Question

I need help with these questions I answered my original answer is found below, the professor marked it incorrect/ and or insufficient answer.

1)Why are phylogenetic trees based on molecular/ genetic data more reliable than trees based on morphology?

- The morphological phylogenetic tree is quantitative data. This means physical characteristics; therefore, this is not the tree that would be a close representation of the true phylogenetic tree. Molecular phylogenetic trees, use DNA or RNA/ protein sequences. This makes Molecular phylogeny more accurate because it is not skewed by environmental factors.

2) What are phylogenetic studies? How are they useful in evolutionary biology?

- phylogeny, also known as a tree, is an explanation of how sequences evolved, their genealogical relationships, Phylogenetic is important because it enriches our understanding of how genes, genomes, species (and molecular sequences more generally) evolve

Answer 1

1. Why are phylogenetic trees based on molecular/genetic data more reliable than trees based on morphology?

Answer: A phylogenetic tree, also called `Tree of life', shows the evolutionary relationship among various organisms. A phylogenetic tree based on molecular/genetic data is called molecular phylogeny. Thus molecular phylogeny is based on the relationship between the DNA sequence of various organisms. DNA directly reflects the inheritable characters of an individual and posses a lot of information about a particular species. DNA is present in all eukaryotic organisms which allows us to construct the phylogenetic tree using the similarities and differences in the DNA sequence of various organisms.

A pphylogenetic tree using phenotypic or morphological characters is called as morphological phylogeny. Morphological phylogeny is not as reliable as molecular phylogeny because morphological characters are not always clear. Different characters are hard to differentiate except in the case of presence or absence of a trait.

2. What are phylogenetic studies? How are they useful in evolutionary biology?

Answer. An area of research which studies the genetic compositions of organisms and their relationship to each other among organisms belonging to a particular species or population is called phylogenetics or phylogenetic studies.

Evolutionary biology is the study of the origin, diversification, adaptation and the evolutionary process of life on earth. Phylogeny, represented as a phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationship among various organisms and thus helps in identifying and classifying various organisms. It also enhances our understanding of how various species evolved. Phylogenetics is thus an important tool in studying evolution.