How to Read a Phylogenetic Tree |
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Authors: | Deborah A McLennan |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada |
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Abstract: | It has been over 50 years since Willi Hennig proposed a new method for determining genealogical relationships among species,
which he called phylogenetic systematics. Many people, however, still approach the method warily, worried that they will have
to grapple with an overwhelming number of new terms and concepts. In fact, reading and understanding phylogenetic trees is
really not difficult at all. You only need to learn three new words, autapomorphy, synapomorphy, and plesiomorphy. All of
the other concepts (e.g., ancestors, monophyletic groups, paraphyletic groups) are familiar ones that were already part of
Darwinian evolution before Hennig arrived on the scene. |
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Keywords: | |
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