Noun
phenetics (uncountable)
(systematics) A form of numerical systematics in which organisms are grouped based upon the total or relative number of shared characteristics.
But there is no reason why, e.g., species identified using phenetics cannot subsequently be subjected to cladistic analysis, to determine their evolutionary relationships. Source: Internet
W. H. Freeman, San Francisco. xv + 573 p. Phenetics has largely been superseded by cladistics for research into evolutionary relationships among species. Source: Internet
Phenetics did not try to reconstruct phylogenetic trees; rather, it tried to build dendrograms from similarity data; its algorithms required less computer power than phylogenetic ones. Source: Internet
Phenetics provides numerical tools for examining overall patterns of variation, allowing researchers to identify discrete groups that can be classified as species. Source: Internet
Phenetics today Traditionally there was a great deal of heated debate between pheneticists and cladists, as both methods were initially proposed to resolve evolutionary relationships. Source: Internet
Phenetics was an attempt to determine the relationships of organisms through a measure of overall similarity, making no distinction between plesiomorphies (shared ancestral traits) and apomorphies (derived traits). Source: Internet