The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Monophylogeny is a term used in the science of systematics to describe a group of organisms that are classified in the same taxon and share a common ancestor. The term monophylogeny comes from the Greek words mono meaning "one", phylon meaning "tribe" and genesis meaning "origin". Systematics is concerned with investigating relationships between groups of organisms based on their biological diversity and evolutionary history. It is related to the science of taxonomy which deals with naming and grouping of organisms depending on various physical characteristics.
Grouping organisms based on their relationship with each other has been an important part of biological studies since antiquity. Aristotle proposed one of the first systems although his groupings were mainly alphabetical. Carolus Linnaeus was the first to suggest ordering organisms in a hierarchical arrangement. When Charles Darwin proposed his evolutionary theory, some scientists began grouping organisms by their evolutionary relationships. This led to the development of systematics.
Scientists who study systematics create genealogy diagrams, called phylogenic trees. These diagrams are designed to graphically depict evolutionary relationships. To construct them, species are grouped using a variety of data such as fossil records, comparative anatomy and molecular biological similarities. The ideal phylogenic tree would contain only taxons that are monophylogenic, that is, each related organism comes from a single ancestor. However, since much of the data that is currently available is conflicting, polyphylogenic groups are created. These constructs show organisms in a single taxon with two or more different evolutionary ancestors. As additional data is collected about specific species, scientists hope to develop a unified phylogenic tree that shows the complete evolutionary history of every organism.