25. Phylogeny

What does it mean to apply the concept of parsimony to an evolutionary tree?

Which of the following statements are true regarding shared derived characters?

I) Shared derived characters are examples of analogies. 

II) Shared derived characters are traits shared by multiple taxa within a tree. 

III) Shared derived characters are used to establish evolutionary relationships.

The following table shows an inferred ancestral sequence for five DNA nucleotides. Then it shows the sequence for the same five nucleotides in taxa X, Y, & Z. If you wanted to build a phylogenetic tree for taxa X, Y, & Z, which nucleotide would be the most informative?

You are constructing a phylogenetic tree of all species in the family Bovidae, which includes all cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, bison, and buffalo. What do you think would be a good outgroup?

You are constructing a phylogenetic tree of the oak trees, and you include one species of chestnut tree as an outgroup. Why would you include the chestnut species?

Based on the following character matrix, which of the following organisms would you predict to be sister taxa?