17 Questions
What is a potential problem with the parsimony approach to reconstructing evolutionary history?
Evolutionary reversals may make a trait appear and disappear again
What does the text suggest about the development of wings in birds and bats?
They independently developed wings due to environmental pressures
Which of the following is NOT a domain of life?
Animalia
What type of traits does morphological data include that are good for evolutionary history?
Homologous traits
What are synapomorphies used to group organisms in?
Monophyletic groups
What are ancestral and derived characters used to differentiate in phylogenetic analysis?
Shared traits
What do shared derived traits in phylogenies indicate?
Close relatedness
What is a potential problem with the parsimony approach to reconstructing evolutionary history?
Evolutionary reversals may make a trait appear and disappear again
What does the text suggest about the development of wings in birds and bats?
They independently developed wings due to environmental pressures
What are synapomorphies used to group organisms in?
Monophyletic groups
What type of traits does morphological data include that are good for (helping determine) evolutionary history?
Homologous traits
What do shared derived traits in phylogenies indicate?
Close relatedness
What type of traits does morphological data include that are good for (helping determine) evolutionary history?
Homologous traits
What are ancestral and derived characters used to differentiate in phylogenetic analysis?
Evolutionary relationships
Which of the following is NOT a domain of life?
Animalia
The purpose of phylogenetics (studying evolutionary relationships among organisms) is to connect classification with evolutionary history by constructing evolutionary trees or phylogenies. What is another name for these "trees of life"?
cladograms
To properly read phylogenetic trees, you have to know the following 3 things:
nodes, branches, sister taxa
Test your knowledge of evolutionary history reconstruction with this quiz. Explore potential problems with the parsimony approach and grasp concepts like conflicting DNA and fossil data, evolutionary reversals, and assumptions about complexity and gradual evolution.
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