Phylogenetic Systematics: Developing an Hypothesis of Amniote Relationships
Daniel R. Brooks, Deborah A. McLennan, Joseph P. Carney, Michael D. Dennison, and Corey A. Goldman
Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 1994, Volume 15
Abstract
Biodiversity studies begin with patterns of evolutionary diversification, made possible by phylogenetic systematics. Phylogenetics clusters species into groups depicting their common ancestry based on shared derived characters unique to that group. It is quantifiable, reproducible, and scientifically testable, and has three assumptions: evolution has occurred, there is a single phylogeny of life resulting from evolutionary diversification, and characteristics are passed from generation to generation, modified or unmodified, during evolutionary descent. This exercise acquaints students with the terminology and methodology of phylogenetics, and permits them to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among major amniote groups using characteristics they observe themselves.
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