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• viviparousGiving birth to live young.
• HeterodontHaving different kinds of teeth
  characteristic of mammals whose teeth consist of
  incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.

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• endothermicAble to maintain internal body
  temperature.
• large-bodied hominoidsHominoids including the
  great apes and hominids as well as all ancestral
  forms back to the time of divergence from small
  bodied hominoids.

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• hominidsColloquial term for members of the
  family Hominidae, which includes all bipedal
  hominoids back to the divergence of the African
  great apes.
• adaptive radiationThe relatively rapid expansion
  and diversification of life forms into new
  ecological niches.

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• punctuated equilibriumThe concept that
  evolutionary change proceeds through long periods
  of stasis punctuated by rapid periods of change.