Chapter 24.5, Problem 2SB

Summary Introduction

To review:

The characteristics used to group organisms in a cladistic analysis.

Introduction:

The concept of cladistic analysis was first observed by Willi Hennig and is referred to as phylogenetic systematics. Cladistics refers to the system of classification that includes the categorization of an organism based on shared traits. Cladistics is solely based on evolutionary relationships and reflects only the branching pattern of evolution. It completely ignores the morphological divergence of organisms. Cladistic methodologies involve the application of various molecular, anatomical, and genetic traits of the organisms and use techniques like computational modeling and polymerase chain reaction to construct a phylogenetic tree.