Exercises

  1. Answer the following questions based on Figure 1
    1. True or False?
      1. Mammalia and Aves are sister taxa
      2. Mammalia and Aves are more closely related to each other than either is to Amphibia
      3. Amphibia are more closely related to Mammalia than to Insecta
      4. Fungi are more closely related to Lycophyta than to Amphibia
    2. In the cladogram (Figure 1A) encircle the group consisting of Anthophyta and Lycophyta. Make sure to include their most recent common ancestor. Is this group monophyletic? Why or why not?
    3. Encircle the group consisting of Anthophyta, Lycophyta, Fungi and their most recent common ancestor. Is this group monophletic? Why or why not?
    4. Do animals form a monophyletic group in this cladogram?
    5. Are the relationships shown in Fig 1A and Fig 1B the same? Explain why or why not with specific examples.

Ex Fig 2

  1. Answer the following questions based on Figure 2
    1. Is the presence of tropane alkaloids in Proteaceae, Brassicaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Solanaceae and Convolvulaceae homologous or homoplasious? Explain.
    2. Is the formation of tropane alkaloids in different genera of Solanaceae (inset) homologous or homoplasious?
    3. What does this phylogenetic pattern indicate about the trait and the type/s of evolutionary pressures that might lead to such a pattern?

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