1. Molecular Methods and Phylogenies

Question 1

Homology

Answer 1

similarity among organisms due to inheritance from a shared common ancestor.

Question 2

0.95 written on branch of tree between species 1 and 2 means?

Answer 2

95 percent certainty species 1 and 2 derived from that common ancestor. The meaning of these numbers depend on the method that was used to construct them.

Question 3

What does 0.07 on scale bar mean?

Answer 3

line signifies 0.07 substitutions or changes per site in the gens. Percentage of genetic change that occurs in that sequence.

Question 4

Whats the bootstrap method?

Answer 4

The bootstrap method is a statistical technique for estimating quantities about a population by averaging estimates from multiple small data samples. Importantly, samples are constructed by drawing observations from a large data sample one at a time and returning them to the data sample after they have been chosen.

Question 5

MRCA

Answer 5

Most Common Recent Ancestor

Question 6

LCR

Answer 6

Last Common Ancestor

Question 7

What is the outgroup

Answer 7

The outgroup is one or more taxa that are known to have diverged prior to the group being studied (the ingroup).

Question 8

What is Parsimony Reconstruction?

Answer 8

Reconstruction requiring fewest state changes (least evolution)

Question 9

Three main ways to identify a specimen

Answer 9

1. Using morphology and dichotomous keys. This is the traditional method
2. Using DNA barcoding
3. Using image analysis, typically on a smart phone

Question 10

Taxonomic ranks in order

Answer 10

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species