Classification Section 2

Section 2: Modern Systematics

Preview
• Bellringer
• Key Ideas
• Traditional Systematics
• Phylogenetics
• Cladistics
• Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness
• Summary
Classification Section 2

Bellringer
Write the names of as many different kinds of cats as you
can think of. Most cats belong to the same genus, Felis.
Identify which cats you think belong to the same species.
Classification Section 2

Key Ideas
• What problems arise when scientists try to group
organisms by apparent similarities?

• Is the evolutionary past reflected in modern systematics?

• How is cladistics used to construct evolutionary

relationships?

• What evidence do scientists use to analyze these

relationships?
Classification Section 2

Traditional Systematics
• Scientists have traditionally used similarities in
appearance and structure to group organisms. However,
this approach has been problematic.

• Some groups look similar but turn out to be distantly

related.

• Other groups look different but turn out to be closely

related.
Classification Section 2

Traditional Systematics, continued

• For example, dinosaurs were once seen as a group of
reptiles that became extinct millions of years ago.

• Birds were seen as a separate, modern group that was

not related to any reptile group.

• Fossil evidence has convinced scientists that birds

evolved from one of the many lineages of dinosaurs.

• Some scientists classify birds as a subgroup of

dinosaurs.
Classification Section 2

Phylogenetics
• Scientists who study systematics are interested in
phylogeny, or the ancestral relationships between
species.

• Grouping organisms by similarity is often assumed to

reflect phylogeny, but inferring phylogeny is complex in
practice.

• Reconstructing a species’ phylogeny is like trying to draw

a huge family tree over millions of generations.
Classification Section 2

Phylogenetics, continued
• Not all similar characteristics are inherited from a
common ancestor.

• Consider the wings of an insect and the wings of a bird.

• Both enable flight, but the structures of the two wings

differ.

• Fossil evidence also shows that insects with wings

existed long before birds appeared.
Classification Section 2

Phylogenetics, continued
• Through the process of convergent evolution, similarities
may evolve in groups that are not closely related.

• Similar features may evolve because the groups have

adopted similar habitats or lifestyles.

• Similarities that arise through convergent evolution are

called analogous characters.
Classification Section 2

Phylogenetics, continued
• Grouping organisms by similarities is subjective.

• Some scientists may think one character is important,

while another scientist does not.

• For example, systematists historically placed birds in a

separate class from reptiles, giving importance to
characters like feathers.
Classification Section 2

Phylogenetics, continued
• Fossil evidence now
shows that birds are
considered part of the
“family tree” of dinosaurs.

• This family tree, or

phylogenetic tree,
represents a hypothesis
of the relationships
between several groups.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics
• Cladistics is a method of analysis that infers
phylogenies by careful comparisons of shared
characteristics.

• Cladistics is an objective method that unites systematics

with phylogenetics.

• Cladistic analysis is used to select the most likely

phylogeny among a given set of organisms.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics, continued
• Cladistics focuses on finding characters that are shared
between different groups because of shared ancestry.

• A shared character is defined as ancestral if it is thought

to have evolved in a common ancestor of both groups.

• A derived character is one that evolved in one group but

not the other.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics, continued
• For example, the production of seeds is a character that
is present in all living conifers and flowering plants, and
some prehistoric plants.

• Seed production is a shared ancestral character among

those groups.

• The production of flowers is a derived character that is

only shared by flowering plants.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics, continued
• Cladistics infers relatedness by identifying shared
derived and ancestral characters among groups, while
avoiding analogous characters.

• Scientists construct a cladogram to show relationships

between groups.

• A cladogram is a phylogenetic tree that is drawn in a

specific way.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics, continued
• Organisms are grouped together through identification of
their shared derived characters.

• All groups that arise from one point on a cladogram

belong to a clade.

• A clade is a set of groups that are related by descent

from a single ancestral lineage.
Classification Section 2

Cladistics, continued
• Each clade is usually compared with an outgroup, or
group that lacks some of the shared characteristics.

• The next slide shows a cladogram of different types of

plants.

• Conifers and flowering plants form a clade.

• Ferns form the outgroup.

Classification Section 2

Cladogram: Major Groups of Plants

Classification Section 2

Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness

• Phylogenetics relies heavily on data about characters
that are either present or absent in taxa.

• But other kinds of data are also important.

• Biologists compare many kinds of evidence and apply

logic carefully in order to infer phylogenies.

• Scientists also revise phylogenies based on new

evidence.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
Morphological Evidence
• Morphology refers to the physical structure or anatomy
of organisms.

• Large-scale morphological evidence, like seeds and

flowers, have been well studied.

• Scientists must look carefully at similar traits, to avoid

using analogous characters for classification.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
• An important part of morphology in multicellular species
is the pattern of development from embryo to adult.

• Organisms that share ancestral genes often show

similarities during the process of development.

• For example, the jaw of an adult develops from the same

part of an embryo in every vertebrate species.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
Molecular Evidence
• Scientists can now use genetic information to infer
phylogenies.

• Recall that as genes are passed on from generation to

generation, mutations occur.

• Some mutations may be passed on to all species that

have a common ancestor.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
• Genetic sequence data are now used widely for cladistic
analysis.

• First, the sequence of DNA bases in a gene (or of amino

acids in a protein) is determined for several species.

• Then, each letter (or amino acid) at each position is

compared.
Classification Section 2

Similarities in Amino Acid Sequences

Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
• At the level of genomes, alleles may be lost or added
over time.

• Another form of molecular evidence is the presence or

absence of specific alleles—or the proteins that result
from them.

• From this evidence, the relative timing between genetic

changes can be inferred.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
Evidence of Order and Time
• Cladistics can determine only the relative order of
divergence, or branching, in a phylogenetic tree.

• The fossil record can often be used to infer the actual

time when a group may have begun to “branch off.”

• For example, using cladistics, scientists have identified

lancelets as the closest relative of vertebrates.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
• The oldest known fossils of vertebrates are about 450
million years old.

• But the oldest lancelet fossils are 535 million years old.

• So, these two lineages must have diverged more than

535 million years ago.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
• DNA mutations occur at
relatively constant rates,
so they can be used as
an approximate “genetic
clock.”

• Scientists can measure

the genetic differences
between taxa and
estimate time of
divergence.
Classification Section 2
Inferring Evolutionary Relatedness,
continued
Inference Using Parsimony
• Modern systematists use the principle of parsimony to
construct phylogenetic trees.

• This principle holds that the simplest explanation for

something is the most reasonable, unless strong
evidence exists against that explanation.

• Given two possible cladograms, the one that implies the

fewest character changes between points is preferred.
Classification Section 2

Summary
• Scientists traditionally have used similarities in
appearance and structure to group organisms. However,
this approach has been problematic.

• Grouping organisms by similarity is often assumed to

reflect phylogeny, but inferring phylogeny is complex in
practice.
Classification Section 2

Summary, continued
• Cladistic analysis is used to select the most likely
phylogeny among a given set of organisms.

• Biologists compare many kinds of evidence and apply

logic carefully in order to infer phylogenies.