This exercise uses a fictional group of turtles to demonstrate how to implement cladistic methodology. Using a step-by-step guide, students work to find the most parsimonious cladogram for these fictional turtles. Part I involves delineating characters and building a most parsimonious cladogram based on the distribution of character states, while Part II presents additional challenges by introducing homoplasy. This exercise is designed to familiarize students with the concepts of phylogeny and cladistics, expand their skills of phylogenetic analysis, and use phylogenetic information to determine conservation priority.
View this module in other languages:
Sistemática y Conservación de la Biodiversidad (Spanish)
See also:
Conservation Genetics
Theme: Understanding Biodiversity
Language: English
Region: Global
Keywords: phylogeny, evolution, tools
Components: 3
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Source: HHMI BioInteractive
In this interactive activity on seashell phylogeny and evolution, students will construct evolutionary trees by sorting seashells. This activity accompanies the HHMI BioInteractive Click and Learn interactive, which explores principles of taxonomy by sorting seashells according to their morphological characteristics and constructing an evolutionary tree.
