Estimate the phylogeny of these taxa by plotting the changes on each of the three possible phylogenies for species A, B, and C and determining which tree requires the fewest evolutionary changes.
Evolution
The history and science of origin and evolution comprise two events, the beginning of life and expansion of life. Our earth originated about 4.5 billion years ago. The term evolution is derived from two Latin words and means the act of unfolding or unrolling. English philosopher Herbert Spencer first used it. Evolution is defined as the change in heritable traits of biological populations over successive generations. These traits are the manifestations of genes that are passed down from parent to offspring during reproduction.
Cladistics
Cladistics is a technique in the classification of organisms, where they are grouped into different clades. The proof for the relationships that are hypothesized is based on the shared derived characteristics known as synapomorphies. These characteristics do not exist in many of the distant ancestors and groups. The common ancestor along with its descendants is considered to be a part of the clade. The rate of closeness is directly proportional to the cladistic grouping and is useful in analyzing the evolutionary mechanism.
Outgroups
Outgroups are significant in studying cladistics or phylogenetics (that describe the evolutionary relationship between different organisms). Further, it is also important to understand the differences and similarities between different organisms.
Taxonomy
It is the branch of biology that works with the identification of organisms at first, then naming, and classification of them into phenetic or phylogenetic groups (a classification system). In other words, it is the scientific study of biological diversity and a part of systematic biology.
Phylogenetics
Phylogenetics is the scientific study of how various groups of organisms are related at the evolutionary level. It finds the relationship between various organisms based on their evolutionary similarities and differences. It is a part of the taxonomy. Although the taxonomic study is not only concerned about phylogeny but taxonomic studies are also concerned about the classification and nomenclature of the different individuals from different taxon.
Suppose a new monkey species, Species A, has just been discovered. You are a primatologist, and you are trying to determine its phylogenetic position. You are sure its closest relatives are Species B and Species C, but you want to know which one it is more closely related to or if it is equally closely related to both. You are using Species D, a more distant relative, as the outgroup. You have come up with a list of ten characters you think will be useful in resolving this phylogeny, and you have determined the character state of each species for each character. The character states are: (in image below)
Estimate the phylogeny of these taxa by plotting the changes on each of the three possible phylogenies for species A, B, and C and determining which tree requires the fewest evolutionary changes.
HINT: First, review the carnivorans problem in Section 4.3 of the Zimmer and Emlen textbook. To solve the above problem, assume the outgroup has the ancestral character state for each character, and code each character state in the matrix as ancestral (0) or derived (1). You can just write the numbers in the matrix, and take it from there!
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