Lecture 20: Phylogeny II and Evolutionary Ecology

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. But it's also true that nothing in
evolution makes sense, except in the light of ecology. This lecture completes our look at phylogenies,
then turns to the question of how ecology shapes evolution.

Lecture outcomes

-whether a particular trait is probably ancestral or derived, given a phylogeny

and a suitable outgroup

1. Present in outgroup and ALL of ingroup? Ancestral

2. Present in outgroup and SOME of ingroup? Ancestral
3. Absent in outgroup, present in SOME of ingroup? Derived
4. Present in outgroup, but NONE of ingroup? Could be Ancestral, or derived for the outgroup.
5. Absent in outgroup, present in ALL of ingroup? Could be Ancestral, or derived for the ingroup.

-whether a particular trait is a synapomorphy, symplesiomorphy or

autapomorphy, given its distribution among the outgroup and the ingroup

TRAITS
Outgroup Shark No milk No fur No wings No beak
Ingroup Chicken No milk No fur Wings Beak
Bat Milk Fur Wings No beak
Chipmunk Milk Fur No wings No beak

Synapomorphy: (Shared/derived) Milk & Fur

(Since Bat and chipmunk share some many common traits
together They must be more related, Thus the 1st pic)
Symplesiomorphy: (Shared/Inherited) No beak
(Through Milliona NO ONE got beaks)
Autapomorphy: (unique) Beak
(and some shit happens, chicken get beaks)

-meaning of parsimony, as it relates to phylogenetic trees

Parsimony: With all things being equal, simplest explanation is best.
If you are comparing two possibility of phylogeny, the one with least amount of evolutionary
change (simplest one) would be the most likely one.
-the most parsimonious phylogenetic tree among several options

-the importance of monophyletic groups (clades) in classification

Cladistics: only monophyletic groups (clades) make sense
Identify MRCA of the group in question
Does the group include all MRCAs descendants?
To avoid being impacted by Homoplasy.

-monophyletic vs nonmonophyletic groupings of taxa, given a phylogeny

Group names should reflect evolutionary relationships
(SEE PICTURE ABOVE)
Group One: easy to name (since all the descendent and
ancestor are grouped)
Group Two: Not monophyletic, since the MRCA is
farrrrrr.
Group Three: Not monophyletic, since not EVERY
descendant is included.

-why biodiversity changes over time

Biodiversity (total number of species) varies over time as rates of speciation and extinction vary.
(Environmental changes makes some species have more fitness than the others, thus explains the
speciation and extinction) (EVOLUTION AND SURVIVAL AND EXTINCTION)

-meaning of adaptive radiation, and what factors may trigger an adaptive

radiation
Adaptive radiation: fast burst of speciation into many descendant lineages.
Triggered by release from competition (ecological opportunity)
One finch fly to an isolated island with a few birds, she has more resources to go on.)

-biotic vs abiotic components of the environment

Biotic: living shit
Abiotic: shit