Chapter 17 C-Map

Macroevolution

major evolutionary change. The term applies mainly to the evolution of whole taxonomic groups over long periods of time

Speciation

the splitting of one species into two or more species

Taxonomist

a scientist that classifies organisms into groups

Species Concept

the different ways in which a species is defined

Morphology

the branch of biology that deals with the form of living organisms, and with relationships between their structures

Diagnostic Traits

any trait that can form the basis for differentiation of the members of a certain species from other species

Cryptic Species

Species that look almost identical but are very different in other traits

Evolutionary Species Concept

a species as members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in nature, not according to similarity of appearance

Phlygentic species concept

an evolutionary "family tree"

Monophyletic

descended from a common evolutionary ancestor or ancestral group, especially one not shared with any other group

Biological Species Concept

a group of individuals that can breed together

Reproductive Isolation

physiological, behavioral, and genetic processes that inhabit interbreeding

preztgotic isolation

Reproductive isolation before fertilization

Postzygotic Isolation

Reproductive isolation after fertilization

Zygote

the first cell that results when a sperm fertilizes an egg

Hybridization

The mating between two species

Allopatric Speciation

the eventual result of populations separated by a geographic or some other physical barrier

Autoploidy

an individual or strain whose chromosome complement consists of more than two complete copies of the genome of a single ancestral species

Alloploidy

an individual or strain whose chromosomes are composed of more than two genomes each of which has been derived more or less complete but possibly modified from one of two or more species

Analogous

performing a similar function but having a different evolutionary origin, such as the wings of insects and birds