The Living World: Glossary

The Living World

Glossary

Cladogram – A branching diagram show-ing the relationship between a number of species.

Phylogeny – Relationships among vari-ous biological species based upon simi-larities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics.

Phylogenetic tree – A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching dia-gram or "tree" showing the inferred evo-lutionary relationships upon similarities and differences in their physical or genet-ic characteristics.

Shared character – A shared character is one that two lineages have in common

Derived character – Derived character is one that evolved in the lineage leading up to a clade.

Threatened species – Species which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.